Democracy’s biggest problem–without exaggeration–is the contempt politicians feel for those who elect them. The electors, the people, the voters; the heart of electoral democracies. One crystalline manifestation of this attitude occurs during those events that are designed to remind us, by their periodic occurrence, that we live in electoral democracies: elections. Then, the people’s opinionsContinue reading “The United Kingdom Sends Political Driving Directions To The US”
Author Archives: Samir Chopra
The Supposed Heritability Of Religion And Nationality
I am, supposedly, ‘Hindu’; my wife is similarly ‘Muslim.’ The scare quotes are there because we both regard our supposed ‘religious identities’ as ambiguous; we are not observant, but we were born into Hindu and Muslim families, and thus raised and acculturated into certain norms and cultural rites of passage–and their associated loyalties. (Such looseContinue reading “The Supposed Heritability Of Religion And Nationality”
Prophecy And Propaganda As Compensatory Fantasy
In a footnote in his chapter on Herder in Three Critics of The Enlightenment: Vico, Hamann, Herder (Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2000, p. 231), Isaiah Berlin writes: Like other passionate propagandists, Herder pleaded for that which he himself conspicuously lacked. As sometimes happens, what the prophet saw before him was a great compensatory fantasy. TheContinue reading “Prophecy And Propaganda As Compensatory Fantasy”
Middle-Aged Laments: Changing, Disappearing, Friendships
I feel old friendships changing, some diminishing in affection and interest, some fading in that crucial dimension of the interest we show in each others’ lives, and thus, threatening to vanish into insignificance. Some because of lack of attention, of the tender loving care that is needed to nurture relationships; some we have tried andContinue reading “Middle-Aged Laments: Changing, Disappearing, Friendships”
Property As Legal Construct
Property appears an abstract, transcendent, metaphysical concept from afar but on closer inspection reveals itself to be legally constructed. Like ‘person,’ property obtains its philosophical traction from a legal, economic, and social imperative to distribute resources, and thus, wealth and power. As a canonical legal textbook puts it, the “property system” that results from aContinue reading “Property As Legal Construct”
Yet Another Teaching Self-Evaluation
Time again, for a teaching self-evaluation. This semester, I taught three classes, and ran three independent studies. This workload was a mistake. I use the term ‘mistake’ because I signed up for those independent studies; that is, I chose to over commit myself. I had foolishly imagined I would be able to do justice toContinue reading “Yet Another Teaching Self-Evaluation”
Old Battles, Still Waged: Accepting ‘Defeat’ In Self-Improvement
Over the past couple of days, I have engaged in a time-honored academic ritual: the cleaning of one’s office. Old books, journal articles, student papers and blue books, random handouts from academic talks, conference badges–all fodder for the recycling bin. But I went further, looking for especially archaic material; and I found it in myContinue reading “Old Battles, Still Waged: Accepting ‘Defeat’ In Self-Improvement”
Will Artificial Intelligence Create More Jobs Than It Eliminates? Maybe
Over at the MIT Sloan Management Review, H. James Wilson, Paul R. Daugherty, and Nicola Morini-Bianzino strike an optimistic note as they respond to the “distressing picture” created by “the threat that automation will eliminate a broad swath of jobs across the world economy [for] as artificial intelligence (AI) systems become ever more sophisticated, another wave ofContinue reading “Will Artificial Intelligence Create More Jobs Than It Eliminates? Maybe”
A Familiar Sight, Both Pleasurable And Reassuring
My family and I have gone hiking on several occasions. While on them, a general pattern emerges–I normally walk ahead of my wife and daughter. When my daughter was a toddler, though she did walk for some short stints, at most times my wife carried her on her back in an Ergo carrier; now myContinue reading “A Familiar Sight, Both Pleasurable And Reassuring”
The Trump Presidency And The Iran-Contra Precedent
Perhaps because it has been over three decades, memories of the ginormous political clusterfuck that went by the name of Iran-Contra seem to have faded from our collective memory. As our nation’s polity lurches from one scandal to the next, and as cries of ‘impeachment, if not now, then when?‘ fill the air, it isContinue reading “The Trump Presidency And The Iran-Contra Precedent”
Samir Chopra 