If we were to identify the most sacrosanct dogma of Western modernity—the one that no one questions—it would undoubtedly be representative democracy. We automatically assume that it is the best form of government that humanity has ever invented—a sort of “end of history” method of governance and the ultimate political achievement.

In 1948, Claude Shannon published “A Mathematical Theory of Communication” in the Bell System Technical Journal, a paper that established information theory as a formal discipline. Shannon’s central contribution was to show that information can be measured, that communication channels have finite capacity, and that—when noise is introduced into a channel—the receiver’s ability to reconstruct the original message degrades in precise, calculable ways.

While April’s reading was slightly improved from the preliminary reading, it remained the lowest in data back to 1978.

The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note — the key benchmark for U.S. government borrowing — rose more than 3 basis points to 4.325%.

Perhaps Thiel will help build a surveillance state for for the Argentine regime similar to the American spy state that Trump and Thiel wholeheartedly support. 

It’s unclear if the move will clear the way for Kevin Warsh’s nomination as new Fed chair. 

The Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon (which includes many Christian communities)  subjects the locals to routine looting and desecration of religious sites. 

Jeff McMahan wrote a genuinely revolutionary book, Killing in War (OUP, 2009), which uncovered a flaw in standard just-war theory. The standard view sharply separates the morality of going to war—jus ad bellum—from the morality of warfare—jus in bello. Whether or not a war is just does not affect the morality of how war is to be conducted.