Public Culture

Not so long ago, we embraced social media as a life-changing opportunity to connect with friends and family all across the globe. Today, the pendulum of public opinion is swinging in the opposite direction as Facebook, Twitter, Google, YouTube, and similar sites are being accused of corrupting our democracy, spreading disinformation, and fanning the flames of hatred. Here, with insightful analysis and in-depth research, Robby Soave explores some of the biggest issues animating both the right and the left: bias, censorship, disinformation, privacy, screen addiction, crime, and more.

The negative effects of income inequality are a problem that can be solved. We don’t have to choose between effective government policy and the free market, between the working class and the job creators, or between socialism and capitalism, David Buckmaster, the director of global compensation for Nike, argues. We do not have to give up on fixing what people are paid. Ideas like Universal Basic Income will not be enough to avoid the severe cultural disruption coming our way.

You care what's happening in the world - but you can't help feeling you missed the part where the key stuff got explained. What's a budget deficit? How does voting actually work? What's the deal with the UN? And what does net zero mean again? Thankfully, No Silly Questions is here to lay out the facts and principles behind the day's headlines. Zara Seidler and Sam Koslowski, creators of The Daily Aus - Australia's leading social-first news service - are like your super well-informed mates who you can rely on to quickly bring you up to speed.

È giunto il momento di smontare uno dei luoghi comuni più duraturo della storia repubblicana, ovvero quello secondo il quale il fascismo è morto e sepolto da fine aprile 1945. Già nel secondo dopoguerra, infatti, la dottrina della continuità dello Stato riportò ai vertici di prefetture e polizia personaggi di schietta fede fascista. Poi si è permessa la ricostituzione di un partito fascista come il Movimento sociale italiano che, tra manganello e doppiopetto, ha avuto un ruolo negli scontri di piazza e ha contribuito perfino all’elezione di presidenti della Repubblica (da Antonio Segni a Giovanni Leone).

Quando diciamo: "Prima gli italiani!" cosa intendiamo? Chi ha la cittadinanza italiana o chi in Italia ci abita? Chi parla italiano? Chi ha genitori italiani o chi in Italia ci è nato? E non è la prima volta che ci poniamo questa domanda: ha cominciato Dante con la ‘serva Italia’; poi d’Azeglio con gli ‘italiani da fare’; e ancora, i ‘santi, poeti e navigatori’; gli ‘italiani nuovi’ fascisti o ‘gli italiani brava gente’. Urliamo questo slogan in un paese dai confini incerti, diviso tra nord e sud, est e ovest, città e campagna.

Attraversiamo metropoli futuristiche e hutong, locali fumosi e campi di ginseng, antichi principi confuciani e intelligenza artificiale, neomarxismo e ipercapitalismo. Incontriamo l’ambiguo funzionario del Partito comunista, l’operosa dottoressa di Wuhan, l’eterea vlogger della Cina rurale, l’astro della letteratura fantascientifica, la giovanissima attivista per l’ambiente. Addentriamoci nella Cina nuova, quella che scopriamo appena smettiamo di leggerne soltanto la superficie.

Best-selling author Newt Gingrich proposes a bold vision ofthe future: America is on the cusp of a renaissance, a new birth of technological and scientific innovation that will dramatically transform the prosperity and quality of life of every American. Our biggest enemy? Special interest groups, powerful lobbyists, and government bureaucrats who aredetermined to squash, control, or prevent these innovations - and permanently change the future of America.

Experience the Green Rush through the eyes of Jackson D. Tilley - the sober 20-something who climbed the ladder at a small vape company while it grew into the nation’s leading cannabis distributor.

Over the last 20 years, our economy and our society, from how we shop and pay our bills to how we communicate, have been completely revolutionized by technology. As Aneesh Chopra shows in Innovative State, once it became clear how much this would change America, a movement arose around the idea that these same technologies could reshape and improve government. But the idea languished, and while the private sector innovated, our government stalled, trapped in a model designed for the America of the 1930s and 1960s.

