Roundup - Religious Collectivism, Cultural Technologies, and Literary Biography
Welcome to another installment of my weekly(ish) roundup of what I’ve written, my latest podcast episodes, what I’m reading, and a preview of upcoming episodes of ReImagining Liberty.
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New Articles
I wrote a new article called “Roy Cooper, Prayer, and the Folly of Anti-Religious Collectivism.” This was prompted by a minor conflagration set off by the former governor of North Carolina, a Democrat, announcing his candidacy for Senate. His announcement upset many very online progressives, not because of anything about Cooper’s politics, but because of his passing mention to praying before making his decision. As I wrote:
Prayer, you see, is something only religious people do. In Cooper’s case, Christian religious people. And because far-right Christians are currently doing their damndest to destroy the country and inflict great cruelty on marginalized Americans, a devout Christian like Cooper, even one who quite clearly views such destruction and cruelty as running counter to the ethics of his faith, is anathema. For these Bluesky types, religion itself is evil. Or, at best, in the political sphere ought to be confined by a policy of “Don’t ask, don’t tell.”
My essay about why this attitude is wrong, even if you’re an atheist. (As I am.) A great deal of the people yelling at Cooper for expressing his faith would consider themselves champions of social justice and tolerance. But they were perfectly comfortable expressing a kind of collectivist bigotry against, well, basically everyone they share the country with. It’s not good, it’s not ethical, and it’s politically stupid. Read the essay here.
New Podcasts
Today I released a new episode of ReImagining Liberty about technology and liberalism. The big technology everyone’s talking about right now is, of course, artificial intelligence. It’s a topic I’ve written about, but not one I’d yet done an episode about specifically regarding what it means for liberalism.
Then I read an essay by Ted Underwood, a professor in the School of Information Sciences, and in the English Department, at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. It’s titled “A more interesting upside of AI” and you can find a link to it in the show notes. He argues that the framing of AI technology as aiming at “super-intelligence” is misguided, both undesirable and misunderstanding important aspects of society and culture. Instead, he’s an advocate of viewing AI as a cultural technology. What grabbed my attention was his further claim that, as a cultural technology, it can help us map and appreciate cultural differences, and cultural similarities, in ways that line up with, and support, liberal principles like pluralism, tolerance, and understanding.
It’s a big claim, and a fascinating one, and it lead to really fun and illuminating discussion.
What I’m Reading
I’m reading two literary biographies, both terrific. The first is Joseph Frank’s epic Dostoevsky: A Writer in His Time (Amazon | Bookshop.org). This is a 900 page abridgment of Frank’s five volume biography of the author, and it is stunning. Dostoevsky is one of the greatest writers of ideas, and Frank’s focus is on the intellectual climate of Dostoevsky’s life. It’s a study not just of biographical details, but of ideological ones, as well. It’s enriching my understanding of Dostoevsky’s works.
And then I’m listening to Adam Sisman’s biography of John le Carré (Amazon | Bookshop.org). David Cornwell (le Carré’s real name) is, I think, my favorite writer. (Depending on my mood. Some days it is James Ellroy.) And his life is, to be rather cliche, every bit as exciting as one of his novels, from his wonderfully over-the-top conman father to his time with MI-6 to his career writing unquestionably great literature that happened to be about spies.
Upcoming Episodes
The next episode of ReImagining Liberty, which I’ll record in a couple of days, is going to be a real treat. If you’ve listened through the credits on any episode, you’ll recognize the guest’s name. Landry Ayres has been my producer for most of the years I’ve been podcasting, not just with ReImagining Liberty, but going alway the way back to the Free Thoughts days. But I’ve never had him on, and I’m ashamed it’s taken me this long. Landry cares deeply about the ideas the podcast is all about and, in his day-job at The UnPopulist, he creates phenomenal video essays about the dangers of right-wing populism. This is sure to be a great conversation. Be sure to subscribe to the show in your favorite app so you don’t miss it. And if you want to listen early and ad-free, consider becoming a patron.
That’s it for this week. I’ll talk to you again soon.