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USC, Notre Dame renew rivalry series with a key adjustment
USC coach Lincoln Riley said the Trojans could not compromise on scheduling all future games against Notre Dame to early in the season.
Future Warriors clinics connect Wilton youth to sports - Monadnock Ledger-Transcript
Wilton Junior Athletic Association hosted Future Warriors Summer Clinics for 3rd to 6th graders to build skills and teamwork.
After more than 50 years, Assam Cos. plans to transition business
After 52 years in development and commercial real estate, Assam Cos. is preparing for a future that includes selling a portion of its business.
Democrats' future is on the line as El-Sayed and Stevens make final push in Michigan primary
The Democrats running for U.S. Senate in Michigan spent one of their final days campaigning in Detroit-area churches and union halls.
The Bull Case For Sphere Entertainment (SPHR) Could Change Following Mixed Q2 Results And Aggressive Expansion Plans
Sphere Entertainment Co. has reported past second-quarter 2026 results showing sales of US$313.64 million versus US$282.68 million a year earlier, alongside a shift from net income of US$151.82 million to a net loss of US$38.79 million. Despite reporting a loss, the company highlighted growing Sphere-driven revenue, venue expansion plans in Abu Dhabi and National Harbor, and a broader content slate including future Wizard of Oz and Rocky Horror Picture Show experiences. We will now examine...
Debt Digest | Federal Debt is a Health Care Problem
Welcome David Ditch to the Debt Dispatch! We are pleased to announce a new regular contributor: David Ditch will be joining the Cato Institute as a Policy Analyst for Budget and Entitlement Policy later this week. David has more than a decade of experience in fiscal policy issues, with a particular focus on federal spending. He previously worked at the Senate Budget Committee, the Heritage Foundation, and the Economic Policy Innovation Center. David’s areas of expertise include appropriations, transportation, agriculture, federalism, grantmaking, and policy options for deficit reduction. Originally from the Rochester, N.Y. area, David has a BA in Economics and Political Science from the University of Rochester and a MA in Political Management from George Washington University. David currently lives in Arlington, VA. You may have enjoyed his earlier guest posts: CBO: New Highway Bill Has More Spending, Taxes, and Deficits Trump Administration’s Proposed Changes to Federal Grants Highlight Problems of Big Government Here are this week’s reading links and fiscal facts: The federal debt is largely a health care problem. In a new report, the Congressional Budget Office and Joint Committee on Taxation find that “In 2026, federal subsidies for health insurance, net of related payments to the government, are projected to equal $2.4 trillion, or 7.4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). In CBO and JCT’s projections, those subsidies grow by 65 percent, reaching $3.9 trillion, or 8.4 percent of GDP, in 2036. Subsidies for Medicare contribute most to that overall growth, increasing by $900 billion. Over the entire 2026–2036 period, federal subsidies for health insurance total $33.6 trillion.” Cato’s Michael Cannon emphasizes, “The long-term federal debt problem is a health care problem. […] Only two categories of federal outlays will grow faster than gross domestic product (GDP): health care subsidies and interest payments on the debt. The former is, therefore, the primary driver of the latter.” The bond market fears deficits, not the loss of tariff revenue. Responding to a New York Times essay claiming tariff revenue has grown too important for a future administration to unwind, Cato’s Kyle Handley argues: “Bond investors are not attached to customs duties as a line item revenue source. They care about the government’s overall fiscal position.” He continues, “tariff revenue is a side hustle. And the Trump administration has already promised to dole out the funds through schemes like tariff dividend rebates, farm subsidies, and pay-fors on tax cuts or other spending.” Furthermore, “tariff revenue is simply not large enough to transform the government’s fiscal trajectory.” Take net interest for example: it “reached $970 billion in fiscal year 2025, absorbing 18.5 percent of federal receipts. Customs duties accounted for only 3.7 percent of receipts—and that was before refunds (see Figure 2).” Handley concludes, “The real bond-market concern is a large and growing interest bill, persistent budget deficits, and a political system unwilling to bring spending and revenue into alignment.” Medicare’s spending growth is driven by more volume and utilization. A Congressional Research Service report finds that Medicare spending “grew at an average annual rate of 7.3%” from 1985 through 2025, and the trustees project health care expenditures will keep rising “faster than gross domestic product (GDP) in most future years.” Citing CBO, the report attributes Medicare’s projected 2026–2036 spending growth to “23% from higher enrollment, 31% from inflation, and 47% from the growth of inflation-adjusted spending per beneficiary. In other words**, the largest single driver of Medicare spending growth during the next decade is expected to be higher volume and intensity of health care services.”