Political scientist, contributor to the Atlantic, and author of People vs Democracy.
When I first started teaching undergraduates at Harvard, the grading system the university employed struck me as very odd. Even ambitious students at top colleges in the United States see it as their job to answer any essay question in the most thorough and reasonable way. They regurgitate the dominant view in scholarly literature in
Google recently launched its AI image generator, Gemini. Users could type in a description and then, in seconds, the algorithm would create the requested painting or photograph. There was just one hitch: Gemini, more neatly than any previous AI, showcased the extent to which the political sensibilities of the Silicon Valley elite are shaping this
A few months ago, I visited Angkor Wat, the majestic temple in present-day Cambodia that once stood at the centre of a vast empire. As the five towers of the palace came into view, I was, despite the intense heat, fully immersed in the beauty of the place. I imagined how excited a visitor from
28 min listen
On the podcast: In his cover piece for the mag this week, political scientist, Yascha Mounk has written about why identity politics has polarised our understanding of race. And why the left has come to divide groups into oversimplified categories of ‘the oppressors’ and ‘the oppressed’. Also this week: Can we trust photographs to paint
When two planes flew into the World Trade Center on 11 September 2001, the world stood in solidarity with the United States. In London, ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ was played at Buckingham Palace. ‘We are all Americans,’ declared Le Monde. In Berlin, 200,000 people took to the streets to express their sorrow. This makes it all
40 min listen
On the podcast this week, we take a look at the exceptional nature of ‘coronomics’ and what comes after (00:55), how the Swedish are dealing with coronavirus differently (18:50), and lessons in solitude from a polar explorer (31:15).
