archive

The logic of life

From The Observer Review, a special issue on the political and cultural revolution that took place in 1968. Creative class, dismissed: Jean-Jacques Rousseau articulately rejected the nobility of art; for art students, that's a serious downer. A painful history: Democracies like to think they oppose torture, but they only keep it out of sight. Science 2.0: Wikis, blogs and other collaborative web technologies could usher in a new era of science — or not.  A review of The Spirit of Democracy: The Struggle to Build Free Societies Throughout the World by Larry Diamond. Two excerpts from Tim Harford's The Logic of Life (and more). From Scientific American, a series of articles on the future of physics. Rebels with Causes: Christopher Hitchens, Thomas Paine, and two modern revolutions. Justin Raimondo on why the Beltway libertarians are trying to smear Ron Paul. A Tale of Three Cities: Linked by a shared economic culture, New York City, London and Hong Kong are exemplars and explanations of globalization. A review of Big History: From the Big Bang to the Present by Cynthia Stokes Brown. Thomas Shelling on uncertainty and action on climate change. Scott McLemee reviews Women for President: Media Bias in Eight Campaigns by Erika Falk. Why business ignores the business schools: Managers tend to be practical, proceeding by trial and error: this works, that does not.