** Boccia and Thakur explain: “as the economy grows, Medicare spending tends to grow at least as fast—and often faster—because the program automatically pays the bill for more and more healthcare consumption by seniors, even as prices rise.” The Fed has little control over market interest rates. Cato’s Jai Kedia documents that the Fed has held its rate target steady since December, yet “nearly every rate Americans actually borrow at has climbed over the same stretch.” Kedia continues, “The Fed did nothing, and the cost of credit went up anyway. […] Markets spent these months repricing macroeconomic events such as sticky core inflation, a volatile energy market driven by the conflict in the Middle East, and global trade disrupted by tariffs, among others. None of that required a policy change to show up in borrowing costs because markets, not the FOMC, set prices.” He concludes, “Accurately priced borrowing rates will come from credible disinflation and disciplined budgets and from a Fed content to follow the economy rather than pretend it leads it.” Nearly half of US farm income comes from taxpayers. Former Reagan OMB director David Stockman notes that “in the most recently completed full year (FY 2025) farmer incomes in the US totaled $97.8 billion, but fully 42.7% or $41.8 billion of that amount came from taxpayers, not the marketplace. Nor is this some kind of one-year aberration. If we look at the most recent decade as a whole, total farm income posted at nearly $708 billion, but, as indicated, fully $322 billion or 45% of this came compliments of US taxpayers.” Cato’s Chris Edwards explains why so little of that income is market-earned: “Farmers are businesspeople, but the government shields them from just about every type of weather and market risk. Furthermore, just about every part of the agricultural industry is subsidized, including insurance, loans, marketing, research, export sales, and land improvements.” The Debt Dispatch is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Subscribe
How AI could change your trip to the doctors
As AI health tools expand, is it time for Dr Chatbot to see you now?
Will Rupert Lowe and Nigel Farage unite the right in British politics?
Restore Britain leader has made a surprise offer of cooperation with Reform but some say it’s a trap
UFC or PFL? Nurmagomedov to decide future 'very soon'
PFL lightweight world champion Usman Nurmagomedov will decide on his future "very soon" after becoming a free agent, according to his cousin and coach Khabib Nurmagomedov.
Rock crystal scraper: 45,000-year-old Neanderthal tool that shows they had an 'eye for beauty of form and color'
A chance find of rare rock crystal tools a century ago paved the way for a better understanding of Neanderthals today.
No, Xbox isn't quitting Steam — but it IS doubling down on PC gaming. Here's how.
Xbox's PC offering has improved immeasurably over the last few years, and while it isn't indicative of a shift away from Steam, it does show how seriously Microsoft is taking PC gaming.
Analysis | Is the midterm cake baked?
The vibes around the economy are bad — polls and focus groups show voters feel like they are getting screwed at the gas pump and at the grocery store, jobs feel harder to come by, and the rise of technology like artificial intelligence is injecting considerable uncertainty into the future.
Xbox Leaked Email Pins Disc-to-Digital Launch for August 2026, as PlayStation Barrels Toward All-Digital Future
Leaked Xbox email details Disc-to-Digital launch and PC backward compatibility roadmap for Project Helix.
Both Jaguars’ Coordinators Named Future Head Coaches
Fresh off a fantastic season, Jacksonville faces an upcoming challenge as coordinators Grant Udinski and Anthony Campanile emerge as top targets for NFL teams seeking a new head coach.
Establishment Democrats’ Response to DSA’s Electoral Wins Should Be of Concern to Anyone Invested in the Future of Black Politics
Whatever happened to “big tent” politics?
