When Disagreement Becomes Trauma
How does one deal with those who claim that debate itself represents an agony beyond human endurance?
Jonathan Kay
· 8 min read
Quillette Podcast #188: How Elon Musk Can Promote Free Speech—Without Turning Twitter Into One Big ‘Dumpster Fire’
Veteran technology expert Jim Rutt tells Quillette podcast host Jonathan Kay about the hard lessons he’s learned over four decades of creating and implementing content-moderation standards on numerous social-media platforms. Image below: The GameB Home Rules and Norms on Jim Rutt’s GameB site, as cited in this week’
The Limits of Narrative
Societal crises of self-confidence can result from distorted and oversimplified narratives.
James Jeffrey
· 8 min read
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
Zoe Booth
· 6 min read
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 organization for its half-hearted
Niranjan Shankar
· 15 min read
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.
The Quillette Editorial Board
· 5 min read
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.
Kevin Mims
· 26 min read
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?
Richard Dawkins
· 7 min read
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 of
Brian Stewart
· 15 min read
Academic Exile, Two Years On
Academia has become an intellectual prison, and many incarcerated professors are compelled to live a dual existence.
Bo Winegard
· 13 min read
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.
Frances F. Berdan
· 11 min read
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
Laurie Wastell
· 12 min read
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.
Kushal Mehra
· 8 min read
Weekly Roundup and Musk and Moderation
Dear Quilletters, This week, don't miss Jim Rutt's excellent essay Musk and Moderation, which gives practical advice to Musk on how best to moderate discussion forums with the aim of fostering free speech. Rutt is a veteran of the Internet Age with over 40 years'
Claire Lehmann
· 7 min read
How We Can Get Clean Energy—Is Nuclear Power Safe?
Editor's note: this is the second in a three-part series on how we can get clean energy. Part I explains the relationship between Fuel and Human Progress, Part II answers the question “Is Nuclear Power Safe?” and Part III provides an answer to “What Needs to Be Done?
Robert Zubrin
· 14 min read