More Great Essays


Here are some very recent essays that I recommend. I intended to write a blog post summarizing them but simply don’t have the time. Perhaps my readers will find one or more to be especially mind-opening.

The Meaning of Life in a World Without Work” – The Guardian

Why You Should Believe in the Digital Afterlife” – The Atlantic

Menace, as a Political Tool, Enters the Republican Mainstream” – The New York Times

But What Would The End of Humanity Mean for Me?” The Atlantic

Can Our Minds Live Forever?” – Scientific American

Yuval Noah Harari Believes This Simple Story Can Save the Planet” – The New York Times

Eight Rules of The School of Life” – The School of Life

Climate Change Has Exposed the Decline of the American Empire” – The Nation

How Will Our Species Survive in an Ever-Expanding Universe?” – Scientific American

What if Everything You Learned About Human History Is Wrong?” – The New York Times

What we owe to future generations: They’ll face extreme risks like climate change, pandemics, and artificial intelligence. We can help them survive.” – Vox

Is Goodness Natural” – Aeon Magazine

Why I Am Not a Libertarian” – The Weekly Sift

Why philosophy needs myth” – Aeon Magazine

Neuroscientist explains how fanatical Trump followers could lead us to societal collapse:” – Salon

I Survived 18 Years in Solitary Confinement: The harrowing injustice I suffered as a boy should never happen to another child in this country.” – The New York Times

That Luck Matters More Than Talent: A Strong Rationale for UBI” – Richard Carrier

Automation and Utopia: Human Flourishing in a World Without Work” – John Danaher

Can Artificial Intelligence Predict Religious Violence” – The Atlantic

Why Simplicity Works” – Aeon Magazine

Religious Freedom” means Christian Passive-Aggressive Domination” – The Weekly Sift

Questioning the Hype About Artificial Intelligence” – The Atlantic

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6 thoughts on “More Great Essays

  1. Skimmed over a half dozen of these essays, as an old schoolboy is wont to skim. The piece on libertarianism was the most appealing—who wouldn’t wish to be free? But even the birds are chained to the sky, as a poet (Rimbaud?) once wrote. Besides, ideology ended thirty years ago, when Communism ended. Still, libertarianism offers enough hope for it not to fade.
    So many rightists call themselves libertarian, when they are not really: Buckley died calling himself libertarian, when he was actually a conservative Catholic. George Will now refers to himself as libertarian, but he is in reality a moderate Tory. Anyone can be a libertarian—especially Goodfellas.
    A ‘connected’ wiseguy doesn’t pay taxes; he doesn’t have to even pay sales taxes if he can obtain things that fall off a truck. For this reason, it was inevitable—not merely predictable—that Russia would go mafiya.
    ————————-
    As for Christians being passive-aggressive, the first Commandment states that God is a jealous God. (The jealous clause is frequently left off the Commandment, so it often reads only that thou shalt have only one God.)
    Christians are supposed to be passive-aggressive: a jealous Deity is a passive-aggressive Deity; therefore Christians need become passive-aggressive themselves in worshipping a passive-aggressive God.

  2. The piece on libertarianism is first-rate. All the articles on “The weekly sift” are excellent.

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