Reflections

A recent article in Nature reported on the results of the first (so far as I know) research into how search algorithms might encourage/promote partisanship. Turns out readers, not algorithms, are the issue. Readers, Not Algorithms, Are the Issue

There was an interesting op ed in the journal Science recently, talking about how, even in something as objective as the pursuit of scientific insights, you need a high-functioning community. The common image that truth is found when a single individual (usually a guy) in a white coat shouts “Eureka!” is flat out wrong. It

I’m embarrassed to admit that, like I suspect many White Americans, when I think about “Martin Luther King” and “speeches” I only come up with one: “I Have a Dream”. Granted, it is great, because it’s beautiful, intense, emotional and thought-provoking. But it’s not the only thing he ever delivered deserving of recognition. Jamelle Bouie,

One of our listeners contacted us to comment on our recent podcast, Toad to the White House, where we discussed, among other things, why both current convicts and former convicts have limited or nonexistent voting rights. It was correctly noted that we omitted a key point in that discussion — the fact that our justice

After recording our 19th podcast (The Toad to the White House) on voting rights a friend with far more knowledge of the Constitution than me taught me about the 15th Amendment. This provision grew out of the US Civil War and the effort immediately after that conflict to both forbid slavery and enshrine the ability