Suggested readings, #9

Here are some interesting articles I’ve come across recently, for your consideration:

The (very) troubled history of psychiatry. (New Yorker)

Transgender kids’ brains resemble their gender identity, not their biological sex. (LGBTQ Nation)

Human life on Mars? Dangerous science fiction. (The Guardian)

What’s so useful about studying ancient history? Americans are notoriously ignorant of history, even their own, and while there’s nothing new about this indifference, the consequences are profound. (Daily Beast)

While this article is admittedly a rant, and uses unnecessarily harsh language, it perfectly explains why I don’t like Steven Pinker (not personally, I don’t know him). (Current Affairs)

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Massimo

Massimo is the K.D. Irani Professor of Philosophy at the City College of New York. He blogs at platofootnote.org and howtobeastoic.org. He is the author of How to Be a Stoic: Using Ancient Philosophy to Live a Modern Life.

2 thoughts on “Suggested readings, #9”

  1. On the Groopman piece, Jannet and Freud backed off their studies of “hysterical” women when they realized they were coming across a bunch of child sexual abuse victims and Freud, especially, simply refused to accept that. It was after that he really started pushing his repression ideas, which in book book is yet another reason to find him wrong. And, per the physics phrase, “not even wrong.”

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  2. Totally agree on colonizing Mars. More “salivific technologism,” as I call it elsewhere.

    Pinker piece is great; I “follow” Nathan Robinson on Twitter. He’s worth a read on many political issues. He eviscerated Pete Buttigieg when he entered the presidential race, for example. (Robinson is almost as far left as I am, but still more wedded to the Democratic Party.)

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