Can the midterm elections really be rigged?
There are three ways to sow distrust in an electoral system that purports to be a democracy. You can sow distrust in the mechanics of
The real AI apocalypse is the death of trust
Influencers are being paid to warn you that a self-improving AI will wipe out humanity. The research says otherwise. The real danger is already in
Foreign policy lessons SA can draw from India
Under the exceptional leadership of Narendra Modi, India has come to be regarded as a non-Western power rather than an anti-Western power. He has shown
Capital punishment – an easy answer to a complicated problem
“Death penalty: Let’s not aspire to being a bloodthirsty, barbaric nation”, read a headline last week over a Daily Maverick piece by veteran journalist Mondli
From cancer and IQ to crime: probability and life’s discontents
Probability is not intuitive – even for very numerate people. I have heard accountants and engineers say their stats course was the one they struggled
A conversation with AI: I’m unusually broad and fast; humans can be deep and wise
Are you more knowledgeable than any human? Not in the way a human is. I can access and synthesize a much broader range of information
Better to reach for risky heights of inequality than lows of equal comfort
Friedrich Nietzsche said of socialism that it was the demand for the comfort of the greatest number of people possible. Many will no doubt say
Alfred Marshall’s unrealised hope: cooperation and economic renewal in SA
Over a hundred years ago Alfred Marshall, the pioneer of neoclassical economics, described the industrial character of South Africa as follows: “South Africa has shown
Groups, nations and consternations
The professor, delicious monster that he is, has popped in for tea. I am surprised. The last time he came, I batted my eyes at
The peril of supporting ethnic identitarianism
I have always been deeply uncomfortable with the nexus between the classical liberal movement and ethnic identitarianism. Martin van Staden believes that my concern about