News, Notes, & Podcasts

Just in time for summer, it’s a bunch of songs about falling in love. Send your song suggestions to symposiumofsongs@gmail.com!

Alexander Sammon narrates the incredible, complicated, tragic story of Florida’s dying crop.

We’re looking back with a golden haze this week on A Symposium of Popular Songs, listening to songs about nostalgia (and its high-class cousin, antiquarian feeling). Send your song suggestions…

If you think an algorithmic function can have a moral character, I’m not sure you’ll have a productive conversation about aligning AI with human goods.

This week on A Symposium of Popular Songs, we’re listening to songs about success—its joys, its sorrows, and its dangers. Send your song recommendations to symposiumofsongs@gmail.com!

Elisabeth Lasch-Quinn expresses gratitude for Wendell Berry’s latest novel and his faithful voice speaking truth over many decades.

Boy, I had very little idea what I wanted to say about sincerity when I started recording, so you’ll hear me sincerely try to figure it out as we listen…

This excerpt from Christopher Beha’s new book draws on John Stuart Mill to probe the flaw at the heart of Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson’s technocratic vision of liberalism.

A friend of mine recently asked me for a Spotify playlist of alternative rock—but I don’t use Spotify, so I decided to make the playlist here. This week on A…

It’s been a rough week for those committed to Wendell Berry’s Terrapin Theory of Technology.

We’re listening to songs about happiness this week on A Symposium of Popular Songs, and trying to find a way to separate songs about happiness from songs about being in…

Arthur Brooks draws on Eitan Hersh and others to remind people that following politics like it’s entertainment erodes civic virtue.