Elites Failed the Discernment Test
Wednesday, August 13, 2025
Elites let their disfavor for cultural change, and a desire to cozy up to edgy ideas, turn into a normalizing and promotion of far-right ideas.
Long Posts
Roy Cooper, Prayer, and the Folly of Anti-Religious Collectivism
Tuesday, July 29, 2025
Roy Cooper’s Senate campaign announcement, which included a mention of prayer, sparked backlash on social media from people who’d rather be bigots than understand another’s faith.
Silicon Valley’s “996” Is About Power, not Productivity
Wednesday, July 23, 2025
The “996” work schedule reflects a troubling belief in sacrificing personal well-being for perceived productivity, driven more by power dynamics than actual efficiency.
AI and the Threat of Nostalgia Culture
Monday, July 14, 2025
The rise of AI-generated content risks overshadowing original creative works, potentially leading to a market collapse for writers and artists if consumers prefer nostalgia-driven remixes over new expressions, but the enduring human desire for innovation suggests that original art and writing will always have value.
An Inconsistent Approach to Viewpoint Diversity
Tuesday, July 8, 2025
If school choice is the answer to fights over curriculum in K-12 schools, it also needs to be the answer at universities. But culture war supporting libertarians don’t tend to apply the argument that consistently.
If You Want to Win Political Arguments, Stop Being an Asshole
Monday, June 30, 2025
Political persuasion versus the urge to political domination.
Reign of the Competency Cosplayers
Wednesday, February 26, 2025
American politics suffers from a lack of genuine expertise, as leaders prioritize performative competence and tribal loyalty over actual knowledge and skill.
The GOP is now just grifters grifting each other
Monday, February 24, 2025
The GOP has become a political movement of con artists conning each other without realizing they’re being conned.
Selling Out vs. Just Selling: The Weirdness of "Content" Monetization
Wednesday, February 12, 2025
A generational divide in the relationship between creators and their creations reflects a shift towards personal branding and content monetization, where the focus increasingly prioritizes selling oneself over creating meaningful art.
The Politics of "Unbiased" Conservative Search Engines
Wednesday, December 18, 2024
It’s impossible to build a search engine that isn’t biased and doesn’t manipulate results. But it is possible to convince conservatives you can.
The Shaky Future of Trump's Personality Cult
Monday, December 9, 2024
Given Trump’s poor and declining health, we might see the American right dramatically fracture during his second term.
Why, Despite the Numbers, Bluesky Feels Bigger than Threads
Sunday, November 24, 2024
Threads has significantly more active users than Bluesky, but feels a lot smaller. Why?
It's Okay if Your Social Media Platform is a Bubble
Sunday, November 17, 2024
Is it wrong to have a social media feed primarily of people you agree with?
The GOP's Competence Gap
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Republican talent has largely been replaced by amateurs and grifters. That’s a hole the right will have difficulty recovering from.
The Verge’s “Failure” is a Win for Everyone: Talent Networks as Networks
Thursday, August 29, 2024
Becca Farsace’s departure from The Verge highlights the dynamic nature of talent development within creative networks, where her growth is a shared success rather than a failure of retention.
Silicon Valley’s Very Online Ideologues are in Model Collapse
Monday, August 26, 2024
Like an AI trained on its own output, they’re growing increasingly divorced from reality, and are reinforcing their own worst habits of thought.
The Misuse of Meritocracy
Monday, August 19, 2024
On men who convince themselves they are the only true meritocrats because women somehow don‘t understand or don‘t appreciate the idea of merit.
The Necessary Virtue of Not Being an Asshole
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
No matter what you tell yourself, you can’t be a principled person if you’re an asshole.
Why Tech Bros Overestimate AI's Creative Abilities
Sunday, March 17, 2024
Silicon Valley’s overconfidence in the imminent arrival of Artificial General Intelligence stems from a combination of limited understanding of the humanities, an insular culture, and a business model that incentivizes exaggerated claims about AI’s capabilities.
Substack Doesn't Want You to Leave
Tuesday, February 27, 2024
Substack is in trouble, and their recent feature releases are evidence of that.
Liberalism and Sympathetic Joy
Friday, February 16, 2024
Liberalism thrives on pluralism and is reinforced by virtues like goodwill and sympathetic joy, which foster happiness and social harmony without imposing a single conception of the good life.
The Challenge of Committing to Liberty—and Meaning It
Wednesday, October 25, 2023
It is all too easy to abandon liberty when its practice inconveniences us.
Three Kinds of Conservatives
Wednesday, October 18, 2023
Conservatism encompasses three distinct forms—personal, social, and political—that should not be conflated with being “on the right,” which refers to an ideological perspective on natural human inequalities.
Surround Yourself With Those Who Are Admirable, and Distance Yourself From Those Who Aren’t.
Thursday, July 20, 2023
An examination of the place of admirable friendship in an ethical life.
How Social Media Tricks our Brains — and Destroys our Politics
Thursday, June 15, 2023
Social media convinces us our small communities are representative of the whole and tells us we’re more right than we really are.
Speaking Ill of the Dead
Thursday, June 8, 2023
Pat Robertson’s death prompts a necessary critique of his legacy as a figure who spread hate and exclusion, illustrating that speaking ill of profoundly harmful individuals can be justified, even immediately after their passing.
You Haven’t Been Canceled. You’re Just Unlikable.
Wednesday, May 3, 2023
Social rejection often isn’t about your ideas.
A Crash Course in Cultivating Liberal Virtues
Monday, April 24, 2023
Perfect virtue is impossible, and moral growth is challenging. But we can improve ourselves in practical ways, even if we can’t achieve the ideal.
Social Conservatism is Suffering
Friday, April 7, 2023
We cannot make permanent what is inevitably impermanent, and insisting otherwise brings distress. Better to embrace dynamism and social diversity
Hate Can Be Mainstream
Thursday, February 23, 2023
Bigotry is bigotry, even if the bigots are in the majority.