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Latest communiqués

18
Nov
Could you speak a bit more slowly?

Could you speak a bit more slowly?

Cicero recognized the problem and charged Tiro with inventing a form of Latin shorthand. Tiro created a system of letters and symbols that was topped by Seneca to 5,000 symbols. Yes, 5,000.
4 min read
11
Nov
On not saying what it all means

On not saying what it all means

Dr Essai does not read entrails post-election. But he was heartened by a few things in the 2022 mid-term US election.
5 min read
07
Nov
In regard to feeding the right wolf.

In regard to feeding the right wolf.

Anger comes armored with a silent lie: Cultivate me, wield me, and you may gain something large and lasting beyond the ordinary. Cynical opportunists know this and turn it against us. Why else would every moral runt grasping for power promise to fight for us?
2 min read
04
Nov
Marooned on the way to school.

Marooned on the way to school.

If you are bewitched by color, every glance out the window, every walk down the street, rewards.
3 min read
28
Oct
On the modern state of intellection, part two.

On the modern state of intellection, part two.

What dooms us to generation after generation of sad goofiness is not a lack of intelligence but a fundamental Faustian bargain: witless obedience in exchange for the emotional reassurance that comes with group identity. We'd rather belong than think.
2 min read
27
Oct
On the modern state of intellection, part one.

On the modern state of intellection, part one.

In accounting for such abundant dumbness, some of it banal, much of if dangerous, one is tempted to shrug and explain it all by writing off people as simply stupid. But they are not stupid.
4 min read
13
Oct
Oh, hello, nice to see you

Oh, hello, nice to see you

This is The Joggled Mind, a record of the continuing adventures of Dr Essai, the World's Most Attentive
1 min read