Culture

Daycare pseudoscienceIf it had a clear effect on children we would know by now.Lessons from a high-fertility subcultureModernity has meant fewer children in virtually every culture around the world. Holdouts like Orthodox Jews might have lessons for the rest of us.The flag stranglersMost flags used to be ugly. They were probably better that way.Washington diaryWhat Americans take to be a borrowed European tradition turns out to be a national style all of their own.Losing my religionHow Works in Progress editor Ben Southwood learned to stop worrying and love democracy.Artificial used to be a compliment‘Artificial’ didn’t scare Americans in the 19th century. Why does it scare them now?Modern Hindu templesMost ancient architectural traditions have withered, but one is enjoying a golden age: Hindu temple architecture.How TV learned to sell itselfSports solved a problem that nearly killed television.The market for marriageIt is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good agricultural surplus, must be in want of a wife.Cheap ornament and status gamesWas modernism originally a way to signal taste instead of wealth?The value of technological progressEvidence from the life of Matt Clancy.The Renaissance book that heralded growthLong before modern science, Europeans learned to see their own time as an age of invention rather than decline.Were classical statues painted horribly?It is often suggested that modern viewers dislike painted reconstructions of Greek and Roman statues because our taste differs from that of the ancients. This essay proposes an alternative. The triumph of logical EnglishEnglish prose has become much easier to read. But shorter sentences had little to do with it.King of fruitsOrdinary yellow pineapples were once so precious they were rented for display at dinner parties, but centuries of innovation made them commonplace.The prehistoric psychopathLife in the state of nature was less violent than you might think. Most of our ancestors avoided conflict. But this made them vulnerable to a few psychopaths.The world of tomorrowWhen the future arrived, it felt… ordinary. What happened to the glamour of tomorrow?Machines for living inBuildings are not just art – they are the places people live in, work in, and experience every day. True functionalism combines utility and beauty for the people who use it most.How pour-over coffee got goodPour-over coffee has long been popular with coffee enthusiasts, but it frustrated coffee shops because it takes so long to make. That’s changing.Doom scrollingWe may be close to rediscovering thousands of texts that had been lost for millennia. Their contents may reshape how we understand the Ancient World.Libraries of matterLibraries contain books, yes. But they also contain latex rubber, carbon fiber fabrics, and graphene aerogel. And in some materials libraries you can cut, cast, drill, sand, scrape, and sculpt too.Why prediction markets aren’t popularPrediction markets are legal, contrary to popular belief. But they remain unpopular, because they lack key features that make markets attractive. How the war on drunk driving was wonDeterrence alone might not stop crime. But, as the campaign against drunk driving shows, it could help create the norms that do.The beauty of concreteWhy are buildings today simple and austere, while buildings of the past were ornate and elaborately ornamented? The answer is not the cost of labor.The cocktail revolutionCocktails aren’t what they used to be – and that’s a good thing. The search for fresher and more novel ingredients from ever further afield continues to revolutionize mixology for the better. Making architecture easyUnlike nearly all other arts, architecture is inherently public and shared. That means that buildings should be designed to be agreeable – easy to like – not to be unpopular works of genius.On the origins of empathy for other speciesWe’ve learnt to see the world through the eyes of our prey. All the better to eat them with.Markets in fact-checkingExposing misinformation online is hard to do at scale and can veer into outright censorship. The wisdom of crowds can lead us to the answers.The elements of scientific styleScientific papers are dense, jargon-filled, and painful to read. It wasn’t always this way – and it doesn’t have to be. The Maintenance RaceThe world’s first round-the-world solo yacht race was a thrilling and, for some, deadly contest. Its contestants’ efforts can teach us about the art of maintenance. We don’t have a hundred biases, we have the wrong modelBehavioral economics has identified dozens of cognitive biases that stop us from acting ‘rationally’. But instead of building up a messier and messier picture of human behavior, we need a new model.How polyester bounced backPolyester went from being the world’s most hated fabrics to one of its favorites. It’s so successful that many people don’t even realize they’re wearing polyester today.Why we duelDuels can be brutal and even lethal. But duels emerged in societies around the world for an important reason: to control and manage violence, not just to celebrate it.Against the survival of the prettiestMany modern buildings put up today seem uglier than traditional ones around them. Some say this is because we’ve torn down the ugly old buildings, and only see the survivors. Are they right?Who cares about plagiarism?Plagiarism is unforgivable in academia but it’s not plagiarism itself that should trouble us. It’s carelessness and a lack of originality. Better eatsThe kitchen of 2020 looks mostly the same as that of 1960. But what we do in it has changed dramatically, almost entirely for the better—due to a culture of culinary innovation.Why didn’t suicides rise during Covid?Covid-19 brought death, suffering and financial straits, so it was unsurprising that depression rose around the world. But when the data came in, we found suicide did not – and it’s a mystery why.Why Tesla bought bitcoinEverybody loves to hate Bitcoin. Yet big business is spending hundreds of millions on it, helping to drive the price higher and higher. It’s easy to dismiss that as a marketing fad.This is what peak culture looks likeIs the popularity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe a sign of art in decline? It’s common for people to assert that film, art, music and literature are getting worse. This is why they’re wrong. How Covid brought the future backCrises upend plans, force people to re-evaluate their priorities, and bring into focus new goals. Financial markets give us hints of what we can expect from the aftermath of Covid-19.In praise of pasticheBuilding traditionalist architecture today is derided as inauthentic pastiche. But this perspective turns a blind eye to the dramatic and sophisticated ways that design has been applied throughout history.Interview: Mike Solana on tech and its criticsIn spite of major technological progress, tech is often envisioned in the media with pessimism and dread. Practical veganismPolls show that the majority of Americans want to reduce their consumption of meat, but many struggle to do so.