Will Broward hospitals merge? Here’s what the CEO said about the future of care
Shane Strum, CEO of Broward Health and interim CEO of Memorial, wants to see more “collaboration” between the two health systems.
Are AI scribes useful tools in medical education, or a crutch that imperils learning?
Educators want future physicians to be fluent in AI scribes, but they worry what off-loading clinical notes to AI could do to learning.
3 new AMA awards will honor those shaping healthcare’s future
The AMA Honors awards will celebrate the people who are making an extraordinary positive impact in U.S. healthcare. Submit your nomination today.
5 physician leaders on what comes next in healthcare
Healthcare leaders say AI alone will not transform medicine. Success depends on technology that improves outcomes, access, value and trust.
Artificial sweeteners might make you lose your memory
A new study found a 62% faster loss of cognitive decline among those using sweeteners
Dr. Ko-Cheng Fang: A Visionary Driving the Future of Science,
Dr. Ko-Cheng Fang, Founder, Chairman, and Chief Executive Officer of LongServing Technology Co., Ltd., has established a
Plank closes after 12 years in Oakland, raising new concerns about Jack London Square's future
Maple Leafs Land Major Sidney Crosby Ally In Significant Addition
It’s only going to be a matter of time before the Pittsburgh Penguins have to get used to life without the likes of longtime captain Sidney Crosby, along with his fellow future Hall of Fame teammate Evgeni Malkin. Both players have only one season remaining on their respective contracts; Malkin was recently re-signed to a […] The post Maple Leafs Land Major Sidney Crosby Ally In Significant Addition appeared first on HEAVY.
Pixel 11 Made by Google 2026 launch event: How to watch and what to expect
From the new Pixel 11 series, the new Pixel Watch 5, and everything in between, we've got you covered.
'We're a bit late on the case, but we are on the case': Author Fred Pearce on the rise of renewables, a defused population bomb, and letting nature find its own way
Author and journalist Fred Pearce tells Live Science editor Hannah Osborne about his book "Despite it All" — looking at the changes that have taken place over the last 40 years that provide some hope that we can solve the climate crisis.
Microsoft's most-underrated gaming feature is steadily gaining traction, but big gaps remain — Xbox Play Anywhere report card
New data shows Xbox Game Pass adoption has improved in recent months, but big app gaps remain. Can Microsoft do more to boost it?
'The apparent chaos of the Anthropocene is turbocharging evolution itself': Plants are finding ways to survive and thrive in the climate crisis
In this excerpt from "Despite it All," author Fred Pearce explores the ways plants are adapting and evolving in the face of climate change — and how we need to recognize this reality and foster its potential boost to biodiversity, rather than holding steadfast to our notions of what types of nature should and shouldn't be allowed to thrive.
A CT health care system is sending people home with new technology. Why it’s called a ‘game changer’
The CEO said such technology is part of the “future of health care,” and a “game changer,” an “early proof of what we will see to help people live their healthiest life.”
Did Celtic women fight in battle?
The Celts were highly regarded as warriors in the ancient world, but were all fighters men, or did Celtic women also fight in battle?
5 loaded cartoons about the military running out of ammo
Artists take on empty threats, lost in translation, and more
Everyone is using ChatGPT Memory wrong — 5 tweaks to make it a true assistant
Making these simple changes can boost productivity in seconds
Hockwold farmer swaps onions for grapes to future-proof business
The third-generation farmer says his chalk-rich soil is similar to that of France's Champagne region.
Bangladesh’s future depends on the military distancing itself from politics
The generals’ pursuit of wealth and civilian power fuelled corruption while leaving the army hollowed out
Q&A: New School of Public Health dean Kari Nadeau wants to expand scholarships, funding
Kari Nadeau began her tenure as dean of the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health on July 1. News senior staffer Shaun Thomas sat down with Nadeau to discuss her transition into the role and her vision for the school’s future.
Kansas State Football Offers Another 2028 Class Offensive Lineman
Kansas State football, still in pursuit of its first 2028 class commit, has offered another offensive lineman to help build the future unit.
