Ancient Walls and New Bridges

Ancient Walls and New Bridges

by | Sep 9, 2018

Eduard Habsburg “And thou, O Wall, O sweet, O lovely Wall …” “Why are you posting pics of walls all the time? Shouldn’t we rather … you know, build bridges?” a fellow Tweeter ironically suggested after I posted the umpteenth snapshot of my walk along the Aurelian Wall...
The Scientific Case for an Alarming Utopia

The Scientific Case for an Alarming Utopia

by | Aug 26, 2018

Enlightenment Now. The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress by Steven Pinker. Viking, 2018. Hardcover, 556 pages. $35. Reviewed by Jeffrey Folks Steven Pinker’s writing is intriguing. Just about everything he says is half right and half wrong. In this and...
The New Storytelling, From Tocqueville to Fortnite

The New Storytelling, From Tocqueville to Fortnite

by | Jul 15, 2018

By Titus Techera Computer games are the least discussed of our massive entertainment industries. Gaming is uniquely dominated by men and newest among our forms of entertainment, so the suspicion that it owes its success to its criticism of our society is still fresh....
Prophets of Paradise?

Prophets of Paradise?

by | Jul 15, 2018

Utopia Is Creepy: And Other Provocations by Nicholas Carr. W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2016. Hardcover, 360 pages, $15. Reviewed by Jacob Bruggeman Historians and science fiction writers, philosophers and some politicians, have for decades warned us of the...