by David Roberts from Grist "When it comes to energy, policymakers are often confronted with human behavior that seems irrational, unpredictable, or unmanageable. Advocates for energy efficiency in particular are plagued by the gap between what it would make sense for people to do and what they...

by Lorna Casselton and James Wilsdon for Seed Magazine "Last week, top scientists from more than 100 countries gathered in London for one of the biggest scientific meetings of the year: the InterAcademy Panel. Hosted by the Royal Society as part of its 350th anniversary celebrations, the Panel brings...

By David P. Barash | The Chronicle "Everybody hates Bernard Madoff, and for good reason. He bilked hundreds—thousands—of people out of billions, perhaps tens of billions, of dollars, destroyed numerous life savings, ruined the future prospects of many of those who had trusted him, all the while...

By Michael Walzer P reliminary Dialogue: The co-editor of Dissent argues with a philosophical friend to determine the truth (or a truth) of the matter. MW : The definite article is wrong. How could there be one good society, given the immense variety of human cultures? A Philosophical Friend : Well,...

The New Interface of Governance Frontier / by Nancy Scola "If we can just tweak the way we make choices, we can make smarter ones. A look at Obama’s plans to put the science of human nature to work. For those of us familiar with the strange land that is Washington, DC, it’s tempting to snicker a...

"In making Sonia Sotomayor his first nominee for the Supreme Court yesterday, President Obama appears to have found the ideal match for his view that personal experience and cultural identity are the better part of judicial wisdom..." Read the full article at The Wall Street Journal Photo by...

In The Huffington Post, posted February 16, 2009 Barry Schwartz, professor of social theory and social action at Swarthmore College, makes a passionate call for "practical wisdom" as an antidote to a society gone mad with bureaucracy. He argues powerfully that rules often fail us, incentives...