Failed Preservatives

Apologies for a distinct lack of posting here - I tend to wax in the break times of the academic year, and wane dramatically when school starts again. One thing I have long considered doing, but never actually done, is to put up small posts that are really just links to articles I find interesting, thought provoking, etc.

I’m finally getting around to this practice today, and with good reason: I think you should immediately drop everything and go read this essay by Jon Askonas in Compact titled “Why Conservatism Failed”. I have mixed feelings about Compact, but I think Askonas is one of the best writers working today on technology and society (see his recent powerhouse series over at The New Atlantis on the death of reality). So it’s no surprise that this new essay is one of the best I’ve read on the death of what I’d like to call real conservatism — that desire to preserve the best of the past — at the hands of technological innovation. Unlike many handwringers, Askonas cuts through the baloney to show that a conservatism with nothing to say about technology has a short life span indeed.