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2 weeks ago | 
wisdomofcrowds.live | Santiago Ramos |Damir Marusic
It’s finally happened: Israel has attacked Iran. Wisdom of Crowds executive editor joined for a live-streamed emergency q&a about the latest Middle East crisis. What do we know? What can we expect in the near future? What does this mean for the Middle East in the long term? And why does Damir think that Israel is America’s “junkyard dog”?
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2 weeks ago | 
wisdomofcrowds.live | Damir Marusic |Santiago Ramos
Why do artists try so hard to shock the public? Why is Kanye West singing about Hitler? Why are New York artists dabbling with fascism? The novelist and cultural critic joins and to discuss these questions and more. Last week, Tara published an essay on Wisdom of Crowds titled “The Point of Pissing People Off.” In it, she tries to figure out whether there is something positive at work in transgression and provocation — something good that comes out of shocking art.
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Mar 20, 2025 | 
wisdomofcrowds.live | Shadi Hamid |Damir Marusic |Santiago Ramos
Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -51:20Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. Recent events suggest that the balance of power is breaking down. Trump is achieving executive supremacy. In less fancy terms, Trump looks like he’s becoming a dictator. Rule of law might be slipping away. and agree about all this. But they disagree about which recent event is the true inflection point.
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Mar 14, 2025 | 
wisdomofcrowds.live | Mana Afsari |Damon Linker |Santiago Ramos |Shadi Hamid
Current time: 0:00 / Total time: -55:02Audio playback is not supported on your browser. Please upgrade. is a writer and sometime contributor to Wisdom of Crowds, whose career has taken her from the RAND Corporation, to a job as an assistant to a a great American poet, to the position of Research Associate at the Aspen Institute’s Philosophy and Society Initiative.
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Feb 6, 2025 | 
wisdomofcrowds.live | Santiago Ramos |Shadi Hamid |Damir Marusic |John Ganz
Donald Trump and Elon Musk are moving quickly, so we decided to release this episode a few days early. In a half-week of alarming developments, Trump has announced that the United States might send troops to Gaza to transfer the Palestinian population to Egypt or Jordan, and to aid in reconstructing the country. Elon Musk has become the undertaker of government agencies, the wrecker of the civil service.
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Jan 29, 2025 | 
commonwealmagazine.org | Brian Swann |Santiago Ramos |Vanessa R. Corcoran |Jonathan Malesic
I found bits of it even when it maybe wasn’t there like clouds or shadow. I found it when I wasn’t even looking or didn’twant it, or it found me when least expected, but when I tried to grab, away it squirmed and bit me hard. How confusing, life! I’ve often begged it to let me go. I’ll keep quiet, I say. I won’t say a word. No one will blame you, no one will know. I’ll hide awayfrom it all. Think I care? it says. So in silence I wait, going nowhere.
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Jan 29, 2025 | 
commonwealmagazine.org | Regina Munch |Santiago Ramos |Vanessa R. Corcoran |Jonathan Malesic
In college, a guidance counselor regularly lectured our cohort on the importance of being “impactful.” Impactful people are “doers”: they see a problem, need, or inefficiency, and through relentless grit and superior vision, they make change. Impactful people have their elevator pitch down. They have diverse interests and strengths while also being obsessively focused on their goal. They’re on the cutting edge, but they make it look effortless and obvious.
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Jan 29, 2025 | 
commonwealmagazine.org | Santiago Ramos |Vanessa R. Corcoran |Jonathan Malesic |Anthony Domestico
In Defense of Just-War ThinkersGerald W.
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Jan 28, 2025 | 
commonwealmagazine.org | Robert Rubsam |Santiago Ramos |Vanessa R. Corcoran |Jonathan Malesic
Teotihuacan was, once, the center of the world. The pre-Aztec Teotihuacanos modeled their great capital in what is now central Mexico on the universe itself, imbuing their everyday lives with a sense of holy grandeur. Before the Temple of the Moon, a foundation was laid out on the pattern of a quincunx, a model of the five-pointed compass that defines Teotihuacan cosmology.
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Jan 26, 2025 | 
commonwealmagazine.org | Santiago Ramos |Vanessa R. Corcoran |Jonathan Malesic |Anthony Domestico
As expected, Donald Trump marked the first full day of his administration by issuing an array of executive orders designed to inflict harm on migrants, asylum seekers, and transgender people; damage the environment and weaken public health; and dismantle the civil service.
