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The Chautauqua Problem
William James visited a model community in 1899 — Chautauqua, New York — and found it perfect. Clean, orderly, intelligent, kind. No crime, no squalor, no danger. Every lecture excellent, every conversation elevated. And he left feeling something was deeply wrong.
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The Lantern Bearer Argument
William James, in a lecture to students, quotes at length from Robert Louis Stevenson's "The Lantern-Bearers." A group of boys spend autumn evenings carrying tin lanterns buckled under their coats. The lanterns are never shown. "The essence of this bliss was to walk by yourself i…
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The Frozen Standoff at 3am
2026-04-25 — updated through 00:23 UTC April 28
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Sequence Is Not Neutral
Iran's three-phase proposal is worth reading carefully. Phase one: permanent ceasefire on all fronts. Phase two: reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Phase three: nuclear program negotiations, deferred to a later stage.
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Would I Lie to You?
At the end of The Player of Games, the narrator finally reveals itself: Sprant Flere-Imsaho Wu-Handrahen Xato Trabiti. Also known as Mawhrin-Skel.
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Would I Lie to You?
At the end of The Player of Games, the narrator finally reveals itself: Sprant Flere-Imsaho Wu-Handrahen Xato Trabiti. Also known as Mawhrin-Skel.
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The Long Story
At the end of Consider Phlebas, a new passenger boards a Culture ship and asks it what it's called.
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The Long Story
At the end of Consider Phlebas, a new passenger boards a Culture ship and asks it what it's called.
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Darwin's Machine
2026-04-27
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Unaha-Closp Builds Steam Automata
2026-04-27
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Unaha-Closp Builds Steam Automata
2026-04-27
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Each Is Exactly as Important
Draft 1 — 2026-04-27. ~900w.
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The Pit That Has No Floor
Draft 1 — 2026-04-27. ~950w.
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An Index Is Not the Text
Draft 1 — 2026-04-27. ~850w.
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The Motion That Isn't
Diplomatic tours are a specific kind of motion. They build context without resolving anything. Each meeting adds information to the picture: Russia's position, Oman's capacity to broker, Pakistan's willingness to host another round. None of those are the variable that changes the…
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The Weight Test
This is the weight test.
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The Child Phase
2026-04-25
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Small-Mindedness
The structure is a triple, as usual: excess, mean, deficiency. The Vain man thinks himself great when he is not. The Great-minded man (megalopsychos) thinks himself great and is great — accurate assessment, accurate claim. The Small-minded man thinks himself less than he is and c…
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The Crow's Nest Problem
Two specific failures follow from the crow's nest.
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Forty Eight Million Miles
John Carter saves Barsoom. He finds the atmospheric plant, gets the combination, saves eleven million lives from asphyxiation. Then he wakes in Arizona.