- David Graeber: Hostile Intelligence: Reflections from a Visit to the West Bank. From 2015, but ever-more relevant. “A life of calculated degradation” was an apt description for what has been going on, and it seems to have reached the end stage.
- The WSJ Editorial Board: Dr. Prasad, the FDA’s Grim Reaper. I won’t quote from this article because it is behind a paywall. Instead, here is FDR: “I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made.” (ᔥThe Niche)
- Chris Arnade: The meaning of, and in, McDonald’s. From December 2024 and I don’t know if I have linked to it before — likely I have — but it came to mind when reading the article below.
- Ted Gioia: David Foster Wallace Tried to Warn Us About these Eight Things. They are, as summarized by Gioia (but do read the whole article for the explanation):
- Screen technology will cause a crisis of loneliness, especially among young people.
- This will lead to widespread depression.
- This will also happen at a larger scale. Society will grow more fragmented and disconnected.
- Screen technology promises to liberate us, but the reality is that it controls us for the benefit of others.
- The people who control the technology work to hide their purposes and goals.
- Our survival will depend on our ability to remain independent of these forces.
- We don’t have many tools, but kindness and compassion will be the starting point.
- Art can help us heal.
Indeed.