Persuasion | Yascha Mounk | Substack

What Cognitive Science Tells Us About AI Warfare

We often treat chatbots like humans. That's deeply worrying.

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A Response to "The Bourgeoisie Has Switched Sides"

Michael Lind on the two types of bourgeoisie.

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What AI Hypists Miss

These systems still struggle with implementing real world solutions.

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A Theory About the Estrangement Crisis

Don’t helicopter parent your kids. It may cause them to make a dramatic break later in life.

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Medical Research Is Hopelessly Caught in Red Tape

To have AI breakthroughs in medicine, you first need to fix bureaucratic bottlenecks.

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What AI Hypists Miss

These systems still struggle with implementing real world solutions.

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Nearly two weeks in, it’s clear just how ill thought-through Trump’s regional war is.

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Essays and conversations about big ideas from our editor-in-chief.

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Francis Fukuyama shares some of the many things on his mind.

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American Purpose at Persuasion is a continuation of the magazine, media project, and intellectual community chaired by Francis Fukuyama. Includes Larry Diamond's "Diamond on Democracy" column and the "Bookstack" podcast with Richard Aldous.

Yascha Mounk

A Response to "The Bourgeoisie Has Switched Sides"

Michael Lind on the two types of bourgeoisie.

Mar 19 • Michael Lind and Yascha Mounk

The Bourgeoisie Has Switched Sides

What happens when elites all believe the same thing.

Mar 11 • Yascha Mounk

My Day of Jury Duty

What a deeply ordinary day in a deeply ordinary court taught me about American democracy.

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Yascha Mounk and Shashank Joshi examine whether the United States and Israel are achieving their strategic objectives in the Middle East.

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Ibram X. Kendi on Great Replacement Theory

Yascha Mounk and Ibram X. Kendi also discuss anti-racism, equity, and education.

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Adrian Wooldridge on the Lost Genius of the Political Center

Yascha Mounk and Adrian Wooldridge explore how liberalism reinvented itself through past crises—and what that means for its survival today.

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What Regime Change Could Mean for Iran

The Islamic Republic enters a moment that could quickly become a legitimacy crisis.

Mar 10 • Saeid Golkar

North Korea Was Right About Nuclear Weapons

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Two Ways To Understand the Peril Facing American Democracy

To fully comprehend Trump 2.0, we must look abroad.

Mar 3 • Dalibor Rohac

A Who’s Who of those now in charge of Iran.

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What Trump and Xi Have in Common

Both the United States and China are replacing top military commanders with ideologues.

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Recent posts

Shashank Joshi on Why the War in the Middle East Won’t End Anytime Soon

Yascha Mounk and Shashank Joshi examine whether the United States and Israel are achieving their strategic objectives in the Middle East.

10 hrs ago • Yascha Mounk

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This Week At Persuasion

London pub meet TOMORROW! Plus, Ibram X. Kendi on The Good Fight—yes, really.

Mar 19 • Leonora Barclay

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Yascha Mounk and Ibram X. Kendi also discuss anti-racism, equity, and education.

Mar 18 • Yascha Mounk

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Mar 16 • Yascha Mounk

Adrian Wooldridge on the Lost Genius of the Political Center

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Mar 14 • Yascha Mounk

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Trump hasn’t actually reduced the burden of the administrative state—he’s just shifted it onto all of us.

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A Pedagogy of the Empowered

The left-wing cancellations of yesteryear teach us how to respond to the right-wing censorship of today.

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There were many puzzling features of the recent protests. This coming year, universities must course correct—while protecting the right to dissent.

Sep 20, 2024 • David Bromwich

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