Barry Lam
@hiphination.bsky.social
Philosophy professor at UCR. Podcast at Slate. Associate director at Marc Sanders Foundation. hiphination.org
Pinned
Barry Lam
@hiphination.bsky.social
· Dec 9
Fewer Rules, Better People
A philosopher argues that the proliferation of rules and mandates is making us dumber, less moral, more deceptive, and less able to govern important institutions., Fewer Rules, Better People, The Case...
wwnorton.com
Announcing my first book, with my style of longform narrative journalism and philosophy with @wwnorton.bsky.social. It's about the clash between governing by top-down rules versus discretionary decision-making, in law, in sports, in the household. Pre-order now here! wwnorton.com/books/fewer-...
Look at the faculty list of City College New York Philosophy in 1959. What a privilege it was to give a talk here on Thursday.
November 25, 2025 at 6:50 PM
Look at the faculty list of City College New York Philosophy in 1959. What a privilege it was to give a talk here on Thursday.
It was already widely reported that RFK Jr. didn’t believe in the germ theory of disease, but now we know he’s willing to put his money where his mouth is.
November 23, 2025 at 8:23 PM
It was already widely reported that RFK Jr. didn’t believe in the germ theory of disease, but now we know he’s willing to put his money where his mouth is.
Really jarring watching Marge explaining her millennial 90s high school fashion trends to Lisa. The writers need to really figure out this non-aging plotline because the logical conclusion is Marge and Homer explaining what it was like going to high school during the pandemic.
November 22, 2025 at 5:12 AM
Really jarring watching Marge explaining her millennial 90s high school fashion trends to Lisa. The writers need to really figure out this non-aging plotline because the logical conclusion is Marge and Homer explaining what it was like going to high school during the pandemic.
Reposted by Barry Lam
Join us in person or on Zoom on Thursday 12/4 as we host @hiphination.bsky.social for 2 back-to-back events!
1) Humanities Podcasting hiphination.org
2) Delegating Decisions to Machines? The Case for Human Discretion
dhc-lam.eventbrite.com
1) Humanities Podcasting hiphination.org
2) Delegating Decisions to Machines? The Case for Human Discretion
dhc-lam.eventbrite.com
Humanities Podcasting & Delegating Decisions to Machines
Join us for a special double event with Barry Lam on December 4th, in building 7, room 235.
dhc-lam.eventbrite.com
November 18, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Join us in person or on Zoom on Thursday 12/4 as we host @hiphination.bsky.social for 2 back-to-back events!
1) Humanities Podcasting hiphination.org
2) Delegating Decisions to Machines? The Case for Human Discretion
dhc-lam.eventbrite.com
1) Humanities Podcasting hiphination.org
2) Delegating Decisions to Machines? The Case for Human Discretion
dhc-lam.eventbrite.com
The cultural aristocracy is as cringe as the moneyed ones.
November 18, 2025 at 2:20 PM
The cultural aristocracy is as cringe as the moneyed ones.
Man, the cultural aristocracy is even more cringe than the moneyed one. (This is a Nuzzi sub-skeet).
November 18, 2025 at 2:18 PM
Man, the cultural aristocracy is even more cringe than the moneyed one. (This is a Nuzzi sub-skeet).
Me: Generative AI is technological pollution. It is a rotting carcass on top of an already enshittified internet.
Internet: Here’s Vin Scully calling the bottom of the 11th inning of Game 7, World Series 2025.
Me: 🥹…😭.
Internet: Here’s Vin Scully calling the bottom of the 11th inning of Game 7, World Series 2025.
Me: 🥹…😭.
November 13, 2025 at 7:34 PM
Me: Generative AI is technological pollution. It is a rotting carcass on top of an already enshittified internet.
Internet: Here’s Vin Scully calling the bottom of the 11th inning of Game 7, World Series 2025.
Me: 🥹…😭.
Internet: Here’s Vin Scully calling the bottom of the 11th inning of Game 7, World Series 2025.
