Society

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9 Best Articles in 2021
POLITICO
Coronavirus Will Change the World Permanently. Here’s How.POLITICO
20+ min read · 2020-03-20 ·  The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the 2008 financial crisis changed how Americans perceive their country and the world. The coronavirus pandemic has quarantined people in their homes, and altered their relationships and how they view the institutions that govern them. As with earlier crises, the coronavirus crisis may change people and US society as a whole in fundamental and lasting ways. No one can predict how this will play out. Politico Magazine asked experts and thinkers for their visions of the future. 
coronavirus
society
changes
Guardian Books
The real Lord of the Flies: what happened when six boys were shipwrecked for 15 monthsGuardian Books
~12 min read · 2020-05-09 · When a group of schoolboys were marooned on an island in 1965, it turned out very differently to William Golding’s bestseller, writes Rutger Bregman
society
words
people
BuzzFeed News
How Millennials Became The Burnout GenerationBuzzFeed News
20+ min read · From 2019 ·  Some claim millennials are lazy and entitled – unable to do basic tasks that older adults have just gotten on with for years. Anne Helen Petersen, senior culture writer for Buzzfeed News, rejects those labels. Milllennials like herself, she argues, are merely trying their best to navigate trends like skyrocketing student loans and an underpaying, perk-free gig economy. Millennials will likely not be the only ones who feel that her insights and observations are almost painfully on the nose. 
mental health
society
work
VICE
MIT Predicted in 1972 That Society Will Collapse This Century. New Research Shows We're on ScheduleVICE
5 min read · Jul 14th · A 1972 MIT study predicted that rapid economic growth would lead to societal collapse in the mid 21st century. A new paper shows we're unfortunately right on schedule.
future
society
climate change
Most highlighted
In 1972, a team of MIT scientists got together to study the risks of civilizational collapse. Their system dynamics model published by the Club of Rome identified impending ‘limits to growth’ (LtG) that meant industrial civilization was on track to collapse sometime within the 21st century, due to overexploitation of planetary resources.
The best available data suggests that what we decide over the next 10 years will determine the long-term fate of human civilization.
perhaps the most important implication of her research is that it’s not too late to create a truly sustainable civilization that works for all.
ProPublica
The Secret IRS Files: Trove of Never-Before-Seen Records Reveal How the Wealthiest Avoid Income TaxProPublica
20+ min read · Jun 8th · ProPublica has obtained a vast cache of IRS information showing how billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Warren Buffett pay little in income tax compared to their massive wealth — sometimes,…
society
tax
Most highlighted
The data provides an unprecedented look inside the financial lives of America’s titans, including Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Rupert Murdoch and Mark Zuckerberg.
The IRS records show that the wealthiest can — perfectly legally — pay income taxes that are only a tiny fraction of the hundreds of millions, if not billions, their fortunes grow each year.
Visual Capitalist
How COVID-19 Has Impacted Media Consumption, by GenerationVisual Capitalist
~16 min read · 2020-04-07 · This visualization explores how each generation's media consumption is changing amid the frenzy of pandemic-induced quarantines.
media
society
genz
The Spectator
We’ve just had the best decade in human history. SeriouslyThe Spectator
6 min read · 2019-12-19 · Let nobody tell you that the second decade of the 21st century has been a bad time. We are living through the greatest improvement in human living standards in history. Extreme poverty has fallen…
society
technology
future
The New York Times
John Lewis: Together, You Can Redeem the Soul of Our NationThe New York Times
4 min read · 2020-07-30 · Though I may not be here with you, I urge you to answer the highest calling of your heart and stand up for what you truly believe.
society
The New York Times
The American AbyssThe New York Times
~19 min read · Jan 9th · A historian of fascism and political atrocity on Trump, the mob and what comes next
society
politics
New this week
Why longtermism is the world’s most dangerous secular credo
Aeon+Psyche
Americans are ready to tax the rich
Vox
Take a deep dive
Recently popular
Guardian Books
The big idea: should we work less?Guardian Books
5 min read · Oct 11th · A shorter working week could benefit society, the environment - even the economy. Is it time to reassess our relationship with our jobs?
future of work
career
economy
Most highlighted
As Amelia Horgan notes in her book Lost in Work, “We, almost always, need a job more than a job needs us. Our entrance into work is unfree, and while we’re there, our time is not our own.”
