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Thursday, June 5

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What Isaac Asimov Reveals About Living with A.I.

In “I, Robot,” three Laws of Robotics align artificially intelligent machines with humans. Could we rein in chatbots with laws of our own?

So, Who’s the Best Player in Baseball?

Who ya got: Shohei Ohtani or Aaron Judge?

The Tragedy of Elon Musk
Francis Fukuyama, Persuasion
The Mass Trauma of Porn
Freya India, After Babel
Will You Be a Dancing Monkey in the Age of AI?
Martin Gurri, The Free Press
Alan Dershowitz Publishes His ‘Magnum Opus’
Kelly Jane Torrance, New York Post
How Educators Can Defeat AI
Matthew Gasda, Compact
On Britney Spears
Harmony Holiday, 4Columns
What Do Americans Really Want to Read?
Tom Comitta, LitHub
Athlete Lookism Theory
Ethan Strauss, House of Strauss
The French Exception
Thomas Peermohamed Lambert, The Metropolitan Review
My Night Out With Trump’s Young Maga Crowd
Katy Balls, The Times
'Friendship' Is a Cringe Comedy About Ghastly Human Need
Eileen Jones, Jacobin
A New GameDay Dawns
Dennis M. Hogan, The Baffler
DEI: The Democrats’ Concrete Shoes
Daniel McCarthy, Chronicles
Book Review: The Affirmative Action Myth
Leslie Eastman, Legal Insurrection
What’s Driving Bipartisan Cancel Culture?
Julian Adorney, The Daily Economy
Novels Without Food
Michael Hofmann, New York Review of Books
Planned Man's Links of the Day
Podcast: A New Conservatism by Commonplace
Available this week: "The Sleepers" by Matthew Gasda
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American Civics

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Essential Reading

America’s Legislative Tradition Has Revolutionary Roots
On May 10, 1775, the Second Continental Congress convened for its opening session in the building that...
The Louisiana Purchase and Pragmatic Presidential Power
On April 30th, 1803, American diplomats in Paris reached an agreement with the French government to purchase...

In the News

Multimedia

Why Congress Couldn't Kill Earmarks
Who Controls the Federal Purse?
Virginia & the Revolution

Censorship

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Essential Reading

May Aliens Be Deported Based on Their Speech?
The answer, oddly, isn't settled.
The COVID-era Smearing—and Resurrection—of Trump NIH Appointee Dr. Jay Bhattacharya
Bhattacharya’s path from health policy scholar to NIH director nominee is pockmarked with craters from missiles launched to destroy his scientific credibility by NIH leaders and their minions in academia.

In the News

Multimedia

Zuckerberg Ending Censorship on Facebook: "The Fact-Checkers Have Just Been Too Politically Biased"
John Kerry Tells WEF: Our First Amendment Stands As A Major Block Against Hammering Disinformation Out of Existence
House Committee Rips State Department Over Censorship

More From Real Clear

Myths from the Earth's Edge
DJ Casper's 'Cha Cha Slide'
The Bridge Scene from William Friedkin's "Sorcerer"
"The French Connection" Car Chase

RealClearBooks Wednesday

Revenge and Redemption

On 'The Last of Us'

Can You Make a Great Shark Attack Movie in 2025?

A half century removed from the Spielberg classic, the shadow of ‘Jaws’ still looms large. ‘Dangerous Animals’ knows that—and knows how to make that an asset.

The Last Gatekeeper
Helen Andrews, Compact
Crushing Banalities
Sophie Kemp, The Point
The History of the Personal Computer
Sheila Heti, Cluny Journal
Seduction Is Dead, Long Live the Incel
Scott Litts, First Things
Competing Moral Visions
Gaby Del Valle, The Drift
Cow Tools
Grayson Scott, The Baffler
Stop All the Clocks
Noah Kumin, Arcade Publishing
More American Than America
Mike Solana, Pirate Wires
The Writer as Chimera
Lincoln Michel, Counter Craft
What Was “Expat Lit”?
Oscar Dorr, The Nation
Why Are Men Shaving off Their Eyelashes?
Constance Grady, Vox
Unwinding the Gauguin Myth
Diane Scharper, Washington Examiner
Is This “Othello” Too Shakespearean?
Tom Sarrouf, Jr., Modern Age
Interview #60: Will Bardenwerper
Graig Mantle, The United States of Baseball
Make American Manufacturing Great Again
Fred Bauer, Commonplace
What the AI Revolution Means for Energy
Mark P. Mills  , City Journal
David Horowitz, 1939–2025
Staff, The New Criterion

What Isaac Asimov Reveals About Living with A.I.

In “I, Robot,” three Laws of Robotics align artificially intelligent machines with humans. Could we rein in chatbots with laws of our own?

So, Who’s the Best Player in Baseball?

Who ya got: Shohei Ohtani or Aaron Judge?

The Tragedy of Elon Musk

Francis Fukuyama, Persuasion

So it’s now official: Elon Musk is leaving Washington and returning to his businesses, running Tesla, SpaceX, Starlink, and the other... Read More

The Mass Trauma of Porn

Freya India, After Babel

Imagine you meet a teenage girl who starts telling you about her childhood, when she mentions, somewhat casually, that she was shown porn by... Read More

Will You Be a Dancing Monkey in the Age of AI?

Martin Gurri, The Free Press

Tyler Cowen is usually the smartest person in the room. I consider him a friend, so I’ve often been in the room with him, and when he... Read More

Alan Dershowitz Publishes His ‘Magnum Opus’

Kelly Jane Torrance, New York Post

Alan Dershowitz calls his new book his “magnum opus.” It’s the culmination of the legendary legal mind’s 60-year... Read More

How Educators Can Defeat AI

Matthew Gasda, Compact

James Walsh’s viral recent New York article, “Everyone Is Cheating Their Way Through College,” was not notable because... Read More

On Britney Spears

Harmony Holiday, 4Columns

“What Child Is This” is the first song Britney Spears performed live, as a kid growing up in rural Louisiana. She was born into a... Read More

What Do Americans Really Want to Read?

Tom Comitta, LitHub

The story begins in the 1990s, not long after the fall of the Soviet Union and the emergence of twelve new democracies. In this climate, the... Read More

Athlete Lookism Theory

Ethan Strauss, House of Strauss

How much do looks impact athletic stardom? Read More

The French Exception

Thomas Peermohamed Lambert, The Metropolitan Review

If you are a diligent reader of the novels flowing out of the Anglosphere for the last five or ten years, there are a number of reasons why... Read More

My Night Out With Trump’s Young Maga Crowd

Katy Balls, The Times

It’s 5.30pm at the Waldorf Astoria Washington DC and a Texan couple have just come over to our table. “You’ve done a... Read More

'Friendship' Is a Cringe Comedy About Ghastly Human Need

Eileen Jones, Jacobin

Though an excruciating movie to watch, even by cringe comedy standards, Friendship is a popular indie film that’s gone... Read More

A New GameDay Dawns

Dennis M. Hogan, The Baffler

If you’re like me—i.e., just another beleaguered, non-tenure-track professor—when you watch the meathead legions and soused... Read More

DEI: The Democrats’ Concrete Shoes

Daniel McCarthy, Chronicles

Democrats think they need a Joe Rogan of their own when what they actually need is a Christopher Rufo. Today Rufo is a senior fellow at the... Read More

Book Review: The Affirmative Action Myth

Leslie Eastman, Legal Insurrection

Jason L. Riley’s The Affirmative Action Myth: Why Blacks Don’t Need Racial Preferences to Succeed is a tour de... Read More

What’s Driving Bipartisan Cancel Culture?

Julian Adorney, The Daily Economy

Cancel culture, it seems, is alive and well on the right. A Bruce Springsteen cover band called No Surrender was slated to play at... Read More

Novels Without Food

Michael Hofmann, New York Review of Books

There probably is a way to read the Soviet novelist Andrey Platonov and come away from the experience with something, but I didn’t find... Read More

American Civics

Sponsored Curation Powered By:

Essential Reading

America’s Legislative Tradition Has Revolutionary Roots
On May 10, 1775, the Second Continental Congress convened for its opening session in the building that...
The Louisiana Purchase and Pragmatic Presidential Power
On April 30th, 1803, American diplomats in Paris reached an agreement with the French government to purchase...

In the News

Multimedia

Why Congress Couldn't Kill Earmarks
Who Controls the Federal Purse?
Virginia & the Revolution

Censorship

Sponsored Curation Powered By:

Essential Reading

May Aliens Be Deported Based on Their Speech?
The answer, oddly, isn't settled.
The COVID-era Smearing—and Resurrection—of Trump NIH Appointee Dr. Jay Bhattacharya
Bhattacharya’s path from health policy scholar to NIH director nominee is pockmarked with craters from missiles launched to destroy his scientific credibility by NIH leaders and their minions in academia.

In the News

Multimedia

Zuckerberg Ending Censorship on Facebook: "The Fact-Checkers Have Just Been Too Politically Biased"
John Kerry Tells WEF: Our First Amendment Stands As A Major Block Against Hammering Disinformation Out of Existence
House Committee Rips State Department Over Censorship

More From Real Clear

Myths from the Earth's Edge
DJ Casper's 'Cha Cha Slide'
The Bridge Scene from William Friedkin's "Sorcerer"
"The French Connection" Car Chase

RealClearBooks Wednesday

Revenge and Redemption

On 'The Last of Us'

Can You Make a Great Shark Attack Movie in 2025?

A half century removed from the Spielberg classic, the shadow of ‘Jaws’ still looms large. ‘Dangerous Animals’ knows that—and knows how to make that an asset.

The Last Gatekeeper

Helen Andrews, Compact

Nearly every major figure in the conservative movement has a biography. There are biographies of Russell Kirk, Phyllis Schlafly, James... Read More

Crushing Banalities

Sophie Kemp, The Point

2018, Germany. A bungalow, with anthracite walls and a flat roof. Jerome Daimler’s parents purchased it. They’re divorced now. He... Read More

The History of the Personal Computer

Sheila Heti, Cluny Journal

The personal computer came into existence because, at a time when the idea seemed far-fetched, certain individuals wanted so passionately to... Read More

Seduction Is Dead, Long Live the Incel

Scott Litts, First Things

My only diagnosis—my incurable, wholly intractable condition—is that I cannot help but see the world as it is, not how I want it... Read More

Competing Moral Visions

Gaby Del Valle, The Drift

At this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference, held just one month into Trump’s second term, Attorney General Pam Bondi... Read More

Cow Tools

Grayson Scott, The Baffler

“You’re looking for a bull to get off his feet. The higher their front feet are off the ground the better, and you want him to... Read More

Stop All the Clocks

Noah Kumin, Arcade Publishing

Noah Kumin’s new novel Stop All the Clocks is released today. In anticipation of what is an intelligent and honest reflection... Read More

More American Than America

Mike Solana, Pirate Wires

While my career technically began in publishing in 2009, my journey through venture, and tech, and ultimately the kind of publishing I do... Read More

The Writer as Chimera

Lincoln Michel, Counter Craft

Recently, I’ve seen a lot of chatter about what the increased attention to Substack means for the platform and especially what it means... Read More

What Was “Expat Lit”?

Oscar Dorr, The Nation

The proclivity to leave home behind and establish oneself in a European city has long existed within America’s upper classes. For... Read More

Why Are Men Shaving off Their Eyelashes?

Constance Grady, Vox

A small but curious sign of the deepening gender divide in our politically fraught times: Male beauty standards are getting really... Read More

Unwinding the Gauguin Myth

Diane Scharper, Washington Examiner

Sue Prideaux’s latest biography paints a vivid portrait of Paul Gauguin, the towering artist whose bright colors, flat... Read More

Is This “Othello” Too Shakespearean?

Tom Sarrouf, Jr., Modern Age

Shakespeare’s Othello has been making a splash on Broadway this season. Playing at the Ethel Barrymore Theater from March 23... Read More

Interview #60: Will Bardenwerper

Graig Mantle, The United States of Baseball

Will Bardenwerper is an accomplished writer who has had his work published in many prominent outlets, including The New York... Read More

Make American Manufacturing Great Again

Fred Bauer, Commonplace

The reset has been reset. After delivering a shock to the global trade system with “Liberation Day,” the Trump administration has... Read More

What the AI Revolution Means for Energy

Mark P. Mills  , City Journal

“Eventually, the cost of intelligence, the cost of AI, will converge to the cost of energy. How much you can have—the abundance... Read More

David Horowitz, 1939–2025

Staff, The New Criterion

Roger Kimball writes: With the death of David Horowitz at the age of eighty-six on April 29, America lost not only one of its most... Read More

Movies

The Storytelling of Clint Eastwood

Law & Liberty

Clint Eastwood is an unstoppable force. An actor and a director who has been building his career since his first appearance on screen in 1955, Eastwood, now 94 years old, has directed and produced a new film. Juror #2 was released in November, and like many of Eastwood’s films, it deals with justice and moral dilemmas that characters face. In the final analysis, it is a moving film that captur... Read More

more from Movies

Music

Is There Any Escape from the Spotify Syndrome?

The New Yorker Magazine

Like countless other people around the globe, I stream music, and like more than six hundred million of them I mainly use Spotify. Streaming currently accounts for about eighty per cent of the American recording industry’s revenue, and in recent years Spotify’s health is often consulted as a measure for the health of the music business over all. Last spring, the International Federation of the... Read More

more from Music

Authors

The Silencing of Sylvia Plath

The Nation

In the afterword to Loving Sylvia Plath, a book detailing the abuse that Plath suffered at the hands of her husband, the poet Ted Hughes, the literary scholar Emily Van Duyne recounts that when she started the book, a friend told her that she had to get “everything right” because “everyone is going to come for it.” Van Duyne took this to mean that the book had to be “textual,” not mere... Read More

Authors

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