Here are some articles you should be reading! 2

Some insightful articles I came across during the previous week.

Sep 17, 2020

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I’d seen some great engagement on the first post of this series. As such, I felt that perhaps this was something people are interested in. This week I will be continuing the series. Overall, I delved quite deeply into articles that emphasized the political despair taking place in America. More specifically, a lot of them would deal with inequality.

Without further ado, here are some articles you should be reading:

A Political Philosopher on Why Democrats Should Think Differently About Merit: I first became acquainted with Michael Sandal’s work through The Future Of The Professions. Therein, they cited him in reference to their advocacy of the liberalization of professions. But what exactly would that have to do with Sandel? Well, he’d been a very prominent proponent of the idea (or insight to be more accurate) that the western world has been leaving almost every bit of its society to the Market. Countries like the US and the UK were steadily becoming market societies rather than market economies. A state where everything is for sale. Richard and Daniel Susskind’s defense is something I’ll make mention of in my notes. In this article, however, Sandel speaks to the Evan Osnos about the fact that meritocracy serves no one but those who already find themselves well to do in the first place. Sandel makes note of the fact that the meritocratic and technocratic elite may very well have been responsible for the rise of populist leaders like Donald Trump. Read Here.

How Rich is Too Rich?: When Sam Harris posted this blog post nearly 9 years ago, he documented the vast blowback he received in his subsequent blog post How to Lose Readers (without even trying). Sam asked the sacrilegious question of “how much wealth is too much?”. Today as we’re seeing a vast upward redistribution of wealth in America his question seems to be more relevant than ever. Read Here.

Peter Thiel Met With The Racist Fringe As He Went All-In On Trump: I’d previously written on Peter Thiel’s podcast with Eric Weinstein. I would also subsequently write a review on the book ‘Zero To One’; a book I found to be an intriguing piece of writing regarding business philosophy. In many ways I admired the savvy he depicted in his book and the media he presented despite my disagreements on many points. That is until I read this article. His willingness to align with the authoritarian and quasi-fascist Dark-Enlightenment movement is a step too far for me. It doesn’t make Zero To One any less of an intriguing read. But I will forever be cautious of the nature of his thinking and whatever subtle influences his political alignment may make him privy to. Read Here.

The Young and the Reckless: Although I had initially listened to this story from the DarkNet Diaries podcast, Wired’s article presented a different perspective. The article is an account of a bunch of kids’ fascination with Hacking the Xbox console and how that fascination would eventually lead to jail time and even deaths. I tried my best not to give too much away, but this is definitely a story you should read for yourselves. Read Here.

That’s it for today. If you have any article recommendations feel free to link them in the comments below.

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