Public Discourse We avoid difficult conversations to keep the peace — and often guarantee a worse one later. Most of us treat silence as the safe, neutral, considerate option. When a conversation threatens to become difficult — a disagreement with a friend, a problem with a colleague, a tension in a family — we tell … Read more
Public Discourse The opposite of a strawman — and one of the most powerful thinking tools you can practice. There is a simple intellectual move that, practiced consistently, will make you a clearer thinker, a more persuasive arguer, and a more generous human being all at once. It is called steelmanning, and it is the … Read more
Public Discourse We’ve never had more access to opposing ideas — and never worked harder to avoid them. One of the strange features of the information age is that unprecedented access to every conceivable viewpoint has coincided with people feeling more sealed inside their own. We could, in theory, read the best arguments from every … Read more
Public Discourse The feeds that feel like they’re showing you the world are quietly optimizing you for fury. It is worth sitting with an uncomfortable possibility: that the anger you feel when you open a social feed is not an accident, not a reflection of how bad the world has gotten, but a product — … Read more