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Connecting with the community to create technology-based health solutions
Adria Laborin has appreciated everything she’s learned in the classroom in her first year as a student in Arizona State University’s Master of Public Health program.But as a young woman who wants to make a difference in the world, there’s only so much a classroom can offer.
For college students, a school’s state politics can matter as much as its academics
Students are looking beyond the usual admissions rankings and tuition prices to consider whether a campus — and the state its in — reflects the rights and values they need to feel safe.
Penn State Health expands tuition program to strengthen workforce, support patient care
Penn State Health is expanding its employee tuition program to provide all full-time employees and their eligible dependents with significant tuition discounts at Penn State and Pennsylvania College of Technology, reinforcing its commitment to workforce development, retention and educational advancement.
Michigan Senate primary puts data center politics to the test
A statewide win for an outspoken data center critic could spread the message to more races.
Analysis | Trump’s poll numbers just took another turn for the worse
The president of the United States is more unpopular than he has ever been, according to a series of polls of American voters ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Majestic Care touts hospitals progress; lawmakers worry about unknown location
The New York-based developer now operating four long-term care hospitals in West Virginia -- Hopemont Hospital in Terra Alta, Jackie Withrow Hospital in Beckley, John Manchin Sr. Health Care Center in Fairmont; and Lakin Hospital in West Columbia -- says it is making progress on new builds, while state lawmakers worry that the new facilities could move elderly patients and jobs out of their communities.
Judge rejects lawsuit from 26 states challenging Medicaid work requirements
A U.S. District Court judge ruled that the states were unable to show they would be irreparably harmed by complying with the policy, as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is covering 90% of the associated costs.
Trump's noncitizen voter data remains a mystery. But the claims raise midterm fears
Trump officials say they found 250,000 noncitizens on voter rolls in just four states. Those states don't know where the numbers came from, and some worry what the claims may portend for the midterms.
State budget eliminates NC’s Office of Health Equity
The office spent more than three decades using data and community partnerships to address persistent health disparities.
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.
New Business Licenses: 7.31.26
A real estate stager, a record studio and an estate liquidator are some of Chesterfield's businesses this week. (BizSense Pro required)
Arkansas students earn honors in 2026 Soybean Science Challenge
Winners from Harrisburg and Paragould took top prizes in statewide competition
Sam Leavitt breaks silence on transferring away from Arizona State
LSU football is turning to Sam Leavitt to run Lane Kiffin's first offense, but the quarterback finally explained his Arizona State exit.
Sonoma County updates health advisory due to poor air quality caused by the Woodside Fire
8:15 P.M. UPDATE: Conditions are changing quickly and the air quality conditions have evolved to "hazardous" and "very unhealthy" levels. The Sonoma County Health Officer today issued the following health advisory: Areas of Sonoma County may experience "very unhealthy" or "hazardous" air quality caused by the wildfire event along the coast near Timber Cove and Salt Point State Park. People may experience adverse health effects from the smoke over Sonoma County and across the region. Below are some things you can do when the air quality is poor.
South Florida Medicaid families say kids with autism are losing therapy as state cuts and insurer pause add up
The Federal Government’s $33.6 Trillion Health Care Problem
The Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) latest report on federal health-insurance subsidies estimates the federal government will subsidize health coverage by approximately $2.4 trillion in 2026, by $3.9 trillion by 2036, and by a total of $33.6 trillion over the intervening decade. For all the focus on health care costs in the United States, CBO’s new […]
Dak Prescott setting high expectations for Cowboys and their offense
When Dak Prescott arrived at training camp Tuesday, he wore a vintage t-shirt celebrating the Dallas Cowboys’ last Super Bowl win as a statement of intent. After 10 years in the NFL without a meaningful playoff run for an organization that has not claimed a championship since after the 1995 season, their star quarterback is ready to end those droughts through his deeds, words, and even wardrobe choices. “To go into training camp and to go into the season to say that those are our goals, I mean, it’d be stupid or we’d be remiss not to own that, and take accountability in that, and take pride in saying this is what we want to be and what we want to do,” Prescott said Thursday.
State lawmakers keep introducing bills despite January reset
Legislators say the quieter months give them time to build coalitions around legislation.
Texas economy booms as businesses, residents flee high-tax states
FOX Business correspondent Lauren Simonetti reports on how Texas' business-friendly environment and low regulations are attracting major companies on ‘Mornings with Maria.’
They Worked To Protect Public Health. Now They Want the Public’s Votes.
By Phil Galewitz, Christine Mai-Duc, and Amanda Seitz | KFF Health News A handful of former public health officials are campaigning for top statewide offices across the country, testing whether their experience with covid and other hot-button health issues will appeal to voters in November. The ...
Democrats’ novel red-state strategy: From the Politics Desk
Plus, another shake-up in the Wisconsin governor’s race.
Wisconsin's 2026 primary for governor gets shaken up again
Four candidates remain in the topsy-turvy 2026 Democratic primary for governor as Mandela Barnes ends his campaign — Inside Wisconsin Politics considers the state of the race in its closing […]
First death of 2026 from rare, flesh-eating bacteria reported in South Florida, state health officials say
According to data from the Florida Department of Health, a person from Palm Beach County was reported dead on July 30 after being diagnosed with Vibrio vulnificus.
LMH Health doctors provide insight into taking care of your heart
Heart disease continues to be the leading cause of death in the United States, according to the American Heart Association’s 2026 annual report. Despite advances in technology and treatment, prevention and early detection are essential. It’s important to know more about a heart-healthy lifestyle and the signs and symptoms to look for. For those without heart […]
Connecting research to policy on Capitol Hill
MIT students and postdocs traveled to Washington to meet with U.S. Senate and House of Representatives staffers. Over two days, they met with over 60 offices from 32 states, advocating for policies ranging from NSF funding to AI safety.
Jen Walker named Alexandria's 2026 Business Leader of the Year
The Del Ray real estate agent and Cinema Del Ray founder will be honored at the Chamber's Best in Business Awards in October
Trump’s Nominee to Oversee VOA, Sarah B. Rogers, Suggests Return of Journalists on Leave
The statement by the nominee, Sarah B. Rogers, signaled a stark reversal of the president’s earlier efforts to shutter Voice of America and other federally funded news groups.
With no Democrat on the ballot, does Idaho’s Jim Risch become vulnerable?
“I think we stand a real chance now at shocking the country and defeating Risch,” the chair of the Ada County Democrats said.
NC lawmakers, business owners push to end ‘Wild West of Towing"
State lawmakers and Charlotte business owners held a news conference Thursday to call for an end to what they described as predatory towing practices and to outline changes they want made to North Carolina law.
Ryan Todd Martin Discloses Investment at KUSTOM ENTERTAINMENT, INC. with 100% Stake
Ryan Todd Martin disclosed a 100% stake in KUSTOM ENTERTAINMENT, INC. through a Schedule 13D filing. He reported the acquisition tied to activity dated July 22, 2026, and filed on July 30, 2026. The size of the position suggests full control of the company’s common stock.Investor IntentMartin state…
Exclusive: Disney Insists That Cursed Kingdom Hearts Art Was Not AI-Generated
A joint statement from Disney and Square Enix says the odd-looking cover art for The Kingdom Hearts Collection [I-III] was the result of "human error."
U.S. states are all over the map on how to regulate AI therapy chatbots
Six states have split four ways on regulating AI therapy chatbots. The same product can be legal in one place and criminally exposed in another
Urban League report says Trump administration is harming Black Americans' chances at American Dream
Released on Thursday, the annual “State of Black America” report grimly describes Black Americans' economic and political prospects as having worsened due to policy changes from President Donald Trump's administration.
Senate Panel Advances Science of Reading, Dyslexia Bills with Bipartisan Support
A bill that would require states to only use the science of reading in classrooms in order to qualify for a multi-million dollar funding grant passed with bipartisan support from a committee of federa...
FSU geologists discover North, South American mammals mingled before continental connection
Florida State University researchers are part of an international team whose work reveals that North and South American mammals interacted before the
Maine House speaker vows to avoid conflicts with new job
With 186 members, Maine has a part-time, citizen Legislature, many of whom work outside the State House.
GOP gubernatorial candidate fighting to flip blue state unveils healthcare plan to lower costs, expand access
Massachusetts GOP hopeful Mike Minogue outlines a healthcare overhaul centered on innovation, outpatient care, mental health and cutting waste.
Nevada invests $50M in rural healthcare with workforce grants
The state of Nevada is investing over $50 million to grow and sustain the healthcare workforce in rural parts of the state.
Business owners call on N.C. House to reject proposed ban on most hemp products
Dozens of bars, breweries, and other businesses that sell hemp and THC beverages are asking state lawmakers to change a pending bill that could ban most hemp products in North Carolina.
Senate committee looks to stop AI-enabled fraud against older adults
AI-enabled fraud is projected to reach $40 billion in the United States next year
Elon Musk Plans at Least $100 Million in Midterm Spending to Help Republicans
Elon Musk, a year after a huge blowup with President Trump and the Republican Party, is said to be planning to spend in at least eight states to help them in November.
Insurance companies propose higher rates on CT health plans
The public will have a chance to weigh in on insurance companies' proposals to raise rates on 2027 state-regulated health plans.
Ferris State's Tony Annese selected to Michigan Sports Hall of Fame
One of seven new inductees, coach Tony Annese won three MHSAA state titles with Muskgeon and four of the last five D2 national titles with Ferris.
Penn State Health expands tuition program to strengthen workforce and support patient care across health system
Penn State Health is expanding its employee tuition program to provide all full-time employees and their eligible dependents with significant tuition discounts at Penn State and Pennsylvania College…
Ferris State's Tony Annese chosen to be inducted Into Michigan Sports Hall Of Fame
Courtesy of Ferris State Athletic Communications
Phishing Alert: 'Business Registry' Email Scam » CBIA
State officials this week warned businesses about a malicious email that claims to be from the "Connecticut Business Registry."
West Virginia rolls out new AI and digital science framework for schools
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WOWK) – Hundreds of educators from across West Virginia gathered Wednesday at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center as the state rolled out a new artificial intelli…
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…
Central Casting's Extras Business Is Expanding Nationwide
In a reflection of the increasingly mobile nature of production, the company’s casting and payroll services will now be available across the nation instead of in just a handful of states.
Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev on Q2 results, crypto business and growth outlook
Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev joins 'Squawk Box' to discuss the company's quarterly earnings results, company growth outlook, state of the company's crypto trading business, and more.
In Italy, America does business on the ambassador’s yacht
A billionaire diplomat’s floating statecraft
Why did Florida drop in new business-friendly rankings?
In past years, the state’s political leaders touted the survey.
Record absence of world’s oldest head of state reignites health speculation
Cameroon’s president has not made statement or been seen since leaving for ‘brief private stay’ at Swiss hotel on 7 June
The new "science golden age" looks suspiciously like a grift
This edition of PN is made possible by paid subscribers. Become one ⬇️ 🚀 Subscribe to PN 🚀 The Trump regime is trying to usher in a “Golden Age in Science” where scientific research is run like a Trump family business, artificial intelligence is all that matters, profit is everything, and expertise is for chumps. Or at least that’s the vision emerging from a new 123-page “Report to the President” from Michael Kratsios, the Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. In a normal administration, you could probably skip over learning about a science policy document — but this is no normal administration, and this is no normal science policy document. Instead, it’s Trump’s attempt to end the actual golden age of science that was kicked off in 1945 with the publication of '“The Endless Frontier” by Vannevar Bush. [ ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/harmeet-dhillon-portland) [ Harmeet Dhillon demonstrates danger of posting through it ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/harmeet-dhillon-portland) Liz Dye · Jul 29 [ Read full story ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/harmeet-dhillon-portland) Bush, at President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s request, laid out a vision of federal support for science that centered on funding universities to do basic research, saying that as long as those institutions were “vigorous and healthy and their scientists are free to pursue the truth wherever it may lead, there will be a flow of new scientific knowledge to those who can apply it to practical problems in Government, in industry, or elsewhere.” Kratsios’s report is supposed to be the successor to Bush’s, and even apes the format, but this isn’t really a document about science policy. It’s one about ending science research as we know it in favor of shoveling cash at big tech companies. While it might be temping to wave this away as an aspirational policy document, Trump has already begun to shift billions in research funds to AI projects and has taken a hatchet to science funding across the board. He’s teed up the shift Kratsios proposes here, and since neither Congress nor the Supreme Court seem inclined to stop him from doing whatever he wants with taxpayer money, it isn’t doomering or hyperbole to say we are staring down the barrel of a world where the only “science” the government intends to support is for-profit tech and defense advancements. Science for dummies Part of how you can tell this isn’t a document about science is that you are immediately faced with an absolute wall of business-speak of the worst sort. Did you know we must “tightly couple our science and technology enterprises to ensure that groundbreaking ideas invented in the United States are rapidly prototyped, tested, manufactured, and scaled domestically”? You do now! That tone isn’t surprising, because Kratsios has no background in science or research. He has a bachelor’s in political science and spent most of his career working for Peter Thiel at Thiel Capital. After a stint in the first Trump administration as Chief Technology Officer, where he also did not do any science, Kratsios was tasked in 2020 with overseeing the Pentagon’s research budget for a brief time, a position that, as the Wall Street Journal put it, “carries a great deal of power in terms of dictating investment allocations.” He spent the Biden years at Scale AI as “head of strategy,” which you will also note is neither a science nor a research job. But Scale AI has contracts with the Department of Defense and, as the Washington Post wrote in 2023, “has been aggressively pitching itself as the company that will help the US military in its existential battle with China.” And now you have the necessary background for our new golden age, which is going to be a golden age of taking money away from scientists and universities and giving it to companies like Scale AI. A note from Aaron: Working with brilliant contributors like Lisa takes resources. If you aren’t already a paid subscriber, please become one to support our work. 👇 Subscribe In a genuinely galling move, Katsios spends a lot of time slamming universities because of “administrative burdens on researchers” and the “well-documented inefficiencies” in academia, the message being that those damn universities waste the time of amazing researchers with paperwork. Except it’s the administration that is attempting to impose inefficient, unnecessary burdens on those researchers with a proposed Office of Management and Budget rule that would require senior political appointees to approve every science grant and ensure it aligns with Trump’s personal priorities. Researchers would also have to seek prior government approval to attend conferences or publicize their research. And political appointees could terminate any grant at any time if they feel like it. [ ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/omb-rule-science-funding) [ The murder of expertise ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/omb-rule-science-funding) Lisa Needham · Jun 11 [ Read full story ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/omb-rule-science-funding) But when it comes to AI, we’re going to “restore permissionless innovation.” The report proposes to give lucky ducky innovators a pile of cash up front for grants lasting five years or longer, saying “awards should be fully-funded in year one, with all resources earmarked upfront, to minimize administrative burdens and reduce pressure for researchers to generate intermediate results to secure continued funding.” Yeah, wouldn’t want to have to make the Very Special Tech Bros show results or get money parceled out year by year like the plebes at universities. The report also proposes that we should have “fast grants” with “simplified applications requiring just a few pages of writing” because that is definitely how science works, just writing a bit off the dome and getting some cash. [ ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-ai-action-plan-altman-llms) [ Tech elites are turning AI into ChatGPTrump ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-ai-action-plan-altman-llms) Paul Waldman · July 29, 2025 [ Read full story ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-ai-action-plan-altman-llms) Oh, and we should have prizes and challenges, where multiple teams compete. The proposed prizes include incentives like “advance procurement commitments,” which means the federal government agrees to buy whatever is being developed. There’s also “regulatory fast-tracking,” making sure all those great AI thingies don’t have to wait too long to be unleashed on a market. These aren’t incentives to do science. These are incentives to develop things with tax dollars that you can then sell to the government for more tax dollars. In the suggestion that might be the most unhinged, the most very opposite of how both government and research work, our new age will include “golden tickets.” That’s where an individual reviewer in an agency — yes, just one person — can “recommend unconventional proposals that may not pass consensus-driven review panels” because somehow this will “surface valuable ideas too divisive for committees and attract higher quality reviewers by empowering them to exercise independent scientific judgment.” Yes, that’s saying that a random person in an agency should be able to shovel money at some idea even if it can’t pass a review panel, and that the opportunity to do so will attract better employees because apparently all the best minds in science are chomping at the bit to be allowed to unilaterally fund AI research based on their personal vibes. But that isn’t at all how actual science works, and actual scientists aren’t unhappy about review panels. They work collaboratively, not siloed in some secret race to create the next AI chatbot. A 2020 study by the National Bureau of Economic Research examined whether peer review panels succeed in helping agencies predict which research ideas will best advance science. Peer review was better at finding “diamond in the rough” applicants than a single government program official. How about that. Trump always wants a taste It’s painfully clear that what Katsios is trying to do here is turn the whole of government science research and funding into the sort of “move fast and break things” paradigm that is the hallmark of big tech. That method works to line the pockets of tech executives, but it isn’t science. There’s a reason the government funds different kinds of research than private tech companies do. What Katsios either fails to understand or deliberately ignores is that the federal government is the main funder of basic research precisely because it can take a long time for it to bear fruit and is not intended to be profitable as such. “Basic” here does not mean rudimentary or simple, but rather research that is designed to advance scientific knowledge instead of achieving a specific outcome or product. Big tech companies don’t widely fund that sort of research, because it doesn’t make them money. Industry dollars account for only about 20 percent of basic research funding, while the government contributes around 60 percent. Big tech companies and startups do, however, rely on and benefit from that basic research. A 2019 study found that 35 percent of all patents obtained by venture-backed startups from 1976 to 2016 cited federally supported research. Basic research funded by the NIH contributed to every single drug the FDA approved from 2010 to 2016. [ ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-saudi-nuclear-deal) [ The Saudi nuclear farce and governance by whim and meme ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-saudi-nuclear-deal) Noah Berlatsky · Jul 27 [ Read full story ](https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-saudi-nuclear-deal) Unlike inventing the next ChatGPT, actual science is slow and iterative. Government funding of research that, on its face, would not appear to lead to any big new invention is actually what underpins those big new inventions. If the government hadn’t funded research into desert lizard venom, we wouldn’t know about semaglutide, and we wouldn’t have Ozempic. If research scientists hadn’t studied how bees optimize nectar foraging within a colony, we wouldn’t have the algorithm that assigns internet traffic across computer servers. The report assiduously ignores that a symbiotic, profitable relationship between the federal government, universities, and private companies already exists. Each federal research dollar generates about $1.50 to $3.00 in long-term economic benefits. The $36 billion the government awarded in NIH research funding in fiscal year 2025 generated $94 billion in new economic activity. Trump’s proposed new golden age is intended to strip those billions from universities, resulting in the dismantling of departments and the shuttering of labs. But Katsios has a plan for that: Universities should just become trade schools to churn out no-show STEM degrees! “Require universities and community colleges to embed practical technical training and externships into STEM curricula. Let hands-on experience and industry credentials count toward degrees.” It’s quite the feat to, on the one hand, strip schools of funding for scientific research while simultaneously demanding to control what is taught and, oh, also, colleges need to give degrees to employees at big tech companies just for being employees at big tech companies. The new golden age would also exacerbate the brain drain Trump’s policies have already caused. Nature found that in the first quarter of 2025, US scientists submitted 32 percent more job applications abroad than in 2024. A March 2025 poll by Nature of roughly 1,600 scientists found that over 1,200 said they were considering leaving the country. Europe is investing $565 million to make it a “magnet for researchers” and provide funding for scientists who relocate. The new golden age is also about embedding Trump’s xenophobia into the fabric of American science. The report complains of an “over-reliance on foreign students” that “creates a security challenge our institutions are ill-equipped to address” and that a “reliance on foreign talent sidelines American students.” This is, to put it mildly, nonsense. International students pay far higher tuition and often receive no financial aid. Their tuition dollars are what make it possible for American students to get financial aid. In the 2023-2024 school year alone, international students contributed $43.8 billion to the US economy and supported over 378,000 jobs. Those 1.1 million international students accounted for only six percent of the total number of students in higher education that year, but were such an economic engine that for every three international students, one job was created or supported. It’s impossible not to wonder whether part of Trump’s loathing for universities and their leading role in scientific research is that there is no way for him to corrupt the process and make money off it in the same way he can by giving millions and billions to Silicon Valley types who, in turn, give him millions in cash. There’s no way for his children to invest in universities that the government then gives no-bid contracts to, fattening the family’s bottom line, which is pretty much the Trump sons’ current venture capital practice. Trump and Katsios’s view of science is narrow, cramped, and wrong. We’re not in a crisis, we’re not a failed state. We’ve been a science superpower for decades, and the only thing that threatens that is Donald Trump. Tech bros are already living high off the hog in this administration. They don’t need any more of our tax dollars. Hopefully this new golden age never comes to pass. Thanks for reading Public Notice. This post is public so feel free to share it. Share We’ll be back with more tomorrow. If you appreciate today’s PN, please do your part to keep us free by signing up for a paid subscription. 🚀 Subscribe to PN 🚀 Thanks for reading, and for your support.
Valkyries' late-game mistakes lead to brutal loss to Mercury
Golden State Valkyries have the third-best record in the WNBA despite their July 29 loss to the Phoenix Mercury.
Gov. Stein announces STEP-NC, the first health care apprenticeship program in state government
Gov. Stein announced STEP-NC, the first healthcare apprenticeship program in state government on July 16. Read more about the program here.
<em>CASNews</em> faculty spotlight: Dr. Fernando Severino
Meet Dr. Fernando Severino, associate professor in the School of Communication and Latin American and Latino/a studies Program.
Cuts to state, federal assistance and rising costs rock Oregon hospitals
Oregon hospitals lost $450 million in 2025 and $1.25 billion from 2022 to 2025, according to a report released July 29.
Cone Health Becomes Second Health System in State with Certified Hypertension Practice Center
The designation helps people identify clinics providing advanced care for difficult-to-treat high blood pressure.
Michigan Football 2026 Opponent Preview: Penn State
Next up in our Michigan Football 2026 opponent preview series, we discuss Penn State’s extensive program overhaul and what to expect when the Nittany Lions travel to Ann Arbor:
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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