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Tag: criticism

Review: Rebecca Solnit’s “Men Explain Things to Me”

“I think the future of something we may no longer call feminism must include a deeper inquiry into men,” writes Rebecca Solnit in the closing pages of Men Explain Things to Me. “Feminism sought and seeks to change the whole human world; many men are on board with the project, but how it benefits men, […]

Quotes 6-4-2015

“I argued that you don’t know if your actions are futile; that you don’t have the memory of the future; that the future is indeed dark, which is the best thing it could be; and that, in the end, we always act in the dark. The effects of your actions may unfold in ways you […]

Review: Martin Ford’s “Rise of the Robots”

If you decide to read one piece of nonfiction this summer, let this be it. Martin Ford’s Rise of the Robots: Technology and the Threat of a Jobless Future is one of the most intelligent and important works of futurism to date. Although the book’s title might trigger images of popcorn and 3D glasses rather […]

Quotes 5-12-2015

“In an interview with CBS News, the president of the United States was asked if the nation’s dire unemployment problem was likely to improve soon. ‘There’s no magic solution,’ he replied. ‘To even stand still we have to move very fast.’ By this, he meant that the economy needs to create tens of thousands of […]

Quotes 5-11-2015

“‘You see, Princess Nell, you have conquered this world today, and now that you have conquered it, you’ll find it a rather boring place. Now it’s your responsibility to make new worlds for other people to explore and conquer.’ King Coyote waved his hand out the window into the vast, empty white space where once […]

Quotes 5-6-2015

“‘There are only two industries. This has always been true,’ said Madame Ping, enfolding a lovely porcelain teacup in her withered fingers, the two-inch fingernails interleaving neatly like the pinions of a raptor folding its wings after a long hard day of cruising the thermals. ‘There is the industry of things, and the industry of […]

Review: Robert Kuttner’s “Debtors’ Prison”

Since well before the 2008 financial crisis, the practice of economic austerity has beleaguered American and European politics. Praised by the right as a panacea of renewed financial responsibility, and decried by the left as a mechanism for dismantling the West’s already struggling middle classes, austerity signifies a critical juncture where battered economies face radically […]

Quotes 5-4-2015

“A book is different––it is not just a material possession but the pathway to an enlightened mind, and thence to a well-ordered society, as the Master stated many times.” ––The Diamond Age: Or, a Young Lady’s Illustrated Primer, by Neal Stephenson, loc. 2709-16   “This view of the current crisis and its necessary remedy is […]

Quotes 5-1-2015

“We ignore the blackness of outer space and pay attention to the stars, especially if they seem to order themselves into constellations. ‘Common as the air’ meant something worthless, but Hackworth knew that every breath of air that Fiona drew, lying in her little bed at night, just a silver glow in the moonlight, was […]

Quotes 4-30-2015

“Finkle-McGraw began to develop an opinion that was to shape his political views in later years, namely, that while people were not genetically different, they were culturally as different as they could possibly be, and that some cultures were simply better than others. This was not a subjective value judgment, merely an observation that some […]