Category: Control
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The Old College and the Arithmetic of Failure
READ MY NOTICE TO EXPRESS MYSELFAS A FREE ADULT CITIZEN OF THE STATE OF TEXAS Mushrooms on Luxuriant Soil Philip Lindsley went to Nashville in 1824 because nobody there had a college. A Princeton graduate, a man who had already turned down several presidencies, he was drawn by the sheer…
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How Colonial Colleges Traded Away Their Inheritance
READ MY NOTICE TO EXPRESS MYSELFAS A FREE ADULT CITIZEN OF THE STATE OF TEXAS Fellowship Controversy in Colonial New England In 1721, two Harvard tutors, Nicholas Sever and William Welsteed, made their case to the Board of Overseers. The argument was simple enough on its face: the Harvard Charter…
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Built of Humans not Bricks: Cathedral Schools, Guilds, and the Governance We Inherited
The medieval university was not founded by anyone in particular, on any particular day, for any particularly noble reason but evolved by a process of accretion. And understanding what it accumulated into, and under whose authority, is the necessary first move before grasping exactly what the American college systems would…
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Liberal Autocracies: A Prologue to Seven Blogs
READ MY NOTICE TO EXPRESS MYSELFAS A FREE ADULT CITIZEN OF THE STATE OF TEXAS In the late 1720s, Harvard College lost its democracy over what appears, at this distance, to have been a personnel dispute of no lasting consequence. For several decades prior, the college’s small resident faculty had…
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NOTICE OF FREEDOM TO EXPRESS MY VIEWS
As a voting citizen of the State of Texas and the United States of America, I assert my right to freedom of speech, as protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This personal blog is a space where I express my views, engage in discourse, and reflect on…
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Deleuze Burroughs and Nomadic Virology: Preliminary Thinkering
Participant observers coming homeward… Any practice that slows processing creates a local pocket in which noticing becomes possible. In this way, the local becomes focal; and, at last, we dwell alongside rather than standing at a distance. Aphorism sent via text to Alicia Re Cruz, 28 June 2026 I have…
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A Clarification on Tools, Thinking, and the Question of Authorship
I wrote this up a few months ago, but have only now decided to share it. The accusation has been made, in various registers (sometimes as a question, sometimes as a verdict), that what appears here or in some other places is not “really” mine. That an AI wrote it.…
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Neoliberal Gilded Age
The abstract The Video Essay What happens when companies are bigger than countries?
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On Cages, Currents, and Loss
Mountain Dog reflections on the concept that not every limitation is a prison, emphasizing the importance of recognizing transient constraints rather than allowing them to define our perception of reality. They advocate for resilience through honest acknowledgment of loss while promoting care and connection amidst systemic pressures.
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Connected to the Neoliberal University
The author reflects on the pressures faced as a new PhD navigating academic and administrative roles in a Texas public university. They discuss the tension between scholarly independence and the algorithms dictating educational practices. Emphasizing the need to resist platform capitalism’s influence, they advocate for a reimagined university focused on…
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When Stars Fall to Earth: The Strange Journey of “Revolution” from Copernicus to Robespierre
The post explores the concept of revolution from its historical meanings to modern interpretations, focusing on two crucial anachronisms in the term “Scientific Revolution.” Initially, revolution signified cyclical restoration, as seen in political contexts from the 17th century to the American and French revolutions, where actors viewed transformations as returns…
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Adrift in the Ether with AI: Reasoning is Relating
Our relation to AI may be less about aligning its outputs to “human values” and more about guarding our own capacity for critical examination. This involves relational reflections that forestall premature closure for instrumental certainty. But more fundamentally, prolonged interaction with systems that cannot perform comprehension may erode our capacity…
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Decluttering Awareness: Nagarjuna and Emptiness
Nāgārjuna’s thinkering dives into emptiness to abandon how we cling to rigid views, which just messes with our understanding of reality. He shows that everything arises through dependence and encourages us to let go of fixed beliefs, which can lead to true freedom and serenity in life.
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A Fourfold for the Current Empire
I explore the concept of “transistance,” a practice of navigating life’s complexities without adhering to rigid frameworks. It emphasizes the importance of embracing ambiguity and interdependence, while rejecting traditional revolutionary approaches. I propose it is a first step of a fourfold practice to cultivate authentic responses, ultimately advocating for a…
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Whispering New Directions
The text explores the concept of the practical spirit, emphasizing three modes: contemplative, scientific, and operative. It critiques the dominance of operationalism in modern society, linking it to systemic dehumanization. I advocatesfor “transistance” to navigate beyond established orientations and connect with deeper uncertainties through mindful practices and the exploration of…
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Anti-Reason in Our Times: The Renaissance of White Supremacy
Karl Jaspers warns in “Reason and Anti-Reason in Our Time” (1952) of the unphilosophical spirit that favors comforting myths over uncomfortable truths. Contemporary white supremacist movements exemplify this “anti-reason,” exhibiting ideological rigidity and rejecting dialogue. Through the Browning’s work, “The Hate Next Door” (2024), we see how these groups manipulate…
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Philosophical Faith in the World: Neither Sinner nor Consumer
Karl Jaspers small text provides us in 2025 with a manual of quiet defiance. For queer and other marginalized thinkers, educators, counselors, and all who remain exposed in the neoliberal storm winds, Jaspers offers us Way to reassert the soft power of dialogical courage.
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Neoliberalism: The Operating System of the Society of Control
Neoliberalism, emerging as a reaction against Keynesian policies, transforms social life through market logic, individual responsibility, and state facilitation of capital. It prioritizes deregulation, privatization, and austerity, reframing citizens as entrepreneurial actors. In Texas, neoliberal policies since the 1990s have led to educational restructuring, higher education reframed as job training,…
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