The best books I read this year, in no particular order: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay by Michael Chabon This novel tells the story of two Jewish cousins who become successful comic book authors in the 1940’s and ’50’s. It explores the antifascist origins of the superhero genre, as well as questions surrounding the role
In November, I decided to experiment with posting more often. I said “every day,” but the spirit of the experiment was more just to write more often, and to post things when they weren’t as close to what I consider done: Prioritize quantity over quality. What did I learn? First of all, of course, posting more
Health is one of those nebulous concepts that seems straightforward and obvious, but then on closer investigation is very difficult to pin down. Of course, some health judgements are easy, but many aren’t possible to make without aesthetic judgements that are person- or culture-specific. How important is physical capability? How important is longevity? Are athletes
I. Intergenerational socioeconomic mobility in the US is very low relative to our peer countries. Why is that? Is it because America is a real meritocracy where the poor stay poor due to their inferior moral character? Or is it because the American economic system, while it pretends to be meritocratic, in fact systematically favors
In general, I want to avoid current events on this blog, but in this case, I feel I need to speak up. (Here’s a youtube video that I watched before doing my own research. I can’t speak to BadEmpanada’s general credibility, but in this specific video he’s factually accurate, and I mostly agree with his
American hierarchy justifies itself with a narrative of merit. People who work hard and take smart risks, who have a knack for knowing what goods and services are wanted where, naturally rise up the ranks, become wealthy and powerful, and are able to use their wealth to do social good (and to further enrich themselves in
With fires raging throughout California, people are being displaced, personal property is being destroyed, and it’s tempting to try to find someone or something to blame. Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson, and right-wing Youtuber Dave Rubin blame the fires on California’s “going woke.” They don’t provide a coherent argument to back up their assessment. Others
A couple years ago, sick of all the heavy literature I had been reading, I picked up the complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, expecting, in essence, a fun romp. Sherlock Holmes was, I thought, the original puzzle-fiction: solvable who-dunnit (or how-dunnit) mysteries that encourage the reader to exercise their reasoning skills and that maybe teach something about
In her biography of Alexander Von Humboldt (influential 18th/19th century scientist who has been largely neglected by history), Andrea Wulf convincingly argues that Humboldt’s study of American biology was an important factor in the formation of a pan-American identity that led to Latin American independence from Spain. Up until Humboldt’s observations indicated otherwise, Europeans generally
The table with the big computer at the elementary school’s science expo is relatively empty. The grad students running it are sitting there feeling slightly awkward. They thought this was going to be for high schoolers. They’ve created a computer simulation of the universe. Not the real universe of course, but a 3+1 dimensional universe
