In the history of political thought, one of the most persistent tensions has been between the state and the sphere of culture. From ancient city-states to modern nation-states, the question has continually arisen as to whether political authority has the right to intervene in the production, distribution, and direction of culture.

Federal IRS workers at the Chamblee Building are often greeted by rats struggling to free themselves from glue traps set about the workplace. Workers at the Veterans Affairs building in Hilo, Hawaii, are having to deal with dangerous infestations of mold. Federal employees in several places, including the Food and Drug Administration building in Washington, DC, are being exposed to Legionella, the bacteria that causes Legionnaires’ disease.

The US Supreme Court ruled this week that the twentieth-century interpretation of so-called “birthright citizenship”—i.e., the idea that virtually anyone born inside the territory of the United States is an automatic citizen—is to be upheld. This further solidifies into US law the idea that children born on US soil to visiting foreign nationals—among many other non-citizens—are granted citizenship automatically. 

Modern theories of money often begin with the state. According to chartalists—from Georg Friedrich Knapp’s The State Theory of Money through modern proponents such as L. Randall Wray, with David Graeber’s Debt: The First 5,000 Years as a popular fellow traveller—money originates in taxation, legal decree, and state accounting systems.

Modern societies increasingly seek certainty. Governments, corporations, and experts increasingly rely on ever more sophisticated technologies to predict behavior, manage risk, coordinate complex systems, and reduce uncertainty. Artificial intelligence promises unprecedented efficiency. Algorithms detect patterns invisible to the human eye. Vast administrative networks collect and process information on a scale that previous generations could scarcely have imagined.