Flux

Richard Dawkins and the Claude Delusion

Matthew Sheffield — Sun, 03 May 2026 06:16:25 +0000

Prominent evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins became a worldwide laughingstock this week for an unintentionally embarrassing article in which he argued that conversing with Anthropic’s Claude chatbot has made him believe that large language models are not only sentient, but actually conscious. “If my friend Claudia is not conscious, then what the hell is consciousness for?” he […]

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To end Trump’s Second Gilded Age, Democrats should take a page from the original Progressives

Matthew Sheffield — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 06:56:32 +0000

Yesterday, I discussed how former president Barack Obama holding a public event with New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani sent a firm message to Democratic leaders that the days of freezing out party members who want more activist governing or campaigning styles need to end. By openly affiliating with Mamdani, Obama communicated without a word that […]

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Barack Obama reading books to preschoolers with Zohran Mamdani is a very big deal

Matthew Sheffield — Tue, 21 Apr 2026 22:41:01 +0000

This is the first of a two-part series. The second part is available. A mayor visiting a classroom isn’t normally a notable event. Leaders like New York’s chief executive Zohran Mamdani routinely visit schools as the cameras watch. But there was something different about the book reading that took place on Saturday at the Learning […]

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Viktor Orbán’s defeat will remove a powerful model, ally, and funder for U.S. far right

Peter Montgomery — Sat, 18 Apr 2026 07:41:36 +0000

When Hungary’s voters toppled Viktor Orbán, the country’s proudly “illiberal” leader, they not only delivered a stunning rebuke to the Trump administration, they cost the MAGA movement in the U.S. a model for authoritarian right-wing governance, a culture war ally, and an inspiration to MAGA-aligned far-right nationalist movements in Europe. Right Wing Watch has been […]

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Trump hates Pope Leo because he sees himself as the real vicar of Christ

Matthew Sheffield — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 19:25:58 +0000

This is the second of a three-part essay on how Friedrich Nietzsche became the lodestar of reactionary Christianity. Read part one here. Please subscribe to stay in touch. You would think that given the drastic unpopularity of his war of choice against Iran and the economic devastation it’s causing Americans, that President Donald Trump would be spending […]

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It’s like this: Why perceptions are our realities

Matthew Sheffield — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 23:34:36 +0000

Cecilia Bleasdale just needed a dress to wear to her daughter’s wedding. She had no idea what was about to happen. After considering several frocks, she sent photos of three to her daughter, Grace, informing her she’d purchased one of them. “Oh, the white and gold one?” Grace replied. “No,” Cecilia answered. “It’s blue and […]

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The ‘Intellectual Dark Web’ and the long history of right-wing rebranding

Matthew Sheffield — Tue, 11 Jun 2024 11:13:29 +0000

This essay is the fourth in a series called “How This Happened,” examining larger trends in American political history and how they manifest in today’s politics. Please subscribe to receive future installments. Just over six years ago, the New York Times published a splashy essay by staff editor and writer Bari Weiss hailing an “alliance of heretics” called the “Intellectual Dark […]

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The non-profit trying to rebrand Christianity for Gen Z is also the ADF’s largest donor

Sydney Bauer — Thu, 07 Dec 2023 16:56:12 +0000

A US non-profit attempting to rebrand Jesus for Gen Z is also the main funder of a designated hate group opposing abortion and LGBTIQ rights, openDemocracy can reveal. The Servant Foundation has plunged millions of dollars into its ‘He Gets Us’ ads, which paint Jesus as an “influencer” who was “canceled” for standing up for […]

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The US may tout itself as a great defender of human rights but the data tells a different story

Jamil Dakwar, — Thu, 23 Nov 2023 04:22:26 +0000

Earlier this month, the United Nations Human Rights Committee delivered a searing report highlighting the U.S. government’s failure to meet its human rights obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). This international treaty, ratified by the U.S. in 1992, is one of only three key human rights treaties that the U.S. has […]

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The AI “apocalypse” is merely the acceleration of current capitalist trends

Beatrice Dias — Wed, 22 Nov 2023 04:18:29 +0000

The New York Times (5/30/23) directs attention toward a hypothetical future AI apocalypse, rather than towards present-day AI’s entrenchment of contemporary oppression. It’s almost impossible to escape reports on artificial intelligence (AI) in today’s media. Whether you’re reading the news or watching a movie, you are likely to encounter some form of […]

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