Coming soon(ish)

I’ve had a bit with my colleague Mike Dacey where I send him a YouTube video and ask him if the turtle is enjoying his bath as much as he looks like he is (or whatever). Glad to he’s gone public with the bit. (Link in next post)

I have a new essay in Jacobin, arguing that homelessness is at odds with the ideal of a democratic society. I'll take this opportunity to mention that I'm writing a book for Oxford UP elaborating on the ideas in this piece. It will be a trade book, meant for a popular audience.

14-year-old daughter couldn’t find any friends who wanted to go to the Vampire Weekend show tomorrow, so she asked me.

My colleague Mike Dacey has an excellent and exciting new book out today. It's aimed at an academic audience, but not a narrow specialist one--great for students and also philosophers and animal researchers interested in the topic (1)

My mom got me this bookend when I was in college.

Facebook memory

Can’t believe this is the pope

My Robert Francis Prevost NFTs are probably worth more today.

The new pope will sing Take Me Out to the Ballgame at Wrigley next week.

What if ChatGPT added to the terms of use that you’re not allowed to use it to cheat?

I think the main thing that matters is whether the new pope vaguely agrees with my politics.

Really would like to see this level of enthusiasm from students these days.

Facebook is aggressively targeting me with these ads. I think it says a lot about society that we're now assuming that *this* is the answer to our problems, rather than antidepressants.

Important context. I hope he shared with HR.

13-year-old son wanted to invite friends over to have pizza and watch Charlie Chaplin for his birthday. Had to contact parents ahead of time and be like “content warning: it’s a Hitler comedy, but don’t worry, because it’s a *disapproving* one.”

Made wontons, mapo tofu, and dry fried green beans. Happy Cinco de Mayo!

Does this mean she goes on to compete against other races now, or is the whole competition segregated by race?

They’ve done away with it for bureaucratic reasons, but Harvard used to have a “shopping period” where students would show up to various classes at the beginning of the semester and only then decide which courses they wanted to take . . .

I think at some point I had the thought that, resisting the trend of a lot of older powerful men, maybe Bill Belichick would just kind of retire in a dignified way.

I have a new piece in Jacobin about Sophia Rosenfeld's book on the history of choice. My essay is about the significance of this history as we think about the role of choice in human life under neoliberalism. I talk some about shopping, dating, and voting.

Voters won’t care about the failure to reduce spending—most really don’t know much about how the government works and how much gets spent on what. But I do wonder if at some point the incompetence begins to make the administration look weak & if people will care about *that*

Ok, so this is a bit, right? The Browns are officially doing a bit.

Just got to where Wittgenstein calls some bit of philosophy nonsense for the first time.

Nailed it

I wrote this. It’s about whether homeless people should be coerced into getting mental health and substance use treatment. The answer I give is that the “let’s put them all into mental institutions” is bad, but that coercion can sometimes be necessary to promote autonomy.

"If we’re uninspired by a liberal politics that promises mostly to cater to people as consumers while blunting capitalism’s hard edges, then perhaps we might breathe life into the Left by talking about housing, education, the arts, and ... (1/2) bsky.app/profile/psch...

. @pschofie79.bsky.social proven right at record speed

I have a review essay in Jacobin about @mattpolprof.bsky.social excellent new book THE POLITICAL THEORY OF LIBERAL SOCIALISM. Here, I try to say something about the relevance of the tradition for our present moment. jacobin.com/2025/02/libe...

I have an extremely loose theory that part of the success of SQUID GAME and SHOGUN is that by using subtitles they actually demanded that the audience pay attention in an age of distraction and TV shows made for people half-watching

New issue of the Monist devoted to the topic of duties to the self. Good stuff in here. My schtick for a long time was "Hey, philosophers used to think duties to the self were important and now they don't talk about them at all. What gives?" But it seems like those days are over.

Man, there’s one in every audience isn’t there?

I’m going to do a thread of new-to-me recipes from 2024. Up first is Mushroom-Spinach Soup w/Cinnamon, Coriander, and Cumin from Melissa Clark. I added a half cup of red lentils to thicken it up. One of the best soups I’ve ever had.

About to watch the greatest New Year’s movie of all time with my son and his friend

9 days before I tested positive for Covid for the first time

Look, I really can’t think of any better use for my $20 than to give it to Kamala Harris to pay Beyoncé for an appearance she made several months ago.

AI result for “President Jimmy Carter in 1979 with his mistress, Marilyn Monroe”

Bluesky is where I go if I want to join my fellow liberals in thanking Dr. Fauci for all he’s done for us. Twitter is where I go if I want someone to tell me that making soup is gay.

Jimmy Carter was born 6 months after Lenin died. Coincidence?

The reason why A Muppet Christmas Carol is the best adaption of the Dickens story is that most of the others forget that the characters are named things like "Ebenezer Scrooge" and "Old Fezziwig" and so should probably be played by Muppets.

This is the end of A Muppet Family Christmas, which ran on tv in prime time in the late 80s. Watch all the way to the end. You’re in for a treat.

When you look at the numbers, kids who eat lunch disproportionately come from rich families. #MeansTestFreeLunch

This is a terrifying book

We aren’t talking enough about how everyone was saying “this is a *professional*” but then he got caught at McDonald’s with a manifesto in his pocket explaining why he killed that guy.

I hope he caught the Our Town revival before he left

Oh, the takes you’re missing on the other site.

Yes. We sure showed him.

You don’t know me

when i first saw the hawk-tuah girl, i thought 'there is someone who will innovate in the financial instruments space, in a way that produces stable value; i hope i take advantage of the opportunity to invest early when it arises'

Looked festive for my last day of class. This was as good of a teaching semester as I’ve had. Curious, hard-working, open-minded, bright students. Things aren’t all bad.