“Wisdom is not a product of schooling but of the lifelong attempt to acquire it.” — Albert Einstein
What Will the World Look Like in 2030?–When people imagine the future, they tend to assume that most things will stay the same, or that the trends of the recent past will continue in a linear fashion. But the world today looks very different than people expected it to look in 2010. And one thing that is virtually certain about this coming decade is that the...
Selective Hearing–Last August, one of the country’s most successful podcasts was accused of multiple incidents of plagiarism. Called Crime Junkie, the weekly show has used what seems to be an irresistible formula to rocket to number-one status in numerous rankings: In each episode, cohosts Ashley Flowers and Brit Prawat give an intrigue-laced account of a...
The Equality Conundrum–The complexities of egalitarianism are especially frustrating because inequalities are so easy to grasp. C.E.O.s, on average, make almost three hundred times what their employees make; billionaire donors shape our politics; automation favors owners over workers; urban economies grow while rural areas stagnate; the best health care goes to...
Our Organ Donation System Is Unfair. The Solution Might Be Too.–But just like some New Yorkers and Californians thought the old system was unfair, people from states like Missouri and Iowa see unfairness in the new system. In January, 22 senators signed an open letter to the Department of Health and Human Services demanding answers about how the new policy...
DOES RAISING TEACHER SALARIES IMPROVE PERFORMANCE?–Fifteen years ago, Indonesia embarked on a policy experiment that shed new light on how salaries affect teacher effort. Over the course of 10 years, Indonesia raised salaries by more than a quarter for a subset of teachers. They randomized the roll-out across schools, which allowed researchers to compare...
The Paranoid Style in American Politics–American politics has often been an arena for angry minds. In recent years we have seen angry minds at work mainly among extreme right-wingers, who have now demonstrated in the Goldwater movement how much political leverage can be got out of the animosities and passions of a small minority. But behind this I believe there...
How Ramona Quimby Helps Kids Make Sense of this Unstable World–Ramona reminds us that many of our adult-constructed rules don’t make much sense. Why would her teacher, who has told the class she cares for them and reinforced the importance of the kindergarten classroom practices, stay home sick and leave them with a stranger as a substitute—an older, sensible...
Will Public Opinion Turn Against Assault Weapons?–In wondering whether the American public, in contrast to its representatives, is interested in solving this problem, I came across this helpful Upshot matrix tracking both the most effective policies (as measured in a poll of experts) and the most popular ones. Some of the most popular ideas—those with support...
In Defense Of The Emotional Support Hamster–Alternatively: Maybe people just want to take their cat on a plane, and not pay the hundred-plus dollars that airlines charge for the privilege. Perhaps, after a decade where airlines learned to fee-gouge in every possible way, for everything from checking luggage to changing flights and selecting seats, their...