Full Court Magic Episode 31 Notes
In the latest episode of Full Court Magic, I break down the duo of Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner and the future of Jalen Suggs with the team.
Could we prevent dementia? A new trial may point the way.
While much funding for dementia research goes toward treatments, some scientists want to reduce people's risk of developing the condition in the first place.
The Manchester mayoral result holds the key to the future of progressive politics
Voters on the left may be fragmented – but they will pull together behind a convincing cross-party message, says Neal Lawson, director of cross-party campaign organisation Compass
Science news this week: Secret lives of whale sharks revealed, Earth's coldest temperature registered, and Amazonian geoglyphs show clues to lost civilization
August 1, 2026: Our weekly roundup of the latest science in the news, as well as a few fascinating articles to keep you entertained over the weekend
Halo Campaign Evolved performed well on Xbox, but PS5 gamers give it a collective shrug — just 1% of PS5 gamers tried it, hurting Xbox's brand identity for no real return
Halo Campaign Evolved has been an abject failure on PlayStation 5, according to new data, heaping on more evidence that Xbox's rush to PS5 publishing has been a huge mistake.
Samsung Galaxy S27 Ultra leak reveals massive camera and battery overhaul
A new leak points to a silicon-carbon battery and a redesigned camera island for Samsung's next Ultra model.
Gemini will create mobile & desktop apps in the future as AI Studio for Android, iOS is canceled
At I/O 2026, Google teased an AI Studio app for Android and iOS. This mobile application has been canceled...
Some THC products now illegal in Texas, businesses worried about future
A statewide ban on certain hemp-derived THC products is now in effect for Texas.
An Interview with Planetary Politics Director at New America Heela Rasool-Ayub
Heela Rasool-Ayub is director of the Planetary Politics initiative at New America. Before joining us for “Can the Energy Crisis Finally Unite Us?,” co-presented by Thomas Mann House and Zócalo Public Square in partnership with ASU Global Futures Laboratory and the Palisadian-Post, she joined us for a chat about economist Joseph Stiglitz, Afghan food, and the highlands of Ethiopia.
'The End of Oak Street: Could JJ Abrams' new 'Twilight Zone meets Jurassic Park' movie be the sleeper hit of the summer?
"I think our house, our neighborhood, our whole street, has moved."
Future of West Suburban, Weiss hospitals still in limbo as CEO stalls on settlement
Lawyers for Manoj Prasad's business partner and landlord say they will file a motion to force his hand to abide by the proposed settlement.
John Oliver Staying With 'Last Week Tonight' Amid Merger "Denial"
Late-night's Emmy heavyweight is sticking with 'Last Week Tonight' for at least another year as he tries his best to ignore his parent company's future and follow a favorite motto: "You always want to be exactly as much trouble as you are worth."
How Amazon became one of the world’s top chip companies in a decade
Amazon’s custom silicon business exceeded a $25 billion annual revenue run rate—here’s what that means for customers and the future of AI.
How scientists are trying to repair the body from within: Regenerative medicine and anti-aging
At Scripps Research and its drug discovery arm, the Calibr-Skaggs Institute for Innovative Medicines, scientists are developing regenerative medicine therapies designed to help the body repair itself from within. Unlike traditional medicines that primarily manage symptoms or slow disease progression, regenerative medicine aims to restore damaged tissues and rebuild function lost to aging and disease. Researchers are advancing programs focused on the heart, lungs, digestive tract and eyes, including investigational therapies for heart failure, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, inflammatory bowel disease, age-related macular degeneration and other chronic conditions that become more common as we age. Learn how scientists are activating the body’s natural repair mechanisms to explore a future where medicine may not only treat disease, but help reverse its damage.
Ice Ice Maybe: New Ways to Search for Frozen Water on the Moon
Scientists used a unique vacuum chamber that mimics moon conditions to design an approach for ice prospecting with seismic waves. The work could help future Artemis missions find water.
