Empty Brain (Page 2)

Scavenging for strategy

Ezra Klein and the mirages of losing I think any conversation between Ezra Klein and Ta-Nehisi Coates is worth paying attention to, but one precisely during a moment of national crisis is likely a precious resource. I was particularly interested in listening to this latest conversation to help answer a

This New York City is a bad deal

But it doesn't have to be. We know we need a more affordable city. Perhaps we know this so deeply – see it in with every rent payment and every exorbitant expense – that we forget that what we’re paying so much for ought to be much, much better.

Hard City/Soft City, Music Writing x2, this New-sletter

Hello to everyone – long time, no…one-way correspondence! Three topics for you today, let's get into it. Hard City/Soft City I’ve just returned from a few weeks in Europe and have a lot of thoughts I’ll be working through in the coming few weeks. For

Jewishness will never escape Gaza

Who do we say we are? We say we are people of the book and we say we are a people of books. We say we are intellectuals and artists and actors, that we are doctors and lawyers and professors. We say if there are two of us there are

Empty Brain is now on Ghost

We've moved from Substack to the nonprofit hosting platform, Ghost. All posts posts from the past and the future are here.

Time’s Up on America’s Vibes-Based Order

A bunch of monkeys in a room of typewriters, given infinite time, eventually write Shakespeare: a bunch of humans in a bad democracy, given a few hundred years, eventually get rid of democracy.