The map is not the territory The difference here is that even a wrong map provides you with an opportunity to learn. Without a map, you have no systematic way of learning about the territory — the rules of the game, what context specific play works and what is universal — other than hoping someone remembers it all and […]

I’m not sure if I like what I did here or not “As we reviewed her work together, she said something that really impressed me. She said, “I’m not sure if I like what I did here or not”. I loved it. Not what she did, but that she said that. It takes real confidence […]

Election Over-read “One crude way to describe the social order in this country is that straight, white progressives are at the top, conservatives are in the middle, and various presumably oppressed groups are at the bottom. Progressives prefer to read the election as a kick in the pants of the folks at the bottom. Conservatives […]

The Words That Remade America “Lincoln’s speech at Gettysburg worked several revolutions, beginning with one in literary style. Everett’s talk was given at the last point in history when such a performance could be appreciated without reservation. It was made obsolete within a half hour of the time when it was spoken. Lincoln’s remarks anticipated […]

How Two Trailblazing Psychologists Turned the World of Decision Science Upside Down Michael Lewis on Tversky and Kahneman: “Apparently, the foreign minister didn’t want to rely on the best estimates. He preferred his own internal probability calculator: his gut. “That was the moment I gave up on decision analysis,” said Danny. “No one ever made […]

What So Many People Don’t Get About the U.S. Working Class “One little-known element of that gap is that the white working class (WWC) resents professionals but admires the rich. […] professionals order them around every day. The dream is not to become upper-middle-class, with its different food, family, and friendship patterns; the dream is […]

Donald Trump Does Have Ideas—and We’d Better Pay Attention to Them “If you listen closely to Trump, you’ll hear a direct repudiation of the system of globalization and identity politics that has defined the world order since the Cold War. There are, in fact, six specific ideas that he has either blurted out or thinly […]