Glass ceiling: Why fewer women are ‘leaning in’
The gender pay gap is widening in most industries
Book reviews: ‘On the Origin of Sex: The Weird and Wonderful Science of Reproduction’ and ‘You Won’t Get Free of It’
The real story behind reproduction and a collection of essays focusing on mothers and daughters
Microsoft confirms it will make Windows 11 run better on PCs with 8GB RAM: Promises continued focus on fixing Windows' biggest issues
Microsoft's Windows chief Pavan Davuluri has provided an update on the work it's been doing to fix Windows 11's biggest problems.
The TACO moments that have defined Trump’s second term so far
‘Trump Always Chickens Out’ has become a common refrain whenever the president backs off from one of his characteristically bombastic threats or promises
A milestone year for Morgridge Summer Science Camp
On July 31, the 20th annual Morgridge Summer Science Camp said good-bye to its final group of campers. Over the course of three one-week sessions, 75 students along with their teachers, from 13 districts across the state, envisioned their futures in the biomedical sciences at the Discovery Building and UW–Madison’s campus.
AbbVie touts double-digit sales jump, future prospects following Apogee acquisition
AbbVie’s immunology and neuroscience businesses drove sales and profits beyond expectations in the second quarter.
Milestone in mentoring future STEM leaders: NEA celebrates 10th Joshikai in Tokyo
The 10th NEA International Mentoring Workshop in Japan took place on 24-27 July 2026.
The perfect length of time to sleep
Researchers say they’ve nailed a specific ‘sweet spot’ for shut-eye
Chicago advocates step up for brain health and a future without Alzheimer’s
Content oversight provided by Studio 1847 Alzheimer’s disease reshapes families and demands immense resilience. Yet a growing wave of scientific optimism is changing approaches to brain health. Local volunteers Ellen Gudjonis and …
Not what I wanted to hear: rumors now say Galaxy S27 Ultra could miss a huge upgrade
Things are different now.
How children talk can indicate risk for future mental health problems
Linguistic models that analyzed the words children used when talking about stressful events were better at predicting future mental health problems than a panel of human experts.
Kayshon Boutte staying focused amid Patriots trade rumors
Boutte’s future in New England remains unclear.
‘We’re going to cautiously move this forward’: Sony says it hears PlayStation disc backlash but will continue its plans
CFO Lin Tao says it’s exploring how to “engage the gamers” in a “future digital ecosystem”…
Global Health program builds future nursing leaders through clinical immersion in Zambia
Students from the UT San Antonio School of Nursing gaining a global perspective on health and cross-cultural care.
The Ankara Summit and the Future of the NATO-Gulf Dialogue
The Ankara Summit has had limited yet positive implications for the future from the perspective of the Gulf states.
BP to sell North Sea business; AI companies lead record surge on Korea’s stock market
Live, rolling coverage as British oil company looks for buyer amid political dispute over future drilling licences
Bears, Cowboys Get Blunt Message About Raiders’ Maxx Crosby
While no trade is on the horizon, the future of Las Vegas Raiders’ Maxx Crosby is a major talking point heading into the 2026 NFL season. If Crosby is his dominant self after his torn meniscus injury, then teams will be calling the Silver and Black leading up to the trade deadline.Moreover, if the Raiders […] The post Bears, Cowboys Get Blunt Message About Raiders’ Maxx Crosby appeared first on HEAVY.
Clemson, Dabo Swinney Land Prolific 2028 QB Prospect
Georgia standout Trace Hawkins pledged his future to the Tigers, giving Dabo Swinney a dual-threat playmaker and a championship-winning foundation for the program’s 2028 recruiting class.
In a cosmic first, astronomers detect 2 sibling supernovas that came from a pair of bound stars
Astronomers have identified a supernova remnant beside the well-known Jellyfish Nebula (IC 443), and evidence suggests both are the wreckage of two stars that once orbited each other before exploding separately.
What is a brand extension? 'Jeopardy!' attempts to answer TV's questionable future
"Jeopardy!" is TV's most-watched entertainment show — and its median viewer is 70. Inside Sony's push onto ESPN, Netflix and YouTube to find a younger audience.
