Beyond Intractability in Context Blog
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Posts ordered from most recent to earliest.
- An explanation of an important, but often neglected, strategy for preventing extreme candidates (like President Trump) from winning their party's nomination. -- How to Stop 2024 From Looking Like 2016 -- Mar 24
- As we, with the benefit of hindsight, reflect on the 20th anniversary of the war in Iraq, a cautionary argument about how consensus can lead us astray. -- Sometimes, Consensus Can Be Ruinous -- Mar 24
- As we try to find a viable strategy for combating Russia's naked invasion of Ukraine, a look at how domestic US politics could, instead, wind up strengthening this kind of brutality. -- Is Ron DeSantis Flaming Out Already? -- Mar 23
- An exploration of how the complexities of language can make it vastly more difficult to work through the big issues that divide us. -- You Can’t Define Woke -- Mar 23
- An example of the kind of guide to understanding "expert" opinion that we need to make sensible use of expert analyses of all complex social problems . -- How to be a smart consumer of climate attribution claims -- Mar 22
- Reassuring new data indicating that the impact of today's high-tech propaganda is much less than we might otherwise have feared. -- Propaganda (Almost) Never Works -- Mar 22
- For those watching (or participating in) Israel's us-vs-them confrontation over "judicial reform," a link to an authoritative, balanced and detailed analysis of the issues as well as some suggested compromises. -- The Levin-Rothman Plan for Altering the Justice System: A Comprehensive Analysis and Proposal for Consideration -- Mar 21
- The genuinely interesting effort to add diversity and nuance to often bipolar discussions about race. -- Intellectual Brown Web (IBW): An Introduction -- Mar 21
- A thought-provoking article for the many of us who have spent our careers in nonprofit organizations working to address society's big problems. -- Do Non-profits Drive Social Change? -- Mar 20
- As we strive for an environment that protects us from threats ranging from the "micro" to the truly major, it's worth thinking seriously about when such an effort becomes counterproductive. -- The Illusion of a Frictionless Existence -- Mar 20
- In the complex and chaotic social environment in which we live, we have to recognize that irreducible uncertainties will, at times, make our most careful plans look foolish. Still, we need to do the best we can. -- Change Makes Fools of Us All -- Mar 19
- A call for balancing efforts to address continuing racial problems with a companion effort to recognize and sustain the progress that has been made. -- Why Racial Discussions Should Also Focus on Progress -- Mar 19
- A detailed look at the most dangerous and violent aspect of today's hyper-polarized politics. -- America’s Terrifying Cycle of Extremist Violence -- Mar 18
- A critical and doubtless controversial look at today's many protest movements. As we fight to make the world a better place, we need to be careful not to make the mistakes that this article highlights. -- Protest Porn -- The pleasure-seeking behind today’s righteous causes -- Mar 18
- As geopolitical tensions rise, we may be tempted to take refuge in the simplistic bipolar, thinking of the Cold War. However, what we really need to do is learn how navigate an emerging multipolar world. -- America Is Too Scared of the Multipolar World -- Mar 17
- A reminder that, even in a multi-polar world, coalition building dynamics can lead to dangerous polarization and, conceivably, a major confrontation between the authoritarianism and democracy. -- Putin Has Assembled an Axis of Autocrats Against Ukraine -- Mar 17
- Another reminder that the global security situation is changing rapidly. If we don't find a way to adapt to these changes, we risk a breakdown of the system that has been protecting us from major power conflict. -- The U.S. Is Not Yet Ready for the Era of ‘Great Power’ Conflict -- Mar 16
- For those thinking in terms of victory over, rather than accommodation with, the other side of the political divide, a warning about where this is taking us. -- Take Threats of ‘National Divorce’ Seriously -- Mar 16
- A good news story about how those at lower levels of the social hierarchy are, in today's tight job market, doing surprisingly well with wage gains that would have been considered impossible just a few years ago. -- Low-wage workers are finally catching a break -- Mar 15
- More reflections on the Dominion lawsuit revelations and evidence that inflammatory media coverage is transforming the political environment in ways that we have yet to figure out how to reverse. -- Rupert Murdoch Rides the Trump Tiger — and Gets Eaten -- Mar 15
- Insight into the reasons why so many of our most talented, hard-working, and successful young people are struggling and losing faith in the system. -- Why So Many Elites Feel Like Losers -- Mar 14
- For a complex world in which we are utterly dependent upon expert advice to keep the system running, welcome news that there are experts specializing in how to obtain advice that is genuinely trustworthy. -- Improve how science advice is provided to governments by learning from “experts in expert advice” -- Mar 13
- From Samantha Powers, thoughtful reflections on what democratic societies can do to defend themselves against increasingly aggressive authoritarian regimes. -- How Democracy Can Win -- Mar 13
- Another look at the complex political crisis engulfing Israel and a call for caution on the part of those in the US who want to get involved. We could easily make things worse rather than better. -- How U.S. Ambassador Tom Nides Became Israel’s Arsonist-in-Chief -- Mar 13
- An example of a practical project designed to overcome some of the problems associated with emergency response systems. -- 7 quick facts about accesSOS — a text to 911 app that triages emergency responses and gets people the help they actually need -- Mar 12