Me: 🥹…😭.
New York City, come see me give the keynote at World Philosophy Day at City College New York, Finding Philosophical Conflicts in the Real World, a love letter to philosophical journalism. Next Thursday Nov. 20th at 6pm. www.ccny.cuny.edu/calendar/ann...
November 11, 2025 at 7:51 PM
New York City, come see me give the keynote at World Philosophy Day at City College New York, Finding Philosophical Conflicts in the Real World, a love letter to philosophical journalism. Next Thursday Nov. 20th at 6pm. www.ccny.cuny.edu/calendar/ann...
Consciousness is overrated. I’m conscious, and I can’t do multiple layers of matrix multiplication. I couldn’t even remember the mineral water I’ve ordered 30 times in the past. Was in Tampico? Pico de Gallo? Consciousness is the precondition for preferring to be unconscious.
November 10, 2025 at 3:56 PM
Consciousness is overrated. I’m conscious, and I can’t do multiple layers of matrix multiplication. I couldn’t even remember the mineral water I’ve ordered 30 times in the past. Was in Tampico? Pico de Gallo? Consciousness is the precondition for preferring to be unconscious.
What is the tax rate at which billionaires won’t leave the city and also would pay rather than move money around so as to avoid the taxes?
November 8, 2025 at 2:55 PM
What is the tax rate at which billionaires won’t leave the city and also would pay rather than move money around so as to avoid the taxes?
Hey @mixedlinguist.bsky.social, I just heard an exchange whereby someone "goes to the gym" even if they never work out at the gym. As in "hey Jimmy, you look like you go to the gym." Jimmy, who works out at home says: "I do." What's this called? Idiom, euphemism? Seems more interesting than that.
November 5, 2025 at 6:25 PM
Hey @mixedlinguist.bsky.social, I just heard an exchange whereby someone "goes to the gym" even if they never work out at the gym. As in "hey Jimmy, you look like you go to the gym." Jimmy, who works out at home says: "I do." What's this called? Idiom, euphemism? Seems more interesting than that.
Reposted by Barry Lam
Bay Area peeps! See you at 2pm today (11/2), Book Passage in the Ferry Bldg!
If you can't make it today, come find me at Stanford's "Philosophers for a Brighter World" working group tomorrow at 4!
@mitpress.bsky.social @michaelbrownstein.bsky.social @dryan149.bsky.social #booksky #socialchange
If you can't make it today, come find me at Stanford's "Philosophers for a Brighter World" working group tomorrow at 4!
@mitpress.bsky.social @michaelbrownstein.bsky.social @dryan149.bsky.social #booksky #socialchange
Sun. Nov. 2nd, Alex @madva.bsky.social presents "Somebody Should Do Something" at Book Passage — the Bay Area's liveliest bookstore! Join him to learn how anyone can help create social change: www.bookpassage.com/event/alex-m... #IndieBookstore
Alex Madva - Somebody Should Do Something (Ferry Building Store)
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www.bookpassage.com
November 2, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Bay Area peeps! See you at 2pm today (11/2), Book Passage in the Ferry Bldg!
If you can't make it today, come find me at Stanford's "Philosophers for a Brighter World" working group tomorrow at 4!
@mitpress.bsky.social @michaelbrownstein.bsky.social @dryan149.bsky.social #booksky #socialchange
If you can't make it today, come find me at Stanford's "Philosophers for a Brighter World" working group tomorrow at 4!
@mitpress.bsky.social @michaelbrownstein.bsky.social @dryan149.bsky.social #booksky #socialchange
you’re not going to get me to say anything bad about Ohtani.
November 2, 2025 at 4:30 AM
you’re not going to get me to say anything bad about Ohtani.
All of you trying to shame us Angelinos on social justice grounds, I get it. No one likes the moneyed Goliath. But, I mean, know your baseball history a little.
November 2, 2025 at 4:26 AM
All of you trying to shame us Angelinos on social justice grounds, I get it. No one likes the moneyed Goliath. But, I mean, know your baseball history a little.