Kayshon Boutte addresses Patriots trade rumors: 'I'm here today'
With the addition of A.J. Brown, that has brought into question Kayshon Boutte's future in New England.
Scientists discover 2 new 'ghost' lineages that contributed DNA to modern humans
A new method of analyzing modern humans' DNA is revealing secrets about our extinct ancestors.
The Hill Country, the Science, and the Next Flood
New science sheds light on the 2025 Texas floods, and how to help people be more prepared in the future.
New York Yankees Worst Trade Deadline Busts Since 2005
The Yankees operate on a different cost structure than most of baseball. When they buy at the trade deadline, they’re not moving a fringe prospect for a rental — they’re trading significant pieces of the future for a championship window they believe is always now. When that calculus goes wrong, it ...
A unique antibody system may help explain bats' unusual tolerance of viruses
Researchers found that vesper bats use two separate sets of genes to build antibodies — a rare evolutionary quirk that may give them different ways to fight infection.
‘Very little about these twists and turns are as they seem’
Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
Scientists advance space agriculture for future moon and Mars missions
Space isn't known for rich soil or ideal agricultural conditions anywhere in the solar system. Yet amid extreme temperatures and vast distances, multidisciplinary teams at USF's Aerospace: Science, Technology, ...
Tom Holland confirms ‘plan’ for passing Spider-Man mantle to a future actor: ‘It’s laid out’
Tom Holland says there’s a ‘whole plan’ in place that details how to pass the baton from one Spider-Man to the next: ‘It’s gonna change for sure, but I have a really clear vision.’
Building the future, atom by atom — NSF deploys $108M for materials science at 6 research centers
The U.S. National Science Foundation is pushing materials science beyond the state-of-the-art with an investment of $108 million in six advanced research centers. The centers will explore a broad…
PREVIEW: Gears of War: E-Day's 'Horde Siege' is the most fun I've *ever* had in the entire history of the Gears franchise
Last week I had the opportunity to go hands on with Gears of War: E-Day and its new "Horde Siege" mode, which is far more chaotic, bombastic, and cinematic than I expected.
The TikTok PM: has Andy Burnham cracked it with his comms?
There are many positives to the new media strategy, but also fears about where it leads the country
Inflammation may trigger persistent 'out-of-body' experiences, emerging research hints
Researchers are investigating whether immune dysfunction can help explain dissociative disorders.
After Hobbes vs Rousseau: Politics must move beyond human nature
Since the great debate between Hobbes and Rousseau, our political theory has been organised around a single question: is human nature essentially good or essentially corrupt? Graham Harman, the philosopher behind object-oriented ontology, argues that this is simply the wrong question to be asking. The real forces governing our collective fate - climate change, artificial intelligence, geography, and pandemics - are non-human; therefore, questions about human nature are not the central ones. Instead, Harman proposes a politics reorganised around our relationship to non-human objects and environments, in which quasi-government institutions incentivise and deter actions with the aim of extending the survival of the human race. “It is easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism.” This has become one of the most popular phrases among twenty-first-century intellectuals. Often misattributed to Fredric Jameson, it has been warmly embraced by such influential authors as Slavoj Žižek and the tragically departed Mark Fisher, and has fueled the notion that the major problem with the political Left is that it simply needs to become more speculative and creative. Naturally, this is never a bad idea in any human pursuit. But what if the political distinction between Left, Right, and Center itself results from a failure of imagination? SUGGESTED READING Hobbes vs Rousseau: are we inherently evil? By Robin Douglass This particular division has been with us only since the summer of 1789. During the simmering prelude to the French Revolution, it referred originally to the physical position in the National Assembly of radical figures on one side and loyal monarchists on the other. These positions are linked with two entirely different camps of modern political theory. On the Left we find a series of authors ranging from the moderate (Locke) to the supercharged (Rousseau) to the truly radical (Marx), all of them contending that exploitation of the many by the few justifies revolutionary overthrow of the existing order. On the Right they are countered by the likes of Machiavelli, Hobbes, and Schmitt, a group of thinkers convinced that corrupt human nature can be tamed only by force. In the words of the Nazi supporter Schmitt: “One could test all theories of nature and state and political ideas according to their anthropology and classify these as to whether they consciously or unconsciously presuppose [humans] to be by nature evil or by nature good.” This is the division we continue to face today, even in the daily retail politics of Western democracies.