Category Archives: New Utopia

5 books that inspired Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella this year – Fast Company

Posted: November 15, 2021 at 11:35 pm

On a quiet weekend afternoon, I paused to reread the diary my late mother left behind as a means of remembering her and what she means to me. Mom was a professor of Sanskrit, and amid all her reflections of her day-to-day life and the challenges of being an academic, wife, and mother were observations that were more transcendental in nature, on topics ranging from nuances of ancient Sanskrit drama to her thoughts on Eastern and Western philosophers.

One passage in her diary caught my attention. In it, she invokes the Danish philosopher Sren Kierkegaard: The goal of reflection is to arrive at immediacy. It struck me as the core of leadership. Were living through unprecedented times. We have to learn from the past and be inspired by whats possible in the future. Yet, what we must do now is act when inaction might be easier.

These are the types of insights I find through reading. The following five books, which I read in the last year, are informing my current thinking on leadership, technology, and the future.

Philosopher of the Heart: The Restless Life of Sren Kierkegaard,Clare Carlisle

I was reminded of my mothers diary when reading Clare Carlisles biography of Sren Kierkegaard. In her book, we can feel the poetry of Kierkegaards thinking. His writing explores the human experience, particularly love and suffering. Considered the father of existentialism, Kierkegaard picks up where Socrates left off by asking how to be a human being in the world. How do we live ethically? Carlisle observes that Kierkegaard did not find life to be linear: We circle back in recollection and race forward in hopes, fears, and plans.

Thats an insightful way to capture what leadership is aboutcreating clarity, generating energy, and driving success. These Kierkegaardian management attributes will continue to be valuable and valued.

Utopia or Oblivion: The Prospects for Humanity,R. Buckminster Fuller

The man remembered for his lattice shell structures, including the geodesic dome, was not a philosopher, but his architectural and system theories were no less full of the Kierkegaardian heart. In the introduction to Fullers Utopia or Oblivion, his grandson recalls that even on a brief drive to the airport, Bucky, as he was known to family, prioritized every moment to focus on making the world work for 100% of humanity.

Several years ago, Fast Company reported that Fullers ideas, focused on problems ranging from global conflict to global climate change, are more important than ever. Those ideas stimulated a design revolution. In a world of accelerating acceleration, how can economic and technological capability be enjoyed by allby design? Fuller writes that the physical resources of earth can support all of a multiplying humanity at higher standards of living than anyone has ever experienced or dreamed.

In a world where we work to overcome constraints to resolve complex problems, Fuller shows us how design science helps us do more with less. Published in 1969, Utopia or Oblivion remains a well-argued, logical statement about our collective future.

The Alignment Problem: Machine Learning and Human Values, Brian Christian

Artificial intelligence is technologys most important priority, and Im encouraged and optimistic in how it is being applied to empower people. For example, Microsofts Seeing AI is an app that turns the visual world into an audible experience for people who are blind or have low vision. And tools like Immersive Reader help improve reading and writing for learners of all abilities.

In The Alignment Problem, Christian offers a clear and compelling description of the hopeful and hazardous field of unsupervised learning within AI and machine learning. Courthouses, hospitals, and schools have relied on data-based machine learning models to increase accuracy and predictive power, but what happens when the data, the model, or both contain bias? Machines that learn for themselves become increasingly autonomous, and potentially unethical.

In his previous book with Tom Griffiths, Algorithms to Live By, Christian investigates the computer science of human decisions. In his latest, he writes that we want machine learning models that capture norms and values, but whose norms and values? How do we align the human training of machine models with moral considerations? How do we ensure ethical values are rewarded and valued?

The book is organized in three parts: identifying how todays systems are at odds with our best intentions; creating incentives for value-based reinforcement learning; and a research tour of the authors favorite ideas for aligning complex autonomous systems with highly nuanced norms and values.

The storytelling here moves us from the theoretical to the practical while attempting to answer one of our industrys most pressing questions: How do we teach machines, and what should we teach them?

The Difference: How the Power of Diversity Creates Better Groups, Firms, Schools, and Societies, Scott E. Page

When I became Microsofts CEO, mission and culture were the most important pillars in building our companys future. Our mission became to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. To succeed, we needed to represent the world itself, which is the business case for why diversity and inclusion is a priority.

In The Difference, Page advances the conversation by clearly defining diversity in terms of differences in how people see, categorize, understand, and go about improving the world. As a leader and a reader, I am on a continuous learning journey. The author offers us tools to get the best outcomes for all. Those tools include diverse perspectives, heuristics, interpretations, and predictive models.

Known for his breakthrough book and online course, The Model Thinker, Page has built a bookshelf of titles on diversity and complexity that is vitally important to both business and society.

Power of Creative Destruction,Philippe Aghion, Celine Antonin, and Simon Bunel

The authors, three French economic researchers, argue that the socioeconomic problems revealed during the global pandemicwelfare, health, inequality, and many otherswill not be fixed by abolishing capitalism but rather by inventing a better capitalism through the power of creative destruction, which they define as innovations that disrupt and lift societies.

Their approach is hardly Pollyanna. They begin with a fascinating review of creative destruction in economic history with a focus on how we measure the wealth of nations, GDP, Gini coefficients, and productivity, which the authors find useful but insufficient in todays technology-plus-data world. Instead, they write, innovation and diffusion of knowledge should be at the heart of growth processes and measurements. Innovation relies on incentives and protections.

From where I sit, this must emphasize inclusive economic opportunity for everyone. We have to equip everyone with the skills, technology, and opportunity to pursue the in-demand jobs of a changing economy.

Creative destruction is a constant conflict between the old and the new, the incumbent and the insurgent. Philosophical, yes, but also practical advice. This is daily life in our industry.

Satya Nadella is the executive chairman and CEO of Microsoft. His previous book recommendations can be read here.

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5 books that inspired Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella this year - Fast Company

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New Atlantis – Wikipedia

Posted: November 7, 2021 at 12:04 pm

New Atlantis

Title page of the 1628 edition of Bacon's New Atlantis

Publication date

New Atlantis is an incomplete utopian novel by Sir Francis Bacon, published posthumously in 1626. It appeared unheralded and tucked into the back of a longer work of natural history, Sylva sylvarum (forest of materials). In New Atlantis, Bacon portrayed a vision of the future of human discovery and knowledge, expressing his aspirations and ideals for humankind. The novel depicts the creation of a utopian land where "generosity and enlightenment, dignity and splendour, piety and public spirit" are the commonly held qualities of the inhabitants of the mythical Bensalem. The plan and organisation of his ideal college, Salomon's House (or Solomon's House), envisioned the modern research university in both applied and pure sciences.

New Atlantis first appeared in the back of Sylva sylvarum, a rather thorny work of natural history that was published by William Rawley, Bacon's secretary, chaplain and amanuensis in 1626. When Sylva was entered into the Stationers' Register of July 4th, 1626 (three months after Bacon's death), no mention was made of New Atlantis, and it was not until 1670 that it was included on Sylva's letterpress title page (unlike Historia vitae et mortis which received that accolade in 1651). It was not until 1676 that the two works were published with continuous signatures, with the first edition of the Sylva being 'printed for J. H. for William Lee', while New Atlantis was, according to McKerrow, 'perhaps printed by Mathewes'. After New Atlantis was a two-page piece called Magnalia naturae, which most commentators tend to ignore, probably because it is difficult to link it to either Sylva or New Atlantis with any surety. It was published as an individual text by Thomas Newcomb in 1659, but in general New Atlantis appears to have been a text that no-one quite knew what to do with. Certainly Rawley's letter To The Reader indicates that he was less than clear as to its purpose, even though he later published it in Latin translation within the collection Operum moralium et civilium tomus (1638). In 1659 Thomas Bushell referred to the work in his Mineral Prosecutions, while in 1660 a certain R. H. published a continuation of New Atlantis and in 1662 an explicitly Rosicrucian version appeared as the preface to John Heydon's Holy Guide. [1]

The novel depicts a mythical island, Bensalem, which is discovered by the crew of a European ship after they are lost in the Pacific Ocean somewhere west of Peru. The minimal plot serves the gradual unfolding of the island, its customs, but most importantly, its state-sponsored scientific institution, Salomon's House, "which house or college ... is the very eye of this kingdom."