Silicon Valley is imperializing the planet. With nearly bottomless supplies of cash and ambition, a small group of companies have been gradually seizing symbolic and practical civic leadership in America and worldwide. But Silicon Valley does not answer to the electorate; nor have they been voted into office. And the perils of their influence are only now making themselves known.

As AI and robotics eliminate jobs across the spectrum, governmental revenues will plummet while the debt increases dramatically. This crisis of limited resources on all levels - underfunded or nonexistent pensions, health problems, lack of savings, and job destruction without comparable job creation - will drive many into homelessness and produce a dramatic rise in violence as we fight over shrinking resources.

People do bad things. They misspeak, mislead, and misbehave. They lie, cheat, steal, and kill. Often, afterward, they apologize. But what makes a successful apology? Why does Joe Biden's 2007 apology for referring to Barack Obama as "articulate and bright" succeed, whereas Mel Gibson's 2006 apology for his anti-Semitic tirade fails? Naturally, the effectiveness of an apology depends on the language used, as well as the conditions under which we offer our regrets.

More Damned Lies and Statistics encourages all of us to think in a more sophisticated and skeptical manner about how statistics are used to promote causes, create fear, and advance particular points of view. Best identifies different sorts of numbers that shape how we think about public issues: missing numbers are relevant but overlooked; confusing numbers bewilder when they should inform; scary numbers play to our fears about the present and the future.

Collaborative democracy - government with the people - is a new vision of governance in the digital age. Wiki Government explains how to translate the vision into reality. Beth Simone Noveck draws on her experience in creating Peer-to-Patent, the federal government's first social networking initiative, to show how technology can connect the expertise of the many to the power of the few. In the process, she reveals what it takes to innovate in government.

For well over a century, public schools have been a non-partisan gathering place and vital center of civic life in America—but something has changed. In School Moms, journalist Laura Pappano explores the on-the-ground story of how public schools across the country have become ground zero in a cultural and political war as the far-right have made efforts to seek power over school boards.

A woman of contradictions, "a gun-toting, lesbian, feminist, voted-for-Reagan activist", Tammy Bruce is standing in line to become the next Ann Coulter. The "left wing" is engaged in an enormous conspiracy to make moral values relative, to undercut pride and patriotism in our country, to destroy Christian ideology at any cost, to pollute the minds of our youth by means of leftist professors who rewrite history, and to hijack the justice system through morally bankrupt trial lawyers.

If you've always suspected that factions on the Left are trying to destroy the values that define our civilization, this book proves it. Through The Death of Right and Wrong, author, activist, and pundit Tammy Bruce takes you inside the chilling world of the Left - a place where morals and decency have been turned on their heads and the crisp distinction between Right and Wrong has been blurred into a mushy, gray mess.

Artificial intelligence, often referred to as AI, is a rapidly evolving field that is revolutionizing the way we interact with technology. At its core, AI is the development of computer systems that can perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as learning, problem-solving, and decision-making. This allows machines to analyze data, recognize patterns, and make predictions, all without human intervention. AI is a broad and diverse field, encompassing a wide range of technologies and applications that have the potential to transform industries and improve our daily lives.

La situazione della giustizia in Italia è peculiare. Da un lato si assiste a una dilatazione del ruolo dei giudici, dall’altro a una crescente inefficacia del sistema giudiziario. Molti osservatori concordano sul fatto che la magistratura sia diventata parte della governance nazionale; che vi sia una indebita invasione della magistratura nel campo della politica e dell’economia; che in qualche caso la magistratura cerchi persino di prendere il posto della politica, controllando anche i costumi, oltre ai reati.

We humans live by stories, says David Korten, and the stories that now govern our society set us on a path to certain self-destruction. In this profound new audiobook, Korten shares the results of his search for a story that reflects the fullness of human knowledge and understanding and provides a guide to action adequate to the needs of our time.