___Our species has regularly proven itself capable of both the noblest gestures and the most scathing cruelties, making it hard to define us as essentially either emancipatory or brutal in our aims.___The most refreshing feature of David Graeber and David Wengrow’s 2021 book The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity was their awareness that the forced choice between Rousseau and Hobbes (as they put it) is no longer sufficient. Our species has regularly proven itself capable of both the noblest gestures and the most scathing cruelties, making it hard to define us as essentially either emancipatory or brutal in our aims. Far from being stationed “beyond good and evil,” we seem to be fully entangled with both. We are not naturally good or evil, Graeber and Wengrow contend, but naturally experimental and imaginative. They rest their case on the archaeological record, which seems to bear witness to numerous episodes of seasonally shifting governments and festivals, which vacillate in the same society (even in the same year) between the egalitarian and the dictatorial. Such praise of political experiment makes a good fit with the generally anarchist position defended by these authors. Yet it is also what I find most disappointing in their position. Although they are right that the forced choice between Hobbes and Rousseau falls short of what our new situation requires, the authors simply replace it with praise for the human being as a political tinkerer and performer. In other words, they give us just another theory of human nature, one that would not have been out of place in the sixteenth or seventeenth century. What other options might we have?___The time is ripe for a retheorization of politics on the basis of something other than human nature… We are not just alienated and limited by objects, but also empowered and unleashed by them___One fresh approach would be to treat politics within a broader framework than human nature, given that the polis does not exist in a vacuum filled exclusively with people. When Bruno Latour went to observe the baboons of Kenya with the San Diego anthropologist Shirley Strum, they jointly concluded that these primates were more socially interdependent than our own species. Each baboon is so reliant on the dynamics of the group that they find themselves locked into constant surveillance of their potentially dangerous peers. The group structure turns out to be inherently volatile. Humans, by contrast, are able to stabilize their societies to a large degree through the mediation of inanimate objects. Although one’s position in society may seem to fluctuate over time, considerable stability is produced through such items as apartment keys, wedding rings, and identification cards, all of them serving to secure us a place distinct from that of our fellows. The Italian philosopher Maurizio Ferraris has written at length about the crucial role of documents in establishing social relations, making him a hero among notaries in his country. Proper names and license plates cement our position amidst other humans, as do symbolic achievements such as graduation from a top university or distinguished wartime service with its various medals and ribbons. None of this is found among baboons, despite their closeness to us on the evolutionary tree: after all, we did share a common ancestor just 25 to 30 million years ago. SUGGESTED VIEWING The goodness paradox With Richard Wrangham The time is ripe for a retheorization of politics on the basis of something other than human nature, whether understood in the manner of the Left or of the Right. We are not just alienated and limited by objects, but also empowered and unleashed by them. But initially, it is true, we face non-human things primarily in the form of constraints. It would be difficult, perhaps impossible, to form a human civilization underwater, deep underground, atop Mount Everest, or in outer space. Human dependence on the non-social background takes on subtler form in discussions of political geography, especially unloved on the more idealistic Left. Consider the luckless position of Poland during World War II, sandwiched between Hitler on one side and Stalin on the other. By contrast, note the good fortune of the United States in not having a military peer positioned on any land border. Anglo-American geopolitics, since the writings of the American naval commander Alfred Thayer Mahan and the British geographer Sir Halford Mackinder, has been wedded to the notion that one or more liberal offshore naval powers should prevent any authoritarian “heartland” regime from gaining effective control of Eurasia. That remains the case whether the opponent is the impatient Napoleon, the swashbuckling German Kaiser, the villainous Hitler, the murderous Stalin, or the industrial juggernaut Chinese. In their current Foreign Affairs article “Heartland vs. Rimland,” Michael Beckley and Hal Brands analyze the current and coming state of the world on the basis of these same rather durable principles. In recent years a similar outlook has been embraced, in inverted form, by the Putin-loving Russian philosopher Aleksandr Dugin, an icon of the Rightist intellectual underworld. For Dugin, the Anglo-Saxons are an evil force bent on destroying the spiritually superior people of the land: much like Athens in its failed war with Sparta, or Carthage in its eventual collapse against Rome. But the shared notion on both sides is that any strategy that fails to take geography into account is likely to end up as a defeated form of excessive optimism.