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Runaway Technology: What To Do?

Image credit: DepositphotosIn 2025 it’s hard to argue that social media are not to blame for...

Yes, We’re Living Inside A Simulation

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What are sustainable cities, and can we build them? I put my Institute Fellows’ decades of experience...

Something Happened In Silicon Valley

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After a dozen years as a market research executive, Fred Phillips was professor, dean, and vice provost at a variety of universities in the US, Europe, and South America. He is now Visiting Professor... Read More »

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Lost In Austin - The Evolution Of An American City

Lost In Austin - The Evolution Of An American City

Mar 16 2025 | comment(s)

       The book is author Alex Hannaford’s lament about changes in Austin, Texas, since his initial visit to the city in 1999. This at first spurred your reviewer, who moved to Austin in 1969, to think, “1999? Well, isn’t that just too precious?”

Number Theory In The English Department

Number Theory In The English Department

Mar 09 2025 | comment(s)

(Image by Henry Reich)       

One thing, singular. Two or more things, plural.

Subjects must agree with verbs in number: It is, they are.

What Will Become Of Reality?

What Will Become Of Reality?

Mar 02 2025 | comment(s)

For convenience, let’s say it started with Photoshop. That program made it obvious not only that we couldn’t believe our eyes any more, but that photographic evidence could no longer be admissible in court. Socioeconomic implications were even wider, as new industries popped up with products purporting to tell unretouched photos from photoshopped ones. (And the trademarked noun gave rise to a verb!)

My Most Important Column Ever

My Most Important Column Ever

Feb 11 2025 | comment(s)

       This column deals with political opposition, resistance, and the future of the nation. It dissects the Trump-Musk financial bromance and the role of VP Vance. Bear with me to its end, then please comment pro, con, or in between.

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The Notion Of Nations: Does A Nationalist Pol Know What A Nation Is?

The Notion Of Nations: Does A Nationalist Pol Know What A Nation Is?

Nov 12 2024 | comment(s)

Our outrage over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is due to our preference for democracy over autocracy, and to the danger of Russia pushing further westward into Europe. Perhaps most of all, we abhor the idea of one country violating the borders of another one.

To MAGAs, The Constitution Isn’t The Point

To MAGAs, The Constitution Isn’t The Point

Jan 23 2024 | comment(s)

1.     January 6 was a shocking aberration.

2.     Whether due to term limit or a lost election, each US president up through Barak Obama, and each presidential candidate up through Al Gore, gracefully yielded when the time came, because that’s how the American system works.