The way we work, produce and consume has set the planet on fire, but the good news is that a shorter work week can be part of the solution.
Perhaps the most important reason to consider working less is that the looming climate catastrophe makes the Covid crisis look manageable by comparison.
The Guardian
All women know they are preyThe Guardian
5 min read · Oct 1st · Despite the horrifying levels of violence against women, there is no strategy to end it. Just promises to ‘learn lessons’, says Guardian columnist Marina Hyde
society
Vox
Why this Facebook scandal is differentVox
5 min read · Oct 4th · Internal evidence that former Facebook product manager Frances Haugen shared shows Facebook has known — but ignored — the harm it causes.
facebook
social media
society
Most highlighted
The reports revealed that the company knew its products can cause meaningful harm — including negatively impacting the mental health of teens — but it still has not made major changes to fix such problems.
On Sunday evening, a former Facebook employee who has previously revealed damning internal documents about the company came forward on 60 Minutes to reveal her identity
For years, we’ve known many of these issues — via journalists and researchers — but Facebook has been able to claim that they have an ax to grind and so we shouldn’t trust what they say. This time, the documents speak for themselves,” she told Recode.
Aeon+Psyche
Why longtermism is the world’s most dangerous secular credoAeon+Psyche
20+ min read · Oct 19th · It started as a fringe philosophical theory about humanity’s future. It’s now richly funded and increasingly dangerous
society
future
Most highlighted
On this view, a climate catastrophe will be a small blip – like a 90-year-old who stubbed his toe when he was two
This is the central dogma of longtermism: nothing matters more, ethically speaking, than fulfilling our potential as a species of ‘Earth-originating intelligent life’.
Everything, on this account, is an engineering problem, and hence every problem arises from too little rather than too much technology.
The School of Life
How the Media Damages Our Faith in HumanityThe School of Life
2 min read · Sep 27th · For most of history, however disappointed you might have been with people close to home, with your own hurtful family or maddening colleagues, you were at least able to hold on to a broader faith to…
media
society
Most highlighted
patriotism and a benevolent sense of community are ultimately based on the privilege of not knowing too many of our fellow citizens very well.
The closer we come to understanding anyone’s real nature, the greater the risks of disappointment. Our own family and work colleagues aren’t exceptionally awful; we simply know them uncommonly well.
There might eventually be as much kindness at large as there is currently viciousness or lack of empathy, were the role models and public messages to alter.
The Atlantic
It’s Not Misinformation. It’s Amplified Propaganda.The Atlantic
~11 min read · Oct 9th · You don’t need fake accounts to spread propaganda online. Real people will happily do it.
society
misinformation
hashtags
Aeon+Psyche
For Arendt, hope in dark times is no match for actionAeon+Psyche
~11 min read · Oct 4th · For Hannah Arendt, hope is a dangerous barrier to courageous action. In dark times, the miracle that saves the world is to act
philosophy
society
Most highlighted
Throughout much of her work, she argues that hope is a dangerous barrier to acting courageously in dark times.
Whereas hope is a passive desire for some future outcome, the faculty of action is ontologically rooted in the fact of natality.
Only when they gave up hope and let go of fear, Arendt argues, did they realise that ‘armed resistance was the only moral and political way out’.
The New Yorker
It’s Time to Stop Talking About “Generations”The New Yorker
6 min read · Oct 11th · From boomers to zoomers, the concept gets social history all wrong.
society
The New York Times
Which Climate Threats Are Most Worrisome? U.S. Agencies Made a List.The New York Times
6 min read · Oct 7th · Two dozen federal agencies flagged the biggest dangers posed by a warming planet. The list spreads across American society.
climate crisis
society
TIME
How the Tech Industry Can Help Strengthen DemocracyTIME
Oct 1st · The software industry should view democratic governments as their most important customers, writes Michael Seibel
social media
society
technology
Most highlighted
For democracies to win this contest, they will need to leverage software to deliver more prosperity to a wider cross section of their populations, while still preserving individual rights.
The software industry should view democratic governments as their most important customers in the upcoming decade and create the tools they need to thrive.
Society

9 Best Articles in 2021

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