Reason magazine - November 2023

In this issue

In this issue:

THE TECH GIANTS WERE ALWAYS DOOMED - Competition, not antitrust action, is humbling Facebook, Amazon, and Twitter. by ELIZABETH NOLAN BROWN.

OUR NEWS FEEDS, OURSELVES - A series of studies suggests it’s not algorithms that are driving political polarization, ignorance, or toxicity. by ELIZABETH NOLAN BROWN.

TAKE NUTRITION STUDIES WITH A GRAIN OF SALT - The epidemiology of food and drink is a mess. by RONALD BAILEY.

California Is Taxing Itself to Death

FOR DECADES, CALIFORNIA has been a desirable destination for Americans lured by the promise of riches, stardom, or at least a good place to surf.

2 mins

Control Your Card-board, Control Your Life

SINCE ALBERT JONES filed his U.S. patent for corrugated paper packing material in 1871, cardboard products have played the cart to globalization’s horse. Cheaper and lighter than a crate and more protective than paper or straw, cardboard has made myriad goods affordable and deliverable to just about anywhere. From carrying glass vials of medicine at the turn of the 20th century to entire couches at the beginning of the 21st, cardboard is a linchpin of modern life.

3 mins

Q&A Matt Taibbi

Matt Taibbi is the author of four New York Times bestsellers. As Rolling Stone’s campaign reporter in 2016—and an early critic of how the mainstream media covered allegations of Russian interference in the presidential election— he concluded that political journalism was hyper-focused on the “pursuit of getting rid of Donald Trump.”

2 mins

The Bad Law That Made Good Bars

WHEN YOU STEP into the Raines Law Room at The William hotel on East 39th Street in Manhattan, you’ll find a series of tastefully decorated lounges. Softly upholstered chairs, tufted leather couches, and low-light sconces create an atmosphere that’s more swanky club or private living room than hotel bar. But although there’s a boutique hotel with a few dozen rooms above (rates run anywhere from $275 to well over $1,000 per night), the Raines Law Room is a bar.

5 mins

Trump, Who Freed Drug Offenders, Also Wants To Kill Them

DONALD TRUMP CAN’T seem to decide whether he wants to execute drug dealers or free them from prison. The former president’s debate with himself reflects a broader clash between Republicans who think harsher criminal penalties are always better and Republicans who understand that justice requires proportionality.

3 mins

Congestion Pricing Hits a New Roadblock

SINCE 2019, NEW York has sought to establish the nation’s first congestion pricing zone, which would charge drivers fees for rush hour trips to improve traffic flows and raise funds for the city’s dilapidated subway system. That plan to toll drivers entering lower Manhattan’s gridlocked streets recently hit another roadblock: New Jersey.

2 mins

The Right To Give

IN JULY, PHILLIP Picone, a Houston activist, stood before a jury of his peers, charged with the heinous crime of feeding the needy.

3 mins

Was Racketeering Trump's Real Crime in Georgia?

IN 1969, LAWRENCE Speiser, the director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Washington, D.C., office, appeared before Congress to testify against a proposed law that would greatly expand the powers of federal law enforcement. “Our constitutional system of government wisely limits the range of methods available to us, reflecting our historical commitment to liberty and justice rather than to efficiency and expediency,” Speiser said. “To the extent that this puts us at a disadvantage in dealing with the criminal organization, it is a price we must pay, for ultimately it is this which distinguishes the lawful from the lawless society.”

4 mins

The Tech Giants Were Always Doomed

COMPETITION, NOT ANTITRUST ACTION, IS HUMBLING FACEBOOK, AMAZON, AND TWITTER.

10+ mins

TAKE NUTRITION STUDIES WITH A GRAIN OF SALT

THE EPIDEMIOLOGY OF FOOD AND DRINK IS A MESS.

10+ mins

The Joy of Capitalism

MARKETS DON'T JUST MAKE US RICHER; THEY MAKE US HAPPIER.

10+ mins

MIKE ROWE WANTS MORE PHILOSOPHER-WELDERS

The Dirty Jobs host on \"essential\" work, college, and the skills gap

10+ mins

THE MINESWEEPER MORAL PANIC

WHEN COMPUTERS CAME TO OFFICES, BOSSES FOUND A NEW WAY TO WORRY THAT WORKERS WERE WASTING TIME.

8 mins

Did Evolution Give Us Free Will?

A neuroscientist takes on determinism.

4 mins

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