___When dealing with environmental degradation, then, we are doing business with forces that promise dire effects on our species as a whole.___More striking for us today than geography is the non-human object called climate, which threatens rimland and heartland equally. Even if we contend that humans are one hundred percent responsible for triggering the climate crisis, it remains non-human in the sense of being an independent force beyond our effective control. In a major work published just before his death in 2002, The Structure of Evolutionary Theory, the American paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould noted the tendency of evolutionary theorists to focus too closely on the fate of individuals in view of their successful or failed adaptation to circumstances. With climate change, however, we confront a force that goes well beyond the scope of any individual life. Whereas Richard Dawkins extended evolutionary questions downward from individuals to the sub-individual gene, Gould pushed it upward, speaking of entire species or clades as impacted by environmental change. The asteroid that struck the Yucatán 66 million years ago is only the most famous example of this sort. In the wake of that catastrophe, large animals needing abundant supplies of food were at a fatal disadvantage by contrast with the smaller birds and mammals of the planet. When dealing with environmental degradation, then, we are doing business with forces that promise dire effects on our species as a whole. The effect is to shift our attention away from individual beings towards the survival of the group.In the United States in particular, the COVID-19 pandemic sparked considerable backlash among those who asserted a nearly absolute degree of individual freedom. In California I encountered those who demanded that their businesses be allowed to reopen, that it was enough to cover their mouths but not their noses, or that they should have the right to enter any public area despite refusing vaccination. Yet public health is probably the clearest argument against libertarianism, which often merely asserts the autonomy of individuals against any claims of the commons. In normal times the individual is worth defending; under conditions that threaten the survival of part or all of our species, compulsion may be our only resort, as with perfectly reasonable blackouts and rations in wartime. To rebuild human society under the constraints of climate change will be one of the great challenges of the century to come, as will our improvised grappling with artificial intelligence. Such phenomena pose existential risks for humanity, and leave far less room for tolerance of individual brattiness. Cases are mounting of devastating wildfires caused by arson. Recently it was reported that there is even a website where one can bet on the location of coming wildfires, raising the specter of deliberate blazes set to collect on wagers. The death penalty has steadily lost support in a world where many stress the infinite value of human life. But if we focus instead on entire ecosystems, those who purposely burn the forests may begin to look worse than serial murderers.___The politics of the future may be splintered by disagreement over such topics as how to manage our environing background and how to permit or restrict the entry of new objects into the political sphere.___So far I have spoken of force, authority, and punishment: measures sure to have greater appeal to those who identify with what we know as the Right. But other implications of the post-anthropocentric world are likely to have different backers. If non-human objects are seen as structuring political space, it stands to reason that they can no longer be introduced solely by the pace of technical breakthrough. Fields ranging from cybernetics to energy will demand increased politicization once they are reconceived not just as products of individual human investment, but as renovations of collective political geography. This need not involve world government, with its inherent risk of tyranny, but may involve quasi-governmental enforcers of prestige along the lines of a less corrupt FIFA or International Olympic Committee, punishing deviant states not with violence but with less tangible incentives.Politics will never lose its historic links with conflict and faction. But rather than factions aligned by differing theories of human nature, the politics of the future may be splintered by disagreement over such topics as how to manage our environing background and how to permit or restrict the entry of new objects into the political sphere. This will prove just as incommensurable with the modern Left/Right spectrum as a globe is with a two-dimensional map.
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