It’s Friday, September 18.
asserted
It → ’ → ?
Is your pastor using ChatGPT?
asserted
pastor → use → ChatGPT
Hasan Piker says America is worse than al-Qaeda.
asserted
America → say → Qaeda
Will these New York nuns ever get their money back?
asserted
nuns → get → money
But first: What’s gone wrong with the right?
asserted
What → go → right
One of the more disturbing trends in American political life is the way in which once fringe ideas are forcing their way into respectable conservative institutions.
asserted
One → force → institutions
Erick Erickson, a rock-ribbed conservative and influential writer and radio host, is one of the people raising the alarm.
asserted
Erickson → rib → alarm
He believes a network of wealthy donors, activists, intellectuals, and online personalities are pushing a radical vision for the American right, shaped by racial grievance, authoritarianism, and a rejection of liberal democracy.
asserted
network → believe → democracy
At the center of the movement is Charles Haywood, whose donations and writings have gained him influence within conservative organizations.
asserted
donations → gain → organizations
In his piece for us today, Erick traces those connections through think tanks, churches, and advocacy groups, and he tracks the spread of a new philosophy: No enemies to the right.
asserted
he → trace → right
Even Vice President J.D. Vance is implicated, he says.
asserted
he → implicate → ?
This is a story about what happens when a movement stops policing its own boundaries, and instead treats its own longstanding principles as a problem to eradicate.
asserted
movement → happen → problem
If you want to understand what is happening on the right today, it’s a must-read.
asserted
it → want → right
There is a little-known philosophy shared by many of the tech executives who are trying to slow down AI, and its principles don’t always square with American values.
asserted
principles → be → values
It’s called effective altruism, and this week, Palantir chief technology officer Shyam Sankar argued that its focus on existential risks and the distant future could set back American progress.
uncertain
focus → call → progress
Sankar traces effective altruism from its intellectual roots to the rise of AI “doomerism,” and he argues that behind the warnings about extinction lies a much bigger question: Will elites get to choose how quickly America develops the most consequential technology of the 21st century, or will the public decide?
asserted
public → trace → century
For more coverage of the debate about AI and the future of humanity, don’t miss Niall Ferguson on whether it’s AIpocalypse now, and Tyler Cowen on why the AI lab slowdown is not what it seems.
asserted
it → miss → Ferguson
Sydney Sweeney’s beauty has apparently become a political problem.
asserted
beauty → become → ?
A sports-betting ad featuring the actress this month triggered a cultural freakout, including accusations of objectification, and a debate about how women are allowed to appear in public.
asserted
women → bet → public
But Caitlin Flanagan saw something more revealing behind the outrage.
asserted
Flanagan → see → outrage
People have become determined to complicate the age-old fact that sex sells—or they insist that women apologize for it.
asserted
women → become → it
The controversy over Sweeney, she writes, is really about whether we can still talk honestly about beauty, sex, and feminine power.
asserted
we → write → beauty
Ayaan Hirsi Ali took aim at one of the most fashionable ideas in Western commentary, recently boosted by The Economist: the notion that Islamic extremism and the European far right are essentially two symmetrical threats.
asserted
extremism → take → Economist
But as Ayaan argues, this neat formulation ignores differences in ideology, history, and institutional power.
asserted
formulation → argue → ideology
The result is a kind of moral symmetry that may sound enlightened, but which overlooks uncomfortable realities about Islamism, immigration, and the future of Europe.
uncertain
which → sound → Europe
Patrick Clancy lost all three of his children, ran the Boston Marathon in their memory, and raised money for the hospital that cared for his son.
asserted
that → lose → son
Two years later, strangers watching his wife’s trial are scrutinizing that marathon, and have decided that a grieving father who can still run, smile, and function must be hiding something.
asserted
who → watch → something
Amanda Knox became an unwilling celebrity after being convicted and then exonerated of murder, and she understands Clancy’s nightmare.
asserted
she → become → nightmare
Once the internet decides you must be a monster, Amanda writes, every action you take becomes evidence against you.
asserted
you → decide → you
The Aporia
