Culture & Religion — February 5, 2009

Just Released: Government 2.0

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

Demonstrated by his activity on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and the official White House portal, President Obama is institutionalizing social networking as the interactive feature par excellence in American governance.

The jump to government 2.0 from its slate-and-chalk predecessor marks an effort to connect with Americans directly, without a media filter, and at 40 million internet users contributing to social networks in the US, his audience is certainly captive.

A weekly newsletter featuring the biggest ideas from the smartest people

a man standing in front of a blackboard with writing on it.

Neuropsych

The man who tried to redeem the world with logic

Walter Pitts rose from the streets to MIT, but couldn’t escape himself.

A stack of rocks sitting on top of each other.

The Learning Curve

Nagomi: The Japanese philosophy of finding balance in a turbulent life

Nagomi helps us find balance in discord by unifying the elements of life while staying true to ourselves.

The Present

How Russia’s strange cultural mindset led to Vladimir Putin’s great miscalculation

The Russian mindset is characterized by cynicism and distrust.

Strange Maps

Let George Orwell guide you through 1920s Paris

Famished, not famous: retrace Orwell’s hunger days, when he was one of the city’s legion of poor foreigners.

The Present

Andrew Yang on how the media shapes our impressions of political candidates

In his new book, “Forward: Notes on the Future of Our Democracy,” former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang explores how media narratives can warp public perception of political candidates.

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