Weekly Roundup
Claire Lehmann
· 6 min read
Equity Concerns Lead to a Mass-Firing of Museum Volunteers
The firing of the AIC docents was only possible because unpaid staffers are not covered by its provisions, and the MMA was able to circumvent equal opportunity requirements by exclusively recruiting from local black colleges.
Robert Cherry
· 7 min read
The Temptations of Tyranny
When Shigalyov, one of the revolutionaries in Dostoevsky’s Demons, lays out his “system of world organization,” he admits that he got “entangled in my own data.” Confronted with the brutal logic of his idealism, he is forced to concede that his conclusion “directly contradicts the original idea from which
Peter Hughes
· 8 min read
Podcast #172: Nancy Segal on Lessons in Human Nature Revealed by Identical Twins
Listen onSpotify Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay speaks with California State University professor Nancy Segal about her career spent studying twins, and her new book, Deliberately Divided.
Quillette, Nancy L. Segal
· 1 min read
Affirmative Action Conundrums
People of goodwill tie themselves into the most absurd intellectual knots as they attempt to discuss affirmative action without acknowledging its inherent unpleasantness.
Oliver Traldi
· 11 min read
Watching My Great Nation Lapse Into a Cult of Self-Abasement
I wasn’t a patriot until it had all gone; then I would have sold my soul to buy it back. ~Tanya, in Malcolm Bradbury’s Eating People Is Wrong For more than 20 years, from the mid-’70s to the late-’90s, Morningside, a three-hour daily broadcast that
John E. MacKinnon
· 14 min read
High White Notes: The Rise and Fall of Gonzo Journalism—A Review
A review of High White Notes: The Rise and Fall of Gonzo Journalism by David S. Wills. Beatdom Books, 555 pages. (November 2021) I. In High White Notes, his riveting new biography of Hunter S. Thompson, journalist David S. Wills describes Thompson as America’s first rock star reporter and
Kevin Mims
· 26 min read
An Astronomer Cancels His Own Research—Because the Results Weren’t Popular
Astronomy seems to be in trouble, as it is increasingly populated by researchers who seem more concerned with terrestrial politics than celestial objects, and who at times view the search for truths about nature as threatening. This became obvious in recent years, once the proposed Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) project
Lawrence M. Krauss
· 10 min read
Europe’s Big Bang: How Gunpowder Transformed the Medieval World
Philip the Bold, duke of Burgundy, was a warrior’s warrior. Hawk-nosed, ambitious, and brash, Philip had been a soldier since childhood. He was still a smooth-faced boy of 14 when he fought alongside his father, King John II of France, in the battle of Poitiers in 1356.
Paul Lockhart
· 16 min read
The Scout Mindset—A Review
A review of The Scout Mindset: Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others Don’t by Julia Galef. Portfolio, 288 pages (April, 2021) Julia Galef’s The Scout Mindset: Why Some People See Things Clearly and Others Don't is a brisk introduction to a particular way of
Razib Khan
· 7 min read
Weekly Roundup
Claire Lehmann
· 7 min read
Podcast #171: Michael Shellenberger on How Progressive Activists Are Making American Cities Poorer, Dirtier, and More Dangerous
Listen onSpotify Author Michael Shellenberger speaks with Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay about his new book, San Fransicko: Why Progressives Ruin Cities.
Quillette
· 1 min read
In Defense of Objective Knowledge
Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. ~Martin Luther King Some ideas achieve longevity because they are relentlessly exposed to challenge, falsification, and disconfirmation. At the scale of nations, anti-fragile constitutions that enshrine individual freedoms, personal liberties, and legal amendment fare better than societies that prioritize
Peter L. Levin
· 9 min read
Quillette's Best on Free Speech
We Must Defend Free Thought | Claire Lehmann “There is a small subset of hard-line ideologues who oppose open discourse altogether. The fact that you may not feel comfortable speaking your mind openly, and may feel afraid of serious consequences, is viewed by these people as an accomplishment.” Free Speech
Quillette
· 4 min read
The Need for Rationality in a Hostile World
A Review of Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters by Steven Pinker. Viking, 432 pages (September 28, 2021). “Academic Writes Engaging Book for the Masses.” Now there’s a shocking headline. Totally man bites dog. Oh, oh, scratch that. It’s not man bites dog
Keith E. Stanovich
· 16 min read