Constitutional Illusions
The Czech debate over the Constitutional Court’s decisions follows a curious pattern. A case is brought before the Constitutional Court. The opposition (by which I mean the parties that won…
The Return of Zero-Sum
An observation from the Czech-British anthropologist Ernest Gellner: In societies where production expands rapidly—for example, industrial societies that quickly adopt new innovations, though not only those—people can improve their circumstances…
Approved rebels
In Czech, people commonly speak of “daring” photographs. What they do not mean are photographs of someone balancing over a chasm, feeding a tiger, or posting an anti-immigration message on…
State and AI
Karl Marx argued that when the gap between the relations of production and the means of production becomes too large, society undergoes a fundamental transformation, often through revolution. By that…
The Curse of Distraction
When we devote ourselves to something for an extended period and do it with real concentration, it improves the condition of our brains and leaves us feeling noticeably better. The…
Hungarian stagnation and Succession
This week I again had the opportunity to attend a gathering featuring a sociologist who specializes in Hungarian society and occasionally teaches seminars at my university. Since we both studied…