Many aspects of the society and history of the island are described, such as the Christian religion which is reported to have been born there as a copy of the Bible and a letter from the Apostle Saint Bartholomew arrived there miraculously, a few years after the Ascension of Jesus; a cultural feast in honour of the family institution, called "the Feast of the Family"; a college of sages, the Salomon's House, "the very eye of the kingdom", to which order "God of heaven and earth had vouchsafed the grace to know the works of Creation, and the secrets of them", as well as "to discern between divine miracles, works of nature, works of art, and impostures and illusions of all sorts"; and a series of instruments, process and methods of scientific research that were employed in the island by the Salomon's House.

The interlocutors include the governor of the House of Strangers, Joabin the Jew, and the Head of Salomon's House.

The inhabitants of Bensalem are described as having a high moral character and honesty, as no official accepts any payment from individuals. The people are also described as chaste and pious, as said by an inhabitant of the island:

But hear me now, and I will tell you what I know. You shall understand that there is not under the heavens so chaste a nation as this of Bensalem; nor so free from all pollution or foulness. It is the virgin of the world. I remember I have read in one of your European books, of an holy hermit amongst you that desired to see the Spirit of Fornication; and there appeared to him a little foul ugly Aethiop. But if he had desired to see the Spirit of Chastity of Bensalem, it would have appeared to him in the likeness of a fair beautiful Cherubim. For there is nothing amongst mortal men more fair and admirable, than the chaste minds of this people. Know therefore, that with them there are no stews, no dissolute houses, no courtesans, nor anything of that kind.

In the last third of the book, the Head of the Salomon's House takes one of the European visitors to show him all the scientific background of Salomon's House, where experiments are conducted in Baconian method to understand and conquer nature, and to apply the collected knowledge to the betterment of society. Namely: 1) the end of their foundation; 2) the preparations they have for their works; 3) the several employments and functions whereto their fellows are assigned; 4) and the ordinances and rites which they observe.

He portrayed a vision of the future of human discovery and knowledge. The plan and organisation of his ideal college, "Salomon's House", envisioned the modern research university in both applied and pure science.

The end of their foundation is thus described: "The end of our foundation is the knowledge of causes, and secret motions of things; and the enlarging of the bounds of human empire, to the effecting of all things possible".

In describing the several employments and functions to which the members of the Salomon's House are assigned, the Head of the college said:

For the several employments and offices of our fellows, we have twelve that sail into foreign countries under the names of other nations (for our own we conceal), who bring us the books and abstracts, and patterns of experiments of all other parts. These we call merchants of light.

We have three that collect the experiments which are in all books. These we call depredators.

We have three that collect the experiments of all mechanical arts, and also of liberal sciences, and also of practices which are not brought into arts. These we call mysterymen.

We have three that try new experiments, such as themselves think good. These we call pioneers or miners.

We have three that draw the experiments of the former four into titles and tables, to give the better light for the drawing of observations and axioms out of them. These we call compilers.

We have three that bend themselves, looking into the experiments of their fellows, and cast about how to draw out of them things of use and practice for man's life and knowledge, as well for works as for plain demonstration of causes, means of natural divinations, and the easy and clear discovery of the virtues and parts of bodies. These we call dowrymen or benefactors.

Then after diverse meetings and consults of our whole number, to consider of the former labours and collections, we have three that take care out of them to direct new experiments, of a higher light, more penetrating into nature than the former. These we call lamps.

We have three others that do execute the experiments so directed, and report them. These we call inoculators.

Lastly, we have three that raise the former discoveries by experiments into greater observations, axioms, and aphorisms. These we call interpreters of nature."

Even this short excerpt demonstrates that Bacon understood that science requires analysis and not just the accumulation of observations. Bacon also foresaw that the design of experiments could be improved.[2]

In describing the ordinances and rites observed by the scientists of Salomon's House, its Head said:

We have certain hymns and services, which we say daily, of Lord and thanks to God for His marvellous works; and some forms of prayer, imploring His aid and blessing for the illumination of our labors, and the turning of them into good and holy uses.

And finally, after showing all the scientific background of Salomon's House, he gave the European visitor permission to publish it:

And when he had said this, he stood up; and I, as I had been taught, kneeled down, and he laid his right hand upon my head, and said; "God bless thee, my son; and God bless this relation, which I have made. I give thee leave to publish it for the good of other nations; for we here are in God's bosom, a land unknown."

"Bensalem" is composed of two Hebrew words: "ben" () - "son", and "salem" or "shalem" () - "whole" or "complete".

Thus the name could be interpreted as meaning "The Son of Wholeness".

New Atlantis is a story dense with provocative details. There are many credible interpretations of what Bacon was attempting to convey. Below are a couple that give some sense of the rich implications of the text.

Early in the story, the governor of the House of Strangers relates the incredible circumstances that introduced Christianity to the Island:

About twenty years after the ascension of our Saviour it came to pass [c. A.D. 50], that there was seen by the people of Renfusa (a city upon the eastern coast of our island, within sight, the night was cloudy and calm), as it might be some mile in the sea, a great pillar of light; not sharp, but in form of a column, or cylinder, rising from the sea, a great way up toward heaven; and on the top of it was seen a large cross of light, more bright and resplendent than the body of the pillar. Upon which so strange a spectacle, the people of the city gathered apace together upon the sands, to wonder; and so after put themselves into a number of small boats to go nearer to this marvellous sight. But when the boats were come within about sixty yards of the pillar, they found themselves all bound, and could go no further, yet so as they might move to go about, but might not approach nearer; so as the boats stood all as in a theatre, beholding this light, as a heavenly sign. It so fell out that there was in one of the boats one of the wise men of the Society of Salomon's House (which house, or college, my good brethren, is the very eye of this kingdom), who having awhile attentively and devoutly viewed and contemplated this pillar and cross, fell down upon his face; and then raised himself upon his knees, and lifting up his hands to heaven, made his prayers in this manner:

"'Lord God of heaven and earth; thou hast vouchsafed of thy grace, to those of our order to know thy works of creation, and true secrets of them; and to discern, as far as appertaineth to the generations of men, between divine miracles, works of nature, works of art and impostures, and illusions of all sorts. I do here acknowledge and testify before this people that the thing we now see before our eyes is thy finger, and a true miracle. And forasmuch as we learn in our books that thou never workest miracles, but to a divine and excellent end (for the laws of nature are thine own laws, and thou exceedest them not but upon great cause), we most humbly beseech thee to prosper this great sign, and to give us the interpretation and use of it in mercy; which thou dost in some part secretly promise, by sending it unto us.'

When he had made his prayer he presently found the boat he was in movable and unbound; whereas all the rest remained still fast; and taking that for an assurance of leave to approach, he caused the boat to be softly and with silence rowed toward the pillar; but ere he came near it, the pillar and cross of light broke up, and cast itself abroad, as it were, into a firmament of many stars, which also vanished soon after, and there was nothing left to be seen but a small ark or chest of cedar, dry and not wet at all with water, though it swam; and in the fore end of it, which was toward him, grew a small green branch of palm; and when the wise man had taken it with all reverence into his boat, it opened of itself, and there were found in it a book and a letter, both written in fine parchment, and wrapped in sindons of linen. The book contained all the canonical books of the Old and New Testament, according as you have them (for we know well what the churches with you receive), and the Apocalypse itself; and some other books of the New Testament, which were not at that time written, were nevertheless in the book. And for the letter, it was in these words:

"'I, Bartholomew, a servant of the Highest, and apostle of Jesus Christ, was warned by an angel that appeared to me in a vision of glory, that I should commit this ark to the floods of the sea. Therefore I do testify and declare unto that people where God shall ordain this ark to come to land, that in the same day is come unto them salvation and peace, and good-will from the Father, and from the Lord Jesus.'

"There was also in both these writings, as well the book as the letter, wrought a great miracle, conform to that of the apostles, in the original gift of tongues. For there being at that time, in this land, Hebrews, Persians, and Indians, besides the natives, everyone read upon the book and letter, as if they had been written in his own language. And thus was this land saved from infidelity (as the remain of the old world was from water) by an ark, through the apostolical and miraculous evangelism of St. Bartholomew." And here he paused, and a messenger came and called him forth from us. So this was all that passed in that conference."