Look if we’re allowed to fantasize about the storybook ending, Ohtani for the go ahead, Kershaw for the save.
November 2, 2025 at 4:05 AM
Look if we’re allowed to fantasize about the storybook ending, Ohtani for the go ahead, Kershaw for the save.
it’s like the baseball gods wanted to manufacture the most dramatic end to this series.
November 2, 2025 at 3:36 AM
it’s like the baseball gods wanted to manufacture the most dramatic end to this series.
I can’t believe it, the great Rebecca Goldstein is now on Substack! Everyone go read and subscribe now! The Mattering Map rebeccanewbergergoldstein.substack.com?r=i44h&utm_c...
The Mattering Map | Rebecca Goldstein | Substack
Rebecca Newberger Goldstein's reflections on Philosophy, Fiction, Science, & Human Longing. Click to read The Mattering Map, by Rebecca Goldstein, a Substack publication. Launched 2 hours ago.
rebeccanewbergergoldstein.substack.com
November 1, 2025 at 6:09 PM
I can’t believe it, the great Rebecca Goldstein is now on Substack! Everyone go read and subscribe now! The Mattering Map rebeccanewbergergoldstein.substack.com?r=i44h&utm_c...
Rojas the hero tonight. Dodgers can’t win tomorrow unless they pick it up on offense, but it’s one game, anything can happen. Hell of a series.
November 1, 2025 at 3:19 AM
Rojas the hero tonight. Dodgers can’t win tomorrow unless they pick it up on offense, but it’s one game, anything can happen. Hell of a series.
Looking forward to all of the think pieces about how to understand the Mamdani voter, why unreasonable demands of orthodox thinking drove voters to Mamdani, and why we need to tone down the rhetoric so as not to alienate Mamdani voters.
October 31, 2025 at 10:24 PM
Looking forward to all of the think pieces about how to understand the Mamdani voter, why unreasonable demands of orthodox thinking drove voters to Mamdani, and why we need to tone down the rhetoric so as not to alienate Mamdani voters.
That interview made me wonder whether dementia was contagious.
October 30, 2025 at 2:39 PM
That interview made me wonder whether dementia was contagious.
Every nutrition/wellness piece I've read in the NYTimes in the past 20 years: "Is (tumeric/green tea/protein/crossfit/seed oil) really good/bad for you?" There is theory to support the claim, not enough experimental data, experts recommend moderation/reversion to received wisdom.
October 30, 2025 at 1:56 PM
Every nutrition/wellness piece I've read in the NYTimes in the past 20 years: "Is (tumeric/green tea/protein/crossfit/seed oil) really good/bad for you?" There is theory to support the claim, not enough experimental data, experts recommend moderation/reversion to received wisdom.
My unpopular view that everyone I know, including my spouse, disagrees with me strongly about is that we coddle our children more this generation of parenting because we love them more than our parents loved us. They figured; eh, if they're kidnapped while out 9am-7pm, I'll just have another one.
October 29, 2025 at 10:46 PM
My unpopular view that everyone I know, including my spouse, disagrees with me strongly about is that we coddle our children more this generation of parenting because we love them more than our parents loved us. They figured; eh, if they're kidnapped while out 9am-7pm, I'll just have another one.
Congratulations Aaron!
October 29, 2025 at 2:45 PM
Congratulations Aaron!
Reposted by Barry Lam
It's pub day (birthday 0?) for Writing Through Writer's Block: Lessons from Modern American Fiction! This is a study of how authors have used the archetype of the blocked writer to identify, analyze, and ultimately work through both internal and external constraints on their creative abilities.
Writing Through Writer’s Block
uipress.uiowa.edu
October 29, 2025 at 12:17 AM
It's pub day (birthday 0?) for Writing Through Writer's Block: Lessons from Modern American Fiction! This is a study of how authors have used the archetype of the blocked writer to identify, analyze, and ultimately work through both internal and external constraints on their creative abilities.