James Hallman The Wellspring of Belief I recently met someone who told me that the United States has 52 states. The nature of our conversation precluded me from making this the problem I was going to focus on, but it did introduce a number of questions. What were the two extra states called? Where were they? When … Read more
Modernity is defined by the computer. Over the course of my lifetime, they have moved out of the shadows of government, education, and business to become completely implanted into our lives. Software shapes our experience in ways undreamt of by even the most prescient science fiction writers of the past, and the hardware that it … Read more
No one should ever be driven to despair because of work. That’s not to say that you won’t be (and frankly, if passion is your guide, a little despair should come naturally), but simply to say that it shouldn’t be the norm, and it certainly shouldn’t be imposed. Despair can come up a lot of … Read more
Power is a funny thing. History teaches that it’s best when it is unexercised, even while it’s impossible to hold in silence (money as speech). And maybe this why the evolution of human societies has been such an agonizingly slow one. For the most part, little changes, and whatever counts as sudden movement has typically been spurred … Read more
I’ve been thinking some about the nature of corporate governance, and how it relates back to the state, civilization, and the cause of human flourishing. Suffice to say, I don’t think we’ve done a great job as stewards of our civilization. If we’re going to turn a corner and make the world a better place, … Read more
Note: I wrote this originally in 2018; I include it here simply because it’s started to feel somewhat prophetic today. “People worry that computers will get too smart and take over the world, but the real problem is that they’re too stupid and they’ve already taken over the world.” ―Pedro Domingos The Lacanian Thorn: If … Read more