Weekly Roundup + Invitation to the Quillette Social

Dear Quilletters,

Thanks to everyone who has already bought tickets to our Quillette Social event in Sydney. We have already almost sold out of tickets in just a few days, so to avoid disappointment, grab yours today.

This week, just for our paid members, don't miss our editorial on Building a Better Twitter, in which we provide advice for how Elon Musk can improve the user experience on the platform.

Bo Winegard's autobiographical essay Academic Exile, Two Years On was published just two days ago and has already been viewed by almost thirty-thousand people. Many of you have emailed us to describe how Bo's story of being held hostage to hostile university management resonated with you. Thank you for these letters.

Lastly, it's a pleasure to have Richard Dawkins contributing to Quillette this week. Don't miss When Animals Shed Their Wings, an excerpt from his latest book about the intersection of the wonder of flight and the science of evolution.

Have a great weekend.

Zoe Booth
Community Engagement

Social Media

Building a Better Twitter

Twitter’s current policy on content isn’t one dimensional: It serves up both false positives and false negatives—wrongly banning certain accounts for thoughtcrimes while permitting others to continue on the platform despite engaging in grotesquely abusive behavior.

QuilletteThe Quillette Editorial Board

American Culture

Get Ready for the Return of the Abortion Novel

The abortion novels that proliferated in the late 1960s were filled with characters who are forced by carelessness and circumstance to make the most agonizing of personal choices.

QuilletteKevin Mims

Revolution Betrayed

A review of The Right: The Hundred-Year War for American Conservatism by Matthew Continetti, Basic Books, 496 pages (April 2022) “So inevitable and yet so completely unforeseen” was Alexis de Tocqueville’s verdict on the French Revolution. Much the same can be said of Donald Trump’s hostile takeover…

QuilletteBrian Stewart

The Tragedy of American Diplomacy: A Rebuttal

Williams, W. A. (1962). The Tragedy of American Diplomacy. New York: Dell Pub. Co. When the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) pinned Putin’s recent invasion of Ukraine on NATO’s “imperialist expansionism,” many policymakers and journalists on both sides of the political spectrum lambasted the o…

QuilletteNiranjan Shankar

Evolutionary Biology

When Animals Shed Their Wings

Worker ants can sprout wings—but don’t. Ant and termite queens destroy theirs after mating. Many island birds evolve into flightlessness. Can evolution explain why?

QuilletteRichard Dawkins

Academia

Academic Exile, Two Years On

Academia has become an intellectual prison, and many incarcerated professors are compelled to live a dual existence.

QuilletteBo Winegard

Anthropology and Sociology

The Aztec Way of Empire

Six imperial rulers expanded the Mexica domain from 1430 until 1519, until the Spaniards first set foot in Tenochtitlan and disrupted the Aztec imperial agenda.

QuilletteFrances F. Berdan

Imagine There’s No Svarga: Rediscovering Cārvāka, India’s 2,700-Year-Old Atheistic Tradition

The Cārvākas considered only matter—that which could be sensed—to be real.

QuilletteKushal Mehra

Orwell and Dalrymple on English Class

Ever since Marx, the concept of class has been foundational to sociology—as well as to almost everything else. This would not have surprised the German economist, for class, as he saw it, determines all: one’s motivations, one’s social position, even one’s consciousness. Britain, where Marx’s

QuilletteLaurie Wastell

Podcasts

‎27 Rouge: A Quillette Podcast: VI: Making Music, Telling Stories, and Keeping it Real with Zuby on Apple Podcasts

‎Show 27 Rouge: A Quillette Podcast, Ep VI: Making Music, Telling Stories, and Keeping it Real with Zuby - 1 May 2022

Apple Podcasts

From Around the Web

Facebook Deliberately Caused Havoc in Australia to Influence New Law, Whistleblowers Say

When Facebook blocked news pages last year to pre-empt Australian legislation that would force it to pay for content, it also took down hospitals, emergency services and charities. The company says that was inadvertent; whistleblowers allege it was a negotiating tactic.

WSJKeach Hagey, Mike Cherney and Jeff Horwitz

51 – How To Free Our Minds with Cult Deprogramming Expert Dr. Steven Hassan

In an era of likes, followers, and echo chambers, how can we become aware of undue influence and gain sovereignty over our minds? Our guest this week is Dr. Steven Hassan, an expert on undue influence, brainwashing, and unethical hypnosis.

Home

Pinker vs. the AAAS on the politicization of climate change—and science in general

The other day Steven Pinker received a form letter from Ann Bostrom, one of the Board of Directors of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), asking for money to support act…

Why Evolution Is TrueMay 3, 2022May 3, 2022