The traditional date for the writing of St. John's Apocalypse (the Book of Revelation) is the end of the 1st century AD. It is not only the presence of the full canon of Scripture long before it was completed or compiled, but also the all-too-convenient proximity of the scientist who will attest to its miraculous nature of this wonder that lends the story an air of incredibility.[3]

Later the Father of Salomon's House reveals the institution's skill at creating illusions of light:

"We represent also all multiplications of light, which we carry to great distance, and make so sharp as to discern small points and lines. Also all colorations of light: all delusions and deceits of the sight, in figures, magnitudes, motions, colors; all demonstrations of shadows. We find also divers means, yet unknown to you, of producing of light, originally from divers bodies."

He also boasts about their ability to fake miracles:

"And surely you will easily believe that we, that have so many things truly natural which induce admiration, could in a world of particulars deceive the senses if we would disguise those things, and labor to make them more miraculous."

Renaker points out in the Latin translation of the second passage (which was published as part of Operum moralium et civilium tomus in 1638 by William Rawley, Bacon's amanuensis, secretary and chaplain, who was also behind the publication of New Atlantis in 1626) is stronger and literally translates to "we could impose on men's senses an infinite number of things if we wanted to present these things as, and exalt them into, a miracle."[4] While this has been read as Bacon's suggesting that the story if not the 'miracle' itself was an invention emanating from Salomon's House, this is perhaps not a safe inference. The relevance of the Brother of Salomon's House to the story of the island's conversion to Christianity is more an indication that the institution itself has reached a point in its knowledge from which it can ascertain whether an occurrence is natural or not. It is this knowledge (and its humble application) that allows for the revelation itself to be delivered. [1]

The skill of creating illusions coupled with the incredibility of the story of the origin of Bensalem's Christianity makes it seem that Bacon was intimating that the light show (or at least the story of its occurrence) was an invention of Salomon's House.[4]

The presence of "Hebrews, Persians, and Indians" in Bensalem at the time implies that Asian people were already in the first century engaged in sailing across the Pacific which is historically inaccurate, but might have seemed plausible at the time of writing.

The Father of Salomon's House reveals that members of that institution decide on their own which of their discoveries to keep secret, even from the State:

"And this we do also: we have consultations, which of the inventions and experiences which we have discovered shall be published, and which not; and take all an oath of secrecy for the concealing of those which we think fit to keep secret; though some of those we do reveal sometime to the State, and some not."

This would seem to imply that the State does not hold the monopoly on authority and that Salomon's House must in some sense be superior to the State.

In the introduction to the critical edition of New Atlantis, Jerry Weinberger notes that Joabin is the only contemporary character (i.e., living at the time of the story) described as wiseand wise in matters of government and rule at that. Weinberger speculates that Joabin may be the actual ruler of Bensalem.[5] On the other hand, prejudice against Jews was widespread in his time, so the possibility cannot be excluded that Bacon was calling Joabin wise for the same reason that he felt the need elsewhere to call him "the good Jew": to make clear that Joabin's character was benign.

While Bacon appears concerned with the House of Salomon, a portion of the narrative describes the social practices of the Bensalemites, particularly those surrounding courtship and family life. An example of these rituals is the Adam and Eve pools. Here betrothed send surrogates to observe the other bathing to discover any deformities. Here Bacon alludes to Sir Thomas Mores Utopia (1516), where More describes a similar ritual. However, the crucial difference is rather than surrogates, the young couple observes the other naked. Bacons character Joabin remarks on this difference: I have read in a book of one of your men, of a Feigned Commonwealth, where the married couple are permitted, before they contract, to see one another naked.[6]

In describing how the scientists of New Atlantis worked, Bacon wrote:

In Bacon's Theological Tracts, there are two prayers, named "The Student's Prayer" and "The Writer's Prayer" which may be a demonstration of how scientists could pray as described in The New Atlantis. (See Bacon's Prayers in Wikisource).

New Atlantis and other writings of Bacon inspired the formation of the Royal Society. Jonathan Swift parodied them both in book III of Gulliver's Travels.[citation needed]

In recent years, New Atlantis influenced B. F. Skinner's 1948 Walden Two.[citation needed]

This novel may have been Bacon's vision for a Utopian New World in North America. In it he depicted a land where there would be freedom of religion showing a Jew treated fairly and equally in an island of Christians. It has been argued that this work had influenced others reforms, such as greater rights for women, the abolition of slavery, elimination of debtors' prisons, separation of church and state, and freedom of political expression,[8][9][10][11] although there is no hint of these reforms in The New Atlantis itself. His propositions of legal reform (which were not established in his lifetime), though, are considered to have been one of the influences behind the Napoleonic Code,[12] and therefore could show some resemblance with or influence in the drafting of other liberal constitutions that came in the centuries after Bacon's lifetime, such as the American Constitution.

Francis Bacon played a leading role in creating the English colonies, especially in Virginia, the Carolinas, and Newfoundland in northeastern Canada. His government report on "The Virginia Colony" was submitted in 1609. In 1610 Bacon and his associates received a charter from the king to form the Tresurer and the Companye of Adventurers and planter of the Cittye of London and Bristoll for the Collonye or plantacon in Newfoundland[13] and sent John Guy to found a colony there. In 1910 Newfoundland issued a postage stamp to commemorate Bacon's role in establishing the province. The stamp describes Bacon as "the guiding spirit in colonization scheme" of 1610.[14] Moreover, some scholars believe he was largely responsible for the drafting, in 1609 and 1612, of two charters of government for the Virginia Colony.[15] Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States and author of the Declaration of Independence, wrote: "Bacon, Locke and Newton. I consider them as the three greatest men that have ever lived, without any exception, and as having laid the foundation of those superstructures which have been raised in the Physical and Moral sciences".[16] Historian and biographer William Hepworth Dixon considered that Bacon's name could be included in the list of Founders of the United States of America.[17]

It is also believed by the Rosicrucian organisation AMORC that Bacon would have influenced a settlement of mystics in North America, stating that The New Atlantis inspired a colony of Rosicrucians led by Johannes Kelpius to journey across the Atlantic Ocean in a chartered vessel called Sarah Mariah, and move on to Pennsylvania in the late 17th century. According to their claims, these Rosicrucian communities "made valuable contributions to the newly emerging American culture in the fields of printing, philosophy, the sciences and arts".[18]

The utopian writer Krlis Balodis adopted the name "Atlanticus" when he wrote Der Zukunftsstaat in 1898.

New Atlantis - Wikipedia

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Is a world without men a dystopia or a utopia? Creamerie and Y: The Last Man explore loss at a time of mass grief – The Conversation AU

Posted: at 12:04 pm

It is a remarkable coincidence that both New Zealand black comedy Creamerie and American post-apocalyptic drama Y: The Last Man have arrived on our screens in the middle of a global pandemic. Both are shows about the aftermath of plagues that kill off the male population.

Both were well into production by the time COVID-19 hit, the latter adapting a critically acclaimed DC Comics series by Brian K. Vaughn and Pia Guerra. Both are led and entirely directed by women a strong statement in a significantly male-dominated industry.

And as dystopian narratives, they also tap into some significant areas of current social and political interest. These include anxieties about gender roles, and how we deal with loss and grief at a global scale.

Dystopian stories are very effective at exploring the fractures and inequities in our everyday lives by throwing up scenarios in which dreams of a better world have become nightmarish. They take present conditions and challenges and extrapolate them into a society that is deeply recognisable, but more extreme than our own.

Whether they are horrific or comedic, they expose and often satirise the real-world conditions, such as political trends or environmental inaction, that already facilitate oppression and destruction. They act as both thought experiment and warning.

Apocalyptic narratives, too, foreground the best and the worst of us. Although the end of the world might be triggered by a sudden calamity plague, war, a supernatural event these stories are more concerned with what happens next.

They ask: what happens when the things that structure our everyday lives are stripped away? How can we learn to live in these new conditions? And are we as much of a threat to one another as the catastrophe itself?

Both TV shows engage with these questions, although to different ends and with very different tones.

The sudden death of all mammals with a Y chromosome in Y: The Last Man is only the first in a series of rolling disasters not least the logistical problem of dealing with the physical remains of half the population.

The series is very interested in the ripple effects of gender inequality, especially in the workplace. This exposes how much our societies remain structured along roughly binary lines, despite significant attempts to move towards a more equitable and egalitarian society.

In early episodes the former Congresswoman and newly minted President Jennifer Brown (Diane Lane) struggles to govern. The United States critical infrastructure, which was staffed almost entirely by men, has collapsed.

Without water, power or food, people are beginning to riot, but there arent enough police or military personnel to keep the peace. Because men still dominate decision-making roles, a skeleton crew of female politicians and civil servants is left to salvage civil society.

In a moving scene, Brown tries to persuade one of the only remaining female nuclear engineers to help restore the power grid. Brown reminds her how hard it has been to always be the only woman in the room and the burden that she now bears because of this.

But power struggles swiftly emerge. The overnight erasure of gender privilege only exacerbates other sources of inequity, such as race and class. There is also an ideological clash between Brown and more politically conservative women, notably the Machiavellian former First Daughter Kimberley, played by Amber Tamblyn.

Their insidious emphasis upon the importance of traditional gender roles and so-called family values sits uncomfortably against scenes, pre- and post-disaster, where women struggle to deal with their domestic and professional roles. We are reminded that social inequity is deeply tied to child-bearing and rearing.

Far from critiquing womens professional ambitions and reproductive choices, the series domestic scenes illustrate powerfully the damaging double shift: the large amount of invisible, underappreciated and unpaid domestic labour undertaken by women.

This is a problem not just for women, but society at large made worse when the survival of the species relies on sperm banks and willing mothers.

Tech Cant Fix the Problem of Cars – The New York Times

Posted: at 12:04 pm

This article is part of the On Tech newsletter. Here is a collection of past columns.

The promise of electric and driverless cars is that vehicles can become better for the planet and safer for us. Those are worthy goals, although there are significant barriers to getting mass numbers of such cars on the road.

Theres also a risk that devoting our attention to these technological marvels may give us a pass from confronting a deeper question: How can we make our lives less dependent on cars?

After decades of putting the automobile at the center of Americas transportation plans and policy, were now dealing with the downsides, like air pollution, traffic, road deaths, sprawl and the crowding out of alternative ways to move people and products. The solution to problems caused partly by cars may not only be using different kinds of cars, but also remaking our world to rely on them less.

Ive been thinking about the risk and reward of faith in technology recently because of a new book by Peter Norton, an associate professor of history at the University of Virginia. Dr. Norton detailed decades of unfulfilled promises by carmakers and tech companies that some invention was just around the corner to free us from the worst aspects of our car dependency.

Radio waves, divided highway engineering, transistors and technology repurposed from targeted bombs were all pitched at points after World War II as ways of delivering an automobile utopia. Dr. Norton told me that the technologies were often half-baked, but that the idea behind them was that anyone can drive anywhere at any time and park for free and there would be no crashes.

These technologies never delivered, and Dr. Norton said he doubted that driverless cars would either. The whole boondoggle depends on us agreeing that high tech is better tech. That just doesnt stand up, he said.

This is not only Dr. Nortons view. Even most driverless-car optimists now say the technology wont be ready to hit the roads in large numbers for many more years.

Our health and that of the planet will significantly improve if we switch to electric cars. They are one focus of the global climate summit underway in Glasgow. And taking error-prone drivers out of the equation could make our roads much safer. But making better cars isnt a cure-all.

Popularizing electric vehicles comes with the risk of entrenching car dependency, as my New York Times Opinion colleague Farhad Manjoo wrote. Driverless cars may encourage more miles on the road, which could make traffic and sprawl worse. (Uber and similar services once also promised that they would reduce congestion and cut back on how many miles Americans drove. They did the opposite.)

The future of transportation needs to include more energy efficient and safer cars. But Dr. Norton also said that it would be useful to redirect money and attention to make walking, cycling and using shared transportation more affordable and appealing choices.

What Dr. Norton is talking about might sound like a fantasy concocted by Greta Thunberg. The car is a life-changing convenience, and changing our reliance on it will be difficult, costly and contentious. Why should we try?

Well, the transportation status quo is dangerous, gobbles up public space and government dollars, and is environmentally unsustainable. It took decades to build the United States around the car. It was a choice at times a contested one and we could now opt for a different path.

Dr. Norton asked us to imagine what would happen if a fraction of the bonkers dollars being spent to develop driverless cars were invested in unflashy products and policy changes. He mentioned changing zoning codes to permit more homes to be built in the same places as stores, schools and workplaces so that Americans dont have to drive everywhere. He also said that bicycles and electric railways that dont require batteries are technology marvels that do more good than any driverless-car software ever could.

Talking to Dr. Norton reminded me of the mixed blessing of innovation. We know that technology improves our lives. But we also know that belief in the promise of technology sometimes turns us away from confronting the root causes of our problems.

For more reading: Bloomberg CityLab had an interesting interview with Dr. Norton. Fast Company this week also published an excerpt from his book, titled Autonorama: The Illusory Promise of High-Tech Driving.)

Facebook plans to ditch its records of our faces: My colleagues Kash Hill and Ryan Mac report that Facebook is shutting down its 10-year-old system to identify people from images of their faces. It shouldnt be surprising but it is that Facebook is evaluating the drawbacks of facial recognition technology and (for now) has decided that the benefits werent worth the risks to our privacy.

Zillow made many oopsies: My colleagues and I couldnt stop talking about this yesterday. Zillow, best known for showing people estimates of home values, has also been buying homes itself and flipping them for a profit. But Zillows computer systems drastically overestimated the value of houses it bought, and the company lost money on each sale, on average. Zillow said Tuesday that it would shut down its home-flipping business.

Witches need online payments, too: A writer was rejected by the digital payments provider Stripe when she tried to sell tarot reading services online. Her essay in Wired explores the influence that payments companies including Stripe, Square and PayPal have in what products and services can exist online, and which cannot. (A subscription may be required.)

Animals love democracy, probably. Here, a dog seems to be enthusiastic about voting. And a candidate for mayor in New York tried to take one of his cats (hi, Gizmo!) to his polling site. (He was denied entry.)

Join us for a virtual event on Nov. 18 to discuss the secrets of productive and healthy online communities. Read this to learn more about the event and reserve your spot.

If you dont already get this newsletter in your inbox, please sign up here. You can also read past On Tech columns.

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Tech Cant Fix the Problem of Cars - The New York Times

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25 feel-good novels for winter nights in: from Greek myths to tales of a feminist utopia – iNews

Posted: at 12:04 pm

No one needs a reason to pick up a book. But now that its getting darker earlier, theres no reason not to lose yourself in another world far from real life. And what better escape than fiction that makes you feel better when you emerge the other side? Feel-good fiction or up lit doesnt have to mean saccharine; sometimes its worth working a little for that hit of optimism. Enjoy, and see you in the spring.

Jenny Colgan, Sphere, 14.99

Out of work, Carmen is lured to Edinburgh by her sister and the offer of work at a little bookshop. But the bookshop is struggling to survive. Can Carmen save it? A seasonal heart-warmer.

Michle Roberts, Sandstone Press, 14.99

This colourful take on a family mystery is a transporting read back to early 50s Provence, where three women are breaking free from village life. Two wind up helping out an ailing Henri Matisse. Vibrant and engrossing.

Claire Keegan, Faber & Faber, 10

Set in the run-up to Christmas in 1985 Ireland, this slim novel is a story of redemption. Bill Furlong, a coal and timber merchant and father of five daughters, emerges as a tender hero.

Susie Boyt, Virago, 16.99

A story about a mother struggling with an addict daughter who cant look after her baby might sound an unlikely feel-good candidate, but this powerful study of love will keep you reading. Just beautiful.

Joshua Ferris, Viking, 16.99

Charlie is a dreamer who, told he has cancer, looks back at his life, including five wives, four children, 40 jobs and constant debt. But he never gave up and neither will any reader.

Beth OLeary, Quercus, 12.99

A grieving young woman and her grandmother swap homes as they try to shake up their lives the former moving to a little village in the Yorkshire Dales after the death of her sister; the latter to a London flat, in pursuit of love.

Lauren Groff, William Heinemann, 16.99

A tale about a feminist utopia of 12th-century nuns headed by the visionary Marie, who is based on the writer Marie de France. An uplifting novel in its own unique way, and up there with Groffs best work.

Marlowe Granados, Verso, 10.99

There is plenty of vicarious pleasure to be had from this coming-of-age debut about two young women navigatinga summer in New York with little cash but plenty of wit and hedonistic verve.

Val McDermid, Little, Brown, 20

Thrillers dont usually make feel-good lists, but theres no reason why the first in this new crime series shouldnt. With a strong female reporter holding her own in a male-dominated world, there is plenty to take heart from.

Lucy Mangan, Profile Books, 16.99

This romp through the chaos of family life will have you wincing and rejoicing in equal measure as Liz battles through a year on a quest to grab a moment just one would do to herself.

Katherine Heiny, Fourth Estate, 14.99

This is a charming and tender tale about the messiness of modern love and unconventional family life. Bittersweet and wry, this is a gem from the bestselling author of Standard Deviation.

Jonathan Coe, Penguin, 8.99

A sweeping story about an unlikely friendship between a Hollywood film director Billy Wilder and a Greek teenager who wants to break free from what she knows. It is also a story of second acts. A novel to cherish.

Cathy Rentzenbrink, Phoenix, 14.99

This first novel from the accomplished memoirist is set on a moneyed west London street. The plot follows a handful of families as they navigate grief and friendship and keeping going, which can be the hardest thing of all.

Clare Chambers, Orion, 8.99

Witty and sharp, this is a crisply written tale of romantic anguish and daughterly duty. Jean, a frustrated reporter who lives with her mother, takes her small pleasures where she can, but this is one big pleasure to read.

Elif Shafak, Viking, 14.99

If an epic story about a divided country, which opens with the death of a mother and a grieving father, sounds an unlikely candidate for an uplifting read, remember that love comes in different guises.

Marika Cobbold, Arcadia, 14.99

Funny and darkly surprising, this is a heart-warming mystery about honesty in the age of social media, as a journalist fabricates a good-news story then goes in search of the truths behind it.

Elizabeth Strout, Viking, 14.99

It is uplifting to watch Lucy Barton who Strout fans will know from an earlier novel rekindle her friendship with her ex-husband. This isnt a classic feel-good novel, but is all the richer for it.

Charlotte McConaghy, Vintage, 8.99

Franny Stone is tracking the last of the Arctic terns on what may be their final migration to Antarctica in this cli-fi book about wild animals disappearing from the natural world. Will she find them? And can we save them?

Pat Barker, Hamish Hamilton, 18.99

The material might be harsh and bleak but there is something uplifting about finally hearing the Greek myths from a womans perspective. Briseis is a marvel of a heroine, brave, clever, loyal, and Barker is a wondrous storyteller.

Sammy Wright, And Other Stories, 10

Youll have to buckle in for the ride, but this rewarding debut by a secondary school teacher is about a modern-day Cinderella, plucked from her foster home into a dazzling new London life. Its tough, yet ultimately hopeful.

Meg Mason, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 14.99

Sharply observed and darkly hilarious, this story about love, mental illness and sisterly bonds scales all the highs and lows of life. Sensitive, deeply heartfelt and utterly captivating.

Ruth Jones, Transworld, 8.99

An uplifting tear-jerker from the Gavin & Stacey screenwriter about the highs and lows of three childhood friends as they navigate life, work, marriage, children, death, arguments and reconciliation.

Beth Morrey, HarperCollins, 8.99

Prickly and resentful, 79-year-old Missy is destined to spend the rest of her life alone until she makes two friends who give her a second chance at life, proving its never too late for a new beginning.

Ilona Bannister, Hodder & Stoughton, 14.99

When the Twin Towers collapsed, Gigi fled her office, New York and her life, ditching her husband and children. Ten years on, the story resumes. Loss, grief, love and motherhood: this has it all, plus lots of sassy humour.

Marianna Cronin, Doubleday, 14.99

At just 17 years old, Lenni has terminal cancer. Stuck in hospital, she meets 83-year-old Margot, who is on the next ward. Together, they paint their life stories. Fiercely tender.

World Without Men: Will It Be A Dystopia Or A Utopia – SheThePeople

Posted: at 12:04 pm

World Without Men: It is a remarkable coincidence that both New Zealand black comedy Creamerie and American post-apocalyptic drama Y: The Last Man have arrived on our screens in the middle of a global pandemic. Both are shows about the aftermath of plagues that kill off the male population.

Both TV shows engage with these questions, although to different ends and with very different tones.

This is a problem not just for women, but society at large made worse when the survival of the species relies on sperm banks and willing mothers.

The premise inverts many of the tropes laid bare in the reproductive horrors of The Handmaids Tale and its many imitators, which similarly foreground natalist policies.

Instead, Creamerie is wickedly funny and playful. Its bougie wellness cult operates with silken voices, performative kindness, and what appears to be the veneration of female collectivity.

However, we soon witness the classist, racist, heteronormative, and individualistic tendencies at the heart of this new society, which satirises the predatory nature of the wellness industry.

We are also faced with difficult questions about the fate of those men who might remain how they too might be objectified and commodified for their reproductive potential.

In a world grappling with a climate disaster, and now a brutal pandemic, it is natural to turn to art to explore how we might live when our lives are braided with inconsolable grief.

Ultimately Creamerie and Y: The Last Man ask us how we suffer losses that are too great for words, and whether we cope with tears, connection, or gallows humour.

Erin Harrington, Senior Lecturer in English and Cultural Studies, University of Canterbury published this article first on The Conversation. Views expressed are the authors own.

League of Legends Arcane: who is who in the show? characters and cast – AS English

Posted: at 12:04 pm

The popular video game League of Legends is exploring new frontiers, making the jump to an animated TV series Arcane on Netflix. The show will bring to life the background stories of the main League of Legends champions from the game, as well from what can be seen in the trailers and sneak peaks some new characters will be introduced.

For those unfamiliar with League of Legends Arcane, its the story of one society that has been split in two. Piltover is a wealthy utopian city which sits on the clifftops above Zaun, a seedy city built in the canyons below, existing in a perpetual smoggy twilight. The two exist in symbiosis but the advent of a new technology which allows a person to control magic, hextech, is threatening the balance between the two.

The Arcane TV series will explore the origin stories of iconic characters from the video game franchise as well as bringing some new faces that will help fill in the story. The show will consist of nine episodes broken into three Acts. Heres a look at who the main characters

In the League of Legends, Vi is a Piltover Warden tasked with keeping the peace, however in the trailer we see her sitting in a prison cell. She was originally a criminal from the grimmy streets of Zaun, where she honed her survival skills growing up practically alone. It appears that the story will revolve around her search for her younger sister. She is impulsive, has a short fuse and wields a pair of hextech gauntlets that pack a fearsome punch.

Jinx is walking chaos carrying a lethal arsenal of weapons, and especially loves to see things go boom! She lives in Zaun where she carries out her criminal activities spreading mayhem and panic. It appears though that at one time she got in over her head, thus why her sister Vi comes looking for her.

A crack shot with a steady temperment, Caitlyn is one of Piltovers finest Wardens using her superior intellect to ensnare criminals that dare to disturb the utopic peace. From the Arcane trailer, and the video game storyline, Caitlyn and Vi will pair up. There are even rumors among fans that the two are a couple but that has yet to pan out.

Viktor is a scientist who desires to push the bounds of technological achievement to bring about humanity's full potential. He wants to bring the utopia of Piltover to the people of Zaun. In the videogame he is a Cyborg giant but as the TV series delves into the origins of the characters, this genius starts out as just flesh and bone.

Jayce, like Viktor, is also an inventor pushing the limits to achieve ever greater progress and will do everything in his power to protect Piltover. In that pursuit he uses a hextech hammer that can deliver a crushing blow.

Professor Cecil B. Heimerdinger, is a brilliant yet eccentric scientist. He belongs to a race of spirits, the Yordle, which come from a mystical place known as Bandle City on Runeterra. He invents incredible and lethal machinery in his pursuit of answers to the universe's most impenetrable questions.

Mel is an enigma who doesnt come from League of Legends lore. Shell be one of the new characters that will play a role is developing the back stories of the other heros.

Silco is one of the main antagonists of Arcane, but new to League of Legends lore, or is he? The common consensus is that Silco is really Singed, a Zaunite alchymist and mad scientist. Highly intelligent but with no moral boundaries to limit his desire to gain more knowledge.

Vander is another new character brought to life in the Arcane TV series. Going by the trailer, he is either Vi and Jinxs father or protector. What can be gathered is that he runs the bar where we see Jinx at the beginning of the shows theme song Enemy performed by Imagine Dragons and & JID.

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League of Legends Arcane: who is who in the show? characters and cast - AS English

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Hugh Bailey: Here’s what this year’s elections mean for CT 2022: Nothing – The Advocate

Posted: at 12:04 pm

There are two kinds of blue states, which can be defined as states you can safely put in the Democratic presidential column and have uncompetitive Senate races. There are some that go blue all the way down the ballot, including for governor. This is California and New York. Then there are those that support Democrats in federal elections but are perfectly willing to support a Republican for governor, given the right circumstances. This is Massachusetts and Maryland, and maybe Virginia.

How about Connecticut? Well find out more over the next year, but it has tended more toward the latter kind. Governors races are close here, and could be again next year, despite a wide margin in party registration in favor of Democrats. No one, though, thinks that means our electoral votes are in doubt in the near-term.

All of which highlights why its important not to draw too many conclusions for next year from Tuesdays election results.

Republicans had a good day, and its important to understand why. Its just as important to remember that whichever party is in the White House typically suffers in off-year elections and then again in the midterms. Were in a never-ending cycle of wave and reprisal as the parties trade control of the federal government, and even a literal assault on the nations seat of political power less than a year ago was not enough to break that cycle. Instead, the party that countenanced that attack has been granted renewed political momentum as if nothing happened.

Regardless, it would be dumb to ignore the patterns. Democrats performed poorly in both New Jersey and Virginia, and are likely to struggle in next years elections, too, no matter what legislation ultimately passes Congress. That this pattern continually repeats itself doesnt make it less serious.

Connecticut didnt have any statewide races this year, but votes in nearly every town for local races gave enough grist for observers to draw conclusions, not necessarily based on reality. Republicans are convinced theyre back in the electoral picture after a series of wins Tuesday, but it wasnt all good news for them.

The biggest story nationally, after all, was whats been shorthanded as Critical Race Theory, which (a) doesnt really exist in the context its usually discussed even as (b) the winning Virginia candidate continually railed against it. We should expect this winning formula to be repeated across the nation in the coming year, pundits tell us.

But that strategy was taken for a test run here in Connecticut, in Guilford, for instance, and it was soundly defeated. Connecticut is no ones idea of a post-racial utopia, but neither is it apparently in the mood for the latest conservative moral panic. The Guilford news should give pause to anyone who thinks Connecticut Republicans can replicate what we just saw in Virginia.

So how will Republicans in Connecticut capitalize on momentum from races they did win? A good start might be laying off the social media for a while. Whoever is behind the official Connecticut Republican Party Twitter feed got into a fight just before Election Day first with a Democratic lawmaker and eventually with the entire internet by arguing that Nazis were a left-wing phenomenon because their official name included the word socialist.

Thats not only untrue historically but is an exceedingly odd subject for an official party organ to go to the mat over. Its fine to say it doesnt matter what happens on Twitter and that voters dont care, but a party that wants to be taken seriously should maybe attempt to present a dignified online appearance.

The most important takeaway from Tuesday, though, is that no one knows anything. Republicans are likely to do well in 2022 because thats what historical patterns show, and everyone whose opinion matters has decided Jan. 6 is some kind of aberration wed all be better off moving past. Its worth remembering, though, that a good national environment did not help the party get over the top in 2010 or 2014 in Connecticut, so it will take more than general anti-Biden feelings to get a win here.

What would be best would be for everyone to lay off the 2022 prognostications altogether. This years elections will have real consequences, but not in terms of predicting the future. Well all find out what happens over the next year. Then, if history is any guide, we can start collectively obsessing about 2024.

Hugh Bailey is editorial page editor of the New Haven Register and Connecticut Post. He can be reached at hbailey@hearstmediact.com.

Hugh Bailey: Here's what this year's elections mean for CT 2022: Nothing - The Advocate

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David Lee gives behind the scenes look at brother Spike in new book – Richmond Free Press

Posted: at 12:04 pm

NEW YORK - When David Lee was growing up in Brooklyn, his older brother would drag him out of the house whenever he got the urge to make a film.

Spike would say, You gotta come with me. Im shooting something, says David Lee. His early impulse was to document. The 77 blackout, he went out and filmed. He would yank me and say, Come on. Come on.

In an artistic family (Spike and Davids father, Bill Lee, is a well-regarded jazz musician who scored several of Spikes early films), David took up still photography. David, four years Spikes junior, discovered photography when an upstairs tenant in their familys brownstone taught him how to process 35mm black-and-white film.

Spike, meanwhile, was already on his way as a movie director. And from the beginning, no one had a front-row seat to the birth and evolution of the master American filmmaker like David. From Spikes first feature film, Shes Gotta Have It, and ever since, David has been his brothers on-set photographer.

He was there to capture Spike, in a Jackie Robinson jersey as Mookie in Do The Right Thing, in the afternoon light of a Brooklyn street. He was there to photograph Denzel Washington lounging in the backseat of a convertible in Malcolm X. He was there for some of Chadwick Bosemans last moments on film during the making of Da 5 Bloods.

Spike, a new retrospective photography book to be published Nov. 17, is filled with images David shot over the years, with stills from Spikes 35-plus films. It even comes complete with custom typography based on RadioRaheems LOVE/HATE brass knuckles from Do the Right Thing. Its a hefty, glossy compendium of the still-unfolding career of one of cinemas most clarion voices. Its also an intimate story of family, with siblings on both sides of the camera: Spike as seen through his brothers lens.

Its kind of funny when your brother becomes famous, David Lee, 60, said in a recent interview. Hes always been my brother, but then hes like a world possession somehow. People in Fort Greene would always talk to him as if they knew him.

And from the start, Spike understood something about self-promotion. Few filmmakers since Alfred Hitchcock have made themselves more recognizable to a movie-going public. As the unit photographer whose images are used in a movies marketing, Davids pictures helped create his brothers iconography including those Nike commercials with Michael Jordan. He fondly remembers an early trailer for Shes Gotta Have It where Spike sells the movie while hocking tube socks on Fulton Street.

Many images like that one of Mookie David cant always recall whose idea it was.

I dont know if I did it or Spike said, Take a picture of this or that. Spike always had this other awareness of promoting himself, said David. Spike entered the mainstream on his own terms.

That included, by way of his production company, 40 Acres and a Mule, far more diverse film sets than were seen elsewhere in the industry. David recalls Spike bringing lists of Black crew members, including himself, to the various guilds to get them inducted into unions.

But the 40 Acres crew many of whom have lasted since the late 1980s and early 1990s also included Spikes actual family. Their younger sister, Joie Lee, has appeared in at least nine of Spikes films. Their younger brother, Cinqu Lee, has had various duties, including co-writing 1994s Crooklyn. There are, David jokes, no business school graduates among the Lees.

From The Beginning I Have Kept It All In The Family, Thanks To God For Talent In The Lee Family, Spike said in an email.

But why would Spike Lee want a 360-page capstone to a movie career while still in the midst of it? Just during the pandemic, Spike Lee has released two features ( the Vietnam war drama Da 5 Bloods, the documentary David Byrnes American Utopia ), been president of the Cannes Film Festival jury and begun prepping a movie musical about the origins of Viagra. He also, like during the 1977 blackout, documented New York under the first wave of the pandemic in a short film.

In the books first pages, Spike explains: This Book Revisits All Da Werk Ive Put In To Build My Body Of Work. Film Is A Visual Art Form And That Sense Of My Storytelling Has Been Somewhat Overlooked. Why Now, After All These Years? FOLKS BE FORGETTING.

For David, the book is a moment to reflect on how his brothers body of work once received as so incendiary by some has only grown more prescient with time. When Do the Right Thing first debuted, some columnists famously predicted it would incite riots.

It shouldnt have seemed revolutionary or such a startling conversation to start. It just really underscored the difference to me how white people and Black people, very broadly, view the different attitudes toward race relations, David said. White people seem eternally startled by Black outrage. It shouldnt be a new story.

David doesnt exclusively shoot Spikes films. He has more than 90 credits. During a recent interview, he was in Pittsburgh for a Netflix film about the civil rights leader Bayard Rustin.And sometimes, their experiences of the past 35 years vary wildly.

Im not sitting there courtside at the Knicks games, David said, laughing. Im not palling around with the Obamas.

But flipping through Spike captures a filmmakers journey that starts out like a family photo album. There in a photograph of Spikes film school graduation is David next to him, with a camera slung over his shoulder. That hes been along on the ride ever since still astounds David. Theres so much talent in front of you. Its like a jazz trio. Im in the band! said David. So much is laid out for me to try to capture.

David Lee gives behind the scenes look at brother Spike in new book - Richmond Free Press

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The best Simpsons episodes: 30 highlights of the animated sitcom – TechRadar

Posted: at 12:04 pm

Before we get started with this list of the best Simpsons episodes, know this: yes, these are all episodes from the 'classic' seasons of 2-8 (though we'd say 1-10 counts as the classic era, at a push). And yes, there are far more great episodes of The Simpsons than we can fit on this list in fact, you could rearrange these 30 picks in almost any order and that would still make sense to a lot of people. We constantly switched this order around in the run-up to publication, because ranking them is so damn hard.

Still, our goal was to offer a cross-section of the show at its best, mixing in outright hilarious episodes with sweeter ones, and contrasting episodes that focus on the family with those that spotlight Springfield's wider, weirder population. If you're not in the mood to watch every season again right now, these 30 choices should tick all your boxes.

If you want to check out a few episodes that come later in The Simpsons' life, we can help with that too have a look at our list of The Simpsons' post-golden age greatest hits. As a reminder, you can stream 32 seasons of the show on Disney Plus, including all the episodes below. Let's get started these are The Simpsons best episodes, according to us.

Bart skips school for the day, only for Principal Skinner to become suspicious and track him down across town unsuccessfully, thanks to a timely escape. Bart ends up at Mayor Quimby's compound, where a French waiter is seemingly attacked and Quimby's cousin is implicated as the assailant. Even though Bart saw what really happened and knows he should testify in court, he understands confessing will get him in trouble with Skinner. Homer, meanwhile, is on jury duty for the case, and begins ransacking his hotel for free items.

This excellent episode is big on laughs, which is why we've picked it. The highlight is arguably the Westworld parody, where Skinner walks into a river, only to emerge robotically on the other side. Chowdah!

When Lisa's favorite doll, Malibu Stacy, gets a talking version, she's dissatisfied to learn that the voice clips are limited to phrases like "don't ask me, I'm just a girl!" She tracks down the real Stacy, the doll's creator, a now-alcoholic recluse called Stacy Lovell (played by Kathleen Turner).

Together, they make a (doomed) doll called Lisa Lionheart that encompasses more wholesome values, but Malibu Stacy still wins out, thanks to a new hat. When Lisa episodes land, they really work and this plot is excellently realized, even if it ends in failure for her. This episode also has the bonus of Smithers' computer booting up to a topless Mr Burns saying, "Hello Smithers, you're quite good at turning me on!"

So many Simpsons episodes show Lisa having the shittiest time, perpetually misunderstood by those around her and unfulfilled by education. This episode lets her find a group of cool friends while on summer vacation something that Bart just can't let her have, as he becomes the less popular one. This is very well-observed in terms of how kids behave in real life.

But this one has many other delights, including lots of hilarious jokes at Milhouse's expense. 'The dud' moment while he's playing the Mystery Date board game with Homer is a legendary joke, one canonized in meme form many times over.

This episode still manages to get Lisa a sweet ending, and it's weirdly good at capturing the very specific nice feeling of going on vacation after a year at school.

The 100th episode of The Simpsons focused on one of the show's best supporting characters, Principal Seymour Skinner (or Armin Tamzarian, but we don't need to get into all that). After Bart brings Santa's Little Helper to school and the dog wreaks chaos resulting in a near-naked Groundskeeper Willie landing on Superintendent Chalmers Skinner is fired and replaced by Ned Flanders.

Bart and an unemployed Skinner form a sweet friendship as his former nemesis deals with a more pitiful, tedious existence. He eventually returns to the army, until Bart manages to get Flanders fired.

This episode, written by future showrunners Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein (Oakley would write the legendary Steamed Hams skit featuring Skinner), deepens the Skinner character and shows the dimensions to his relationship with Bart. It also features the all-time great joke that Skinner is writing a novel about dinosaurs in a futuristic amusement park: it's called Billy and the Cloneasaurus, much to Apu's chagrin.

The Simpsons has never been shy about parodying Citizen Kane, but this episode takes it to the next level. Mr Burns' lost childhood bear Bobo a symbol of his lost youth and innocence ends up in the hands of Maggie Simpson decades later (after a spell in Adolf Hitler's possession). Homer tries to negotiate money and some Hawaiian islands out of Mr Burns in exchange for the bear, but Maggie's benevolence ultimately wins out and the family gets nothing.

One of Rosebud's many highlights is The Ramones' birthday message to the cranky billionaire: "go to hell, you old bastard."

After Miss Hoover takes some time off to recover from Lyme disease, Lisa becomes enchanted by her substitute, Mr Bergstrom (played by Dustin Hoffman under a pseudonym). When Bergstrom suddenly leaves, Lisa is devastated, and it spotlights what a mismatch of a father figure Homer really is for her. Reconciling that is a key development for the character.

This episode crystallizes Lisa is as the intellectual member of the family, and Bergstrom leaving is an all-time tearjerker moment of the series.

Homer is shocked to learn that the family's new friend, John (played by cult director John Waters), is gay and he's determined to stop Bart from ending up the same way. This episode still works today because you're never in any doubt that Homer's prejudice and unfounded paranoia is the joke.

The various boneheaded attempts he makes to keep Bart 'straight' leads to one of The Simpsons' most memorable gags: the steel mill that turns out to be entirely populated by gay men, which transforms into a nightclub called The Anvil before Homer's very eyes. "We work hard, we play hard!"One of the best jokes in TV history.

This episode was originally blocked by a Fox censor, until a change in management allowed sense to prevail.It's definitely a product of its time in how the subject is tackled, but mostly holds up on a rewatch.

This episode makes our list because it's perhaps the greatest in the series' history for exploring Bart and Lisa's sibling relationship: the alternating jealousy and affection for each other, here explored as they both become hockey stars on opposing teams.

Homer is a total jerk in this one, encouraging his children to compete for their parents' love, which is absolutely a damning take on overzealous spots parents. The moment at the end, as Lisa and Bart choose to abandon the game during a penalty in the face of a fiery crowd, is extremely sweet.

Has divorce ever been funnier than how it's portrayed in this episode? Kirk Van Houten fails to draw the word dignity, sleeps in a racing car, and asks if he can borrow a feeling as Milhouse's family breaks apart.

It cleverly explores the ways people can take a steady partner for granted tying it back to Homer's own cruddy treatment of Marge, and how he fears divorce is on the cards after he finds frozen hot dogs in the sink for dinner.

Still, you're really here to laugh at Kirk, then pray to god you never become him.

"My eyes, the goggles do nothing!" The Simpsons' various in-universe fictional characters add color to its world, and here the show uses Radioactive Man to riff humorously on the '60s Batman series. Milhouse beats Bart to the coveted Robin-style role of Fallout Boy, but freaks out about the role before production is finished.

This episode has no great emotional stakes, it's just a smart look at Hollywood and an excuse for a bunch of fun nerdy gags. Plus, you get to a flashback to the time Moe murdered a child actor. Up and at them!

Mr Burns assembles a team of ringers to win a softball match against the rival Shelbyville power plant's crew. Even if you didn't know who all the different baseball players were who guest-starred in this episode, it was irrelevant: this is one of the funniest episodes of the show.

To people outside the US, Darryl Strawberry is just the guy who's a better batter than Homer and who shed a tear after the Simpsons kids jeered at him.

After the kids of rival town Shelbyville steal Springfield's fabled lemon tree, Bart and friends head over to try and take it back. This episode is perfect at spotlighting the pointlessness of local rivalries, revealing that Springfield and Shelbyville only became separate towns because the residents of the latter wanted to marry their (allegedly attractive) cousins. An extremely funny episode, rife with good Milhouse moments, which always goes down well with us.

If you have to measure the greatness of an episode of The Simpsons by meme potential, then Lemon of Troy is up there as anyone familiar with the 'lemon face' expression from this episode will be familiar with.

This sweet episode traces the origins of Marge and Homer's relationship in flashback form. After Homer lies about being a French student to get close to Marge, she decides to go to prom with the smart but gross Artie Ziff (played by Jon Lovitz) before realizing Homer was the one for her (poor Marge).

This is an example of how delicately The Simpsons' writers and animators handled the characters' histories back in the show's early days.

Smithers needs a vacation, so he puts the most incompetent person possible in charge of looking after Mr Burns in his absence: Homer Simpson. Unfortunately, this leads to Burns becoming self-reliant, after Homer punches the old man in the face out of frustration.

When Smithers returns, he loses his job, and Homer hatches a hare-brained scheme to get him re-employed. This episode features a ton of funny moments: Mr Burns' somehow still-alive mother, Burns demanding that Homer make him a dodo egg for breakfast and a drunk Lennie giving the old man a terrifying thumbs up.

Apu has become a tough character to discuss in the modern age: the show was fairly subjected to criticism for his depiction, with actor Hank Azaria deciding to no longer play him.

The character remains an important part of the show's journey, however, despite that significant baggage and this episode, where Apu faces an existential crisis after getting fired by the Kwik E Mart, is probably the highlight of his relationship with the Simpsons family over the years. Apu travels across the world to try and get his job back, an opportunity that Homer ultimately manages to sabotage.

Luckily, Apu secures employment once more by saving the life of actor James Woods, his replacement at the store.

The Simpsons writers cleverly examine the show and its fans in this episode, which adds a dog called Poochie to the classic cartoon-with-a-cartoon Itchy and Scratchy. As a creation, Poochie is cynically engineered to appeal to the widest audience possible, and is therefore rejected completely by the viewers Homer gets the short-lived job of voicing the character.

This episode makes the point that fans weren't happy with the old Itchy & Scratchy series when it got stale, but didn't want to see any changes to it either. It was ahead of the curve when it came to commenting on our relationship with TV shows, which makes even more sense in an age of YouTube explainers and episodic recaps.

Homer buys a snow plow and carves out a neat little business clearing out people's driveways that is, until Barney comes along and steals his idea, shoots out Homer's tires and calls him an alcoholic in his TV commercial.

This episode is probably the single greatest Barney showcase in the entire series, aside from maybe his short film in 'A Star is Burns'. "Come back, diaper!" is a top five Barney moment, but it's arguably the Mr Plow song that embeds this one in the memory.

This was apparently considered the best episode of The Simpsons (dental plan!) for a long time (Lisa needs braces), and it's definitely a highlight. Homer becomes the head of the power plant workers' union, after its previous leader is murdered and buried under a football pitch.

He fights to save the workers' dental plan so Lisa can get a humane pair of braces, going up against Mr Burns, who mistakenly thinks his union opponent is a tactical mastermind. Lisa's legally distinct Yellow Submarine hallucination is a highlight.

Now do 'Classical Gas'!

We only wanted to select a single Halloween episode for this list to represent the mostly-great breadth of themed specials that have rolled out over the years. This episode contains The Shining parody known as The Shinning, the segment where Homer travels through time using a toaster and the one where the teachers are eating the kids in the school cafeteria. That's a strong trilogy.

It was tough to pick this one over the following year's, which would take Homer into the third dimension, but an immortal Kirk Van Houten line clinched it: "I don't like the idea of Milhouse having two spaghetti meals in one day."

Bart, Lisa and the children of Springfield head to a Krusty the Klown-branded camp, only to find it's more of a prison than a utopia with their days filled with life-threatening activities, overseen by the bullies and the ruthless Mr Black. Bart eventually overthrows the management, installing himself as leader.

Krusty, meanwhile, spends the summer in London until he finally sees the nightmare resort bearing his name at which point he confesses that a dump truck full of money was driven to his house in exchange for creating the camp. This is a great, fun episode that was originally intended to form the plot of a movie. It doesn't have enough meat on the bones for that, but it just about fills one brilliant 20-minute episode.

The heartfelt episodes of The Simpsons have a special place, because when they land, they really hit the spot and this one, featuring the first proper appearance of Homer's mother, played by Glenn Close, is also rife with great jokes.

Homer faking his own death is itself hysterically funny, particularly the accompanying headline on the Springfield Shopper: 'Local man loses pants, life'. Mrs Simpson's all-too-quick departure stays in the memory as one of the saddest moments of the series, even if the show's creators made the fraught decision to bring her back later on.

Marge vs the Monorail has everything: a great musical number, a massive story as Springfield gets a totally unnecessary transportation system operated by Homer, a huckster played by Phil Hartman and a preposterous resolution.

It even has a Leonard Nimoy cameo, and so many immortal lines Homer gets two alone. "I call the big one Bitey" will swim around your head for days after watching, just as it did for Marge. "Donuts: is there anything they can't do?" also springs to mind.

There's no real contest for the best Sideshow Bob episode though the episode with Cecil, Brother From Another Series, comes close it has to be the one with the rake joke.

Cape Feare is arguably more well-known now than the Martin Scorsese movie remake it was parodying at the time, with the Simpsons entering the witness protection program and moving to Terror Lake to protect Bart from Bob's revenge. This episode is packed with terrific jokes, from Bob's 'Die Bart Die' tattoo to Homer's total failure to comprehend that his new surname is Thompson. All the Bob episodes from this era are terrific, but this was their peak.

Season 3 is where The Simpsons really hits its stride, as the writers lean further into the strength of the show's supporting characters. This episode spotlights bartender Moe Szyslak, who profiteers off an idea for a drink he stole off of Homer Simpson the fabled 'Flaming Homer', reappropriated as the 'Flaming Moe', which makes his business takes off.

From a daft Aerosmith guest appearance to a perfect Cheers parody, this is one of the series' first all-time classic episodes.

For some, the death of Frank Grimes marks the point of no return for Homer Simpson as a callous and cruel character. To everyone else, this episode about an unlucky everyman driven over the edge by Homer Simpson's perfect life is the show at its smartest and funniest. Grimes' awful life a childhood of delivering presents to more privileged children, getting blown up in a silo explosion, almost having his diploma stolen by a bird sets him up as the ultimate doomed figure to enter Homer's orbit.

He suffers the ultimate humiliation in death: his coffin being lowered into the ground as Springfield laughs at Homer falling asleep during his funeral. A masterpiece.

Homer joins and then ruins the ancient Springfield illuminati group known as the Stonecutters in this memorable episode. From the "we do!" musical number to the 'No Homers' club gag (they're allowed one), this is a brilliantly conceived episode and evidence that it doesn't matter how wacky an idea is for a Simpsons storyline, as long as it's executed well.

Plus, the sight of a naked Homer Simpson dragging the stone of triumph is an all-timer visual joke.Now let's all get drunk and play ping pong!

Part one is the stronger episode, seeding the mystery of who shot Springfield's most hated billionaire after he blocked out the sun, crippled Bart's dog and forgot Homer's name in genuinely dramatic fashion. But the whole two-parter is a treat. Wrapping the whole town into the mystery led to a whole summer of viewers trying to work out who did it then they found out it was the baby (*cough*).

While the resolution to the mystery isn't particularly mind-blowing episode writers Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein originally wanted Barney to be the culprit, but it ended up being decