Guest Thinkers

In a technology-based culture, you learn from infancy that truth is what can be counted and measured. That makes it easy to divide any conversation into what you learned (important!) […]

When you talk about Classical music, you often begin with the three Killer B’s: Bach, Beethoven, and Brahms. If you talk about American photography, you need to begin with the […]

If the following combination of names has meaning to you, the answer is yes: Desean, Lesean, Jeremy, Michael, Brent. Football and philosophy don’t often share the same Op-Ed column, but […]

Since I’ve run out of blog ideas—and have New Year’s Eve parties to get to—today I’m just going to post some of the things that people who are more interesting […]

Next July, the United States Postal Service will commemorate the pioneers of industrial design with a limited-edition stamp collection. Each of the 12 stamps features the designer’s name, the type […]

One of the best things about Christmas for me is the Barnes & Noble gift card in my stocking. I am always excited to get it, because it means I […]

I am back from my break – it was a good time in New England, even with the Snowicane that kept us at home for a couple days. I definitely needed […]

1. The Tea Partiers–and many other conservatives–distinguish between the view of our Founders (good) and that of the Progressives (bad).  The Progressives (beginning around the turn of the 20th century) […]

Spiritually unmoored, many people nonetheless experience intense elevation during the magical moments that sport often affords, says David Brooks.

We don’t look at Nature only from the light of reason. To look for explanations behind natural phenomena is, as Einstein remarked, akin to an act of devotion.

Newly published research suggests keeping a potential romantic partner guessing can pique his or her interest—mystery can be a powerful motivator of attraction.

Our ultra-costly and ultra-punitive system is neither protecting victims nor rehabilitating lawbreakers. It’s time for a new and less costly approach, says Sunil Dutta.

The financial crisis has created an environment where, because of government-funded bailouts, big banks are getting bigger, as the small ones struggle.

Since I’ve run out of blog ideas—and have New Year’s Eve parties to get to—today I’m just going to post some of the things that people who are more interesting […]

The Czech dissident Jan Prochazka was spied upon for years by the Communist government in Prague, but he didn’t let this inhibit his conversation. He spoke to his friends as […]

Mind, soul, personality: whatever you call it, most people agree that their memories, thoughts, and perceptions reside in the brain. Yet for all its importance, the brain has been notoriously difficult […]

When a sick kid is too young to speak, doctors naturally ask a parent or other caretaker how much it hurts. Only half of the answer, according to this study […]

Despite heavy news and advertising attention, and the Obama Administration’s attempts to grow the market for fuel efficient cars through major tax breaks, sales of small-size cars were flat in […]

Nichi Vendola is one of the country’s most popular politicians, social-networking confident, adored by the young and might lead a leftish coalition in the next general election.

Close to 90 percent of U.S. households still subscribe to pay TV in one form or another but 2011 may be the year of “cord cutting” and the end of cable television.

Multiculturalist thinkers frequently dismiss liberal moral principles such as freedom and tolerance as illusions, or as not being good enough, says Frank Furedi.

Google will use satellites to scour Sudan for evidence of state-organised violence before next month’s referendum that could see the country split in two.

Genetically modified plants could sequester more carbon and make better biofuels, possibly offsetting five billion tons by 2050. So what’s standing in their way?

The state of the art of art in the United States and beyond in 2010 reflected the larger unrest of the world itself. I originally wanted to compartmentalize things into […]

Former Shell Oil president John Hoffmeister has been gaining considerable news attention this week for his warning that gas prices might reach $5 a gallon by the 2012 election.  His […]

Most hot ideas and discoveries fade with time. But some scientific papers are genuine breakthroughs, whose importance only increases as the decades pass. This one, published in Science last week, […]

Katrin Bennhold of the New York Times has a heartwarming piece for anyone planning a New Year’s Eve hookup. According to Bennhold’s friends, consenting to any sex with a dude […]

So my “True Grit” post got a lot of response (unfortunately not below) on Facebook and by email and all that–mostly critical.  One particularly astute critic–Ken Masugi–accused me of being in […]

Russia’s president, Dmitry Medvedev, and his prime minister, Vladimir Putin, apparently cannot agree on which of them will be running for the Russian presidency in March 2012.

The U.S.’s failure under Barack Obama to impose peace between Israel and the Palestinians makes a new war likely, says Le Monde’s Alain Gresh.