What is the school of manners of the rising generation? There can be no doubt about that. It’s the web. Physically, we are still encased in the formalities of the industrial age. But these are empty gestures: meaningless rituals muttered … Continue reading
Three Exemplary Tales ONE: Your teenage son tells you he wants to become a woman. You confront this parental nightmare with the usual mix of bravado and bewilderment. You hope it’s a passing phase, and you send the kid to … Continue reading
You enter a dark forest and encounter a stranger. You both carry something of value. Neither of you can appeal to the police for protection. What happens in the dark forest stays in the dark forest, forever. How should you … Continue reading
Come with me down the virtual crater of a digital volcano, located anywhere in the world – but for the sake of the story, let’s say Iceland. We are about to embark on an inconceivable adventure: an excursion to the … Continue reading
The American university is in truth a medieval institution reformed along German lines in the 19th century. At that time, the university replaced the informal “republic of letters” as the arbiter of authority in published works. The academic self-image resembles … Continue reading
The latest issue of The Economist carries a longish essay on “The new politics of the internet” – in essence suggesting that web activism today may be at a take-off point, comparable to the birth of the environmental movement after … Continue reading
Karl Marx was a creature of the industrial revolution. Colossal productive forces were unleashed during his lifetime, which swept over and altered every form of human relations. An irreparable breach opened like a wound between nineteenth-century Europe and its own … Continue reading
