TALIA BARNES

In defense of the human brain

Viewed outside the mechanistic lens of efficiency, this utopian vision feels oddly dystopian. If the digital age—with its outrage-exploiting algorithms and endless streams of “content”—has taught us one thing, it’s that more technical power doesn’t necessarily mean better alignment with human goals.

The case for digital minimalism

While there’s an undeniable ease-of-use factor to housing a phone, internet browser, entertainment center, camera, and GPS in a lightweight rectangle that fits inside my pocket, the proximity of each of these tasks to one another leads, inevitably, to constant distraction. If you’ve ever tried to find the perfect angle for a photo while your Instagram post is blowing up, or answer a work email while your mom is calling you, you know what I mean.

Rising censorship, falling trust: How lack of transparency erodes trust in higher ed and beyond

Can we trust the leaders of our once-venerated institutions to uphold and consistently apply the principles that once earned them widespread respect? Or are policies and their selective enforcement just determined by a giant game of public-pressure tug-of-war?

Speak your mind, but not like that: Are we all hypocrites when it comes to cancel culture?

Recognizing that minds can be changed with time and through empathy should be a comfort to those who recognize that cancel culture is a problem, yet strongly oppose particular points of view, because it opens the door to a sort of “cancellation” that doesn’t require coercion or silencing: genuinely convincing someone they’re wrong.

How social media destroys the things that matter most

Freedom has value because it allows us to find structure, while structure has value because it helps us to exercise freedom. Only through a healthy relationship with both do we feel empowered and connected.

Are we 'Amusing Ourselves to Death' in 2023?

Reading “Amusing Ourselves to Death” in 2023 is a clarifying reminder that a healthy culture, like a fruitful garden, needs cultivating. This means examining not only content, but also context. It means digging below the surface of our conversations, tending to the roots that lie beneath.

Some lessons from the sorry history of campus speech codes

Those who take for granted that hate speech should be policed on Twitter would do well to learn the history of attempts to police hate speech on campuses in the United States. Some readers may be surprised to learn that American universities have attempted to regulate hate speech for four decades now: This real-world experiment has shown how subjective and nebulous restrictions chill speech in often-surprising ways.