The Water Dipper
Ivan Illich, Byung-Chul Han, and Cloning
Bianca Bosker dives into the weird and disturbing world of making creatures.
More Articles in The Water Dipper
College, Conservation, and Computers
“What College Students Need Is a Taste of the Monk’s Life.” Molly Worthen explores the possibilities that college offers for helping students unplug from their devices and think deeply: “We need an…
Payne Hollow, Ice Cream, and National Parks
“Thriving on the Fringe of Society.” Carrie Blackmore Smith describes the life that Harlan and Anna Hubbard made at Payne Hollow and the work now being done to restore and preserve their…
David Foster Wallace, Brian Doyle, and Francis Fukuyama
“Fresh Cliché.” In a wise essay that puts David Foster Wallace in conversation with Wallace Stegner, Matt Stewart gives two cheers for clichés: “Surely there are phrases that are lazy shortcuts; we…
Hospitality, Exile, and Mushrooms
“Hospitality from the Front Porch.” Bethany Hebbard describes how a front porch lifestyle promotes genuine hospitality: “If you actually have a front porch or balcony, then I what I am about to…
AGI, Hiddenness, and Grace
“We Must Slow Down the Race to God-like AI.” Ian Hogarth gives a sobering assessment of the unpredictable ramifications of AGI: “I thought about my four-year-old who would wake up in a…
Cruises, Liberty, and Plastic
“Nature is Healing.” The Lamp recently put this essay online, and it’s a doozy. Stay all the way to the end of Sam Kriss’s haunting meditation in living in a digitized world:…
Diversion, Leisure, and Beauty
“We’ve Lost the Plot.” Megan Garber details the consequences of blurring the lines between reality and entertainment: “Each invitation to be entertained reinforces an impulse: to seek diversion whenever possible, to avoid…
Conversion, Catan, and Vinyl
“Arcs of Life.” Matthew Loftus considers the claim that all suffering is bad and should be eliminated: “Yet taking this dictum and making it into a law is at the root of…
Barbarians, Liberalism, and Disinformation
“We Must Become Barbarians.” Paul Kingsnorth sketches out possible strategies of resistance to the Machine that evade its systems rather than confronting them directly: “What Scott’s book shows me above all is…
Happiness, Blues, and the Farm Bill
“Renunciation and Christian Happiness.” In this excerpt from her new book, Zena Hitz probes the paradox at the core of a Christian view of happiness: “Both Aristotle and Paul have radical ideas…
Bison, Ignorance, and Selfies
“The Return of the Bison.” In the latest issue of Plough (which is another excellent issue), Nathan Beacom explores how bison continue to hold ecosystems together: “The American bison stands at the…
AP Classes, Vertical Farming, and Surf Localism
“The College Board’s Hollow Vision.” Annie Abrams draws attention to the College Board’s self-serving tactics and bureaucratic approach to pedagogy. AP classes really aren’t equivalent to a good college course: “Students, parents,…
Load More