The Imminent Past
The Past is still with us; it's not even past. Relevant lessons from history.
Collection by Rick Powell
Aeon+Psyche
For 97% of human history, equality was the norm. What happened?
14+ min · · For 97 per cent of human history, all people had about the same power and access to goods. How did inequality ratchet up? · Shared by 440, including Simon C, Massimo Pigliucci, Helen De Cruz, Jason Silva, Liam Bright, Patricia Churchland, Alejandro Dominguez, Ceferino Díaz, ExApologist, Rick Powell, Tactical Tech, Marylin Delgado (@marylindelgado@zirk.us), Mark Bradley, Anita Leirfall
The New Yorker
The Unknown History of Black Uprisings
7 min · · In a new book, the historian Elizabeth Hinton reveals that, in the late sixties and early seventies, there were hundreds of local rebellions against white violence and racial inequality. · Shared by 86, including Anita Hill, Rick Powell, Jason Stanley, Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Yale University, Felix M
The New York Times
‘We’re Going to Publish’: An Oral History of the Pentagon Papers
8 min · · Secret hotel rooms, stolen classified documents and the bombshell scoop that exposed the lies behind the Vietnam War and led to a landmark Supreme Court decision. · Shared by 202, including David Folkenflik, Kendra "Gloom is My Beat" Pierre-Louis, Rick Powell, Ken Schwencke, Karen K. Ho, BenYT
The Atlantic
A Clue to Why the 1918 Pandemic Came Back Stronger Than Before
5 min · · Three 103-year-old-lung samples hinted at how the flu mutated to become more deadly. · Shared by 117, including Virginia Hughes, Marsha Collier, David Wallace-Wells, Rick Powell, Bethany Brookshire, Ken Schwencke
The New Yorker
The Mysterious Origins of the Cerne Abbas Giant
15+ min · · On a hillside ages ago, people inscribed a naked man with a twenty-six-foot-long erect penis. Why did they do it? · Shared by 12, including Rick Powell
The New York Times
A New Testament to the Fury and Beauty of Activism During the AIDS Crisis
5 min · · Sarah Schulman’s “Let the Record Show” is a history of ACT UP, the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, based on 17 years of interviews with nearly 200 members of the organization. · Shared by 45, including Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, Alison Bechdel, David Wallace-Wells, Gregg Gonsalves, Kyle Chayka, Rick Powell, Mar Hicks
Aeon+Psyche
How the fall of the Roman empire paved the road to modernity
13+ min · · The fall of the Roman Empire wasn’t a tragedy for civilisation. It was a lucky break for humanity as a whole · Shared by 320, including Felix M, Logical Analysis, Christian Fauteux, Anita Leirfall, Barry Ritholtz
Aeon+Psyche
Revolutionary archaeology reveals the deepest possible Anthropocene
14+ min · · A revolution in archaeology has exposed the extraordinary extent of human influence over our planet’s past and its future · Shared by 147, including 🧠 Larry G. Maguire, Anita Leirfall, [B]ad omen 👻, Dr. Marigo Raftopoulos, Liv 😷, Rick Powell
Atlas Obscura
A Rare Day-by-Day Document of Life Aboard a Slave Ship
4 min · · The logbook is written from the white perspective, and its horrors are plain to see. · Shared by 20, including Rick Powell, Esther Schindler, Dr. Janet D. Stemwedel, PhD 🏳️🌈
The Atlantic
A New Theory of Western Civilization
10 min · · Could a marriage policy first pursued by the Catholic Church a millennium and a half ago explain what made the industrialized world so powerful—and so peculiar? · Shared by 160, including Helen De Cruz, Pascal Sulser, Matt Ridley, Chris Isak, Kevin Roberts, Kendra "Gloom is My Beat" Pierre-Louis, Björn Ognibeni, Matthias Lampe, Noah Smith, Rick Powell
justinehsmith.substack.com
The Internet Is Not What You Think It Is
17+ min · · (This is a draft excerpt from my forthcoming book, The Living Mirror: A Philosophy of the Internet, appearing in 2021 from Princeton University Press. Text and title are still subject to change.) 1.… · Shared by 10, including Rick Powell
The Atlantic
An Oral History of the Bush-Gore Florida Recount
20+ min · · Problems in a single state resulted in the craziest presidential election in modern American history. A warning for 2020. · Shared by 67, including Rick Powell, Kevin Quealy
jacobinmag
The Lost History of Socialism’s DIY Computer
7 min · · The Galaksija computer was a craze in 1980s socialist Yugoslavia, inspiring thousands of people to build versions in their own homes. The idea behind them was simple — to make technology available to… · Shared by 47, including Kevin Marks 🏠kevinmarks.com xoxo.zone/@KevinMarks, Cory Doctorow @pluralistic@mamot.fr, Rick Powell, Matthias Lampe
The Guardian
Don't let the victors define morality
4 min · · The decision 75 years ago to use atomic bombs was fuelled not by strategy but by sheer inhumanity · Shared by 11, including Rick Powell
Science Magazine
Scientists pull living microbes, possibly 100 million years old, from beneath the sea
4 min · · Bacteria 75 meters below the sea floor began to divide after a light snack · Shared by 16, including Rick Powell, News from Science, Chris Isak, AAAS
Aeon+Psyche
How European empires broke the habit of opium consumption
14+ min · · European empires were addicted to opium smoking. Then their own agents launched a moral crusade to prohibit it · Shared by 95, including 🧠 Larry G. Maguire, Howard Getson, Rick Powell, Christian Surchi, Brian D. Earp, Ph.D.