Did you know about the US Treaty of Tripoli in 1797?

Following piracy enslaving Americans and non-Muslims afflicting the young nation’s Mediterranean trade, the United States signed the Treaty of Tripoli in 1797. Article 11 of the treaty states As the government of the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the…

This week’s selected media, August 30, 2026: Civilized to Death, Vanishing New York

This week I finished: Civilized to Death: The Price of Progress, by Christopher Ryan: This book covered a huge part of what I’ve understood about how our culture formed. I didn’t learn much anthropology in school, maybe none. I woke up to it starting with…

The benefits of writing first thing in the morning

I should have tried years ago what I tried yesterday: to write first thing after waking up. For years, I’ve started nearly every day: wake up, make the bed, cross the room and turn off the alarm within sixty seconds of it going off, then…

Might I Be Wrong About Artificial Intelligence? How Wrong Could I Be?

I’ve written about AI, mainly problems. In Extreme Thoughts on Artificial Intelligence I explored the idea that AI offers no benefit, only the jolt of the feeling of accomplishment like the jolt of euphoria of opiates and solving problems created by the system and philosophy…

Is peace possible when nations deplete?

I don’t think I’m skipping too many steps in this question: Is peace possible when nations are depleting resources? I don’t think it’s possible in the long term. I’ve been looking. Please tell me if you see something I’m missing, though the possibility of stopping…

Another summer without air conditioning: 5 nights I woke up sweating. Hardly torture.

Last winter I mentioned to someone how crazy and wonderful I found it that while the first 40F degree day in November or December feels unbearably cold, a 40F day in February after a few days or weeks below freezing feels balmy. I wondered to…

Have I found the core of my book?

After well over a year working on my new book, finding deeper parts, I find myself getting closer to the core. I don’t know if there is one thing driving it, but I keep finding that things I thought were the core led to deeper…

Is the only way to reduce litter and garbage anywhere to overhaul American culture, maybe global? I guess we’ll have to do it then.

Regular readers know I pick up litter every day, in particular in Washington Square Park, effectively my back yard. It’s one of my sidchas. Today I must have arrived in the park just after a cleaning crew’s shift because I saw almost no litter. Was…

This week’s selected media, August 23, 2026: The Once and Future World, The Case for a Debt Jubilee, Parents Keep Out, Thread of Liberty, American Leviathan

This week I finished: The Once and Future World: Nature As It Was, As It Is, As It Could Be, by podcast guest J. B. MacKinnon: I read this book years ago, before recording the episodes with J. B. I reread it for the book…

More of my park visit besides where they mugged me

Today I’m sharing a wonderful and beautiful post of Philadelphia where I grew up, near my the sledding hill of one of my TEDx talks, after two related serious posts about me visiting sites of violence and crime visiting on me from my childhood—One of…