Daily Picks

Society & Ideas

Society & Ideas

History, society, ideas and arguments — the long reads about how we live and how we think

The Conversation
Dolly Parton took control of her career by making men the butt of the jokeDolly Parton took control of her career by making men the butt of the joke, using humor to overturn the country music industry's biases against women.
The Conversation
The Honest Broker
The 3 Bad Types of Humanities ProfessorThe author argues that bad humanities teaching either bores students with trivia, mocks the classics, or fawns over mediocre texts, while good teaching means taking great works seriously.
The Honest Broker
WESTENBERG
Congratulations on Your Unprecedented CrisisEvery era believes it faces an unprecedented crisis, but history shows this sense of 'present-day apocalypse' is a recurring illusion, and overconfidence in uniqueness hampers practical response.
WESTENBERG
The Atlantic · Health
Pennsylvania’s Public-Health Officials May Be Wrong About a Measles DeathPennsylvania officials oversold a measles death that local investigators did not attribute to the virus, handing ammunition to the anti-vaccine movement.
The Atlantic · Health
ChinaTalk
How the US and China Are Meme-ifying Modern WarBoth the US and China are packaging military operations with memes, cute animal filters, and video-game edits to make war look light and fun, numbing the public to real violence.
ChinaTalk
Your Local Epidemiologist
Two more kids die. And one more theater show.The measles tragedy has been turned into a stage by anti-vaccine forces, while the real victims—sick children and suffering communities—are being ignored.
Your Local Epidemiologist
RogerEbert.com
Live Wire: Michael Wright, 1956-2026Michael Wright was a magnetic actor who made every role unforgettable, yet his career never reached the heights it deserved, due to race and personal struggles, leaving a profound sense of loss.
RogerEbert.com
WESTENBERG
The Art of Agency LaunderingPeople use AI models as a shield to dodge responsibility, but the start of the chain always points back to the human who made the initial decision.
WESTENBERG
Blood in the Machine
With the backlash to data centers, Flock and AI glasses, a mass opposition to big tech is underway. Silicon Valley is in denial.The public's fierce resistance to data centers, surveillance cameras, and AI glasses is rational, but the tech industry, hooked on promises of trillion-dollar revenues, responds with denial and delusion instead of soul-searching.
Blood in the Machine
Uncharted Territories
Shallow Intent: Why People Don’t Like AI Content, and How to Make It GreatPeople dislike AI-generated content not because it is machine-made but because it lacks deep intent — no thought behind the details.
Uncharted Territories
The Conversation
Why Democrats are amplifying corruption talk: A historical strategy for parties out of powerDemocrats amplified corruption talk in the 2026 midterms not because corruption worsened, but as a strategy for an out-of-power party to undermine opponents and mask internal divisions.
The Conversation
Rest of World
Why the global push to break free from Big Tech keeps falling shortGlobal attempts to break free from US big tech keep failing because they never tackle the core issue of intellectual monopolization and structural technological dependence.
Rest of World
Noahpinion
The death of Market StreetThe decline of San Francisco's Market Street wasn't just the pandemic and crime; the city's ban on cars, without creating space for pedestrians, made it worse.
Noahpinion
RogerEbert.com
Shabana Amzi on Her Career, Vulnerability, and “Batwara 1947”Despite decades of fame, veteran actress Shabana Azmi still felt exposed and humiliated on set, exposing the industry's lack of protective measures for actors.
RogerEbert.com
The Atlantic · Health
More American Families Are Refusing VaccinesU.S. kindergarten vaccine exemption rates hit a record high, with some states falling below safe vaccination thresholds and measles making a dangerous comeback.
The Atlantic · Health

Other topics

TechBusiness & ProductInvestingEconomics & PolicyScience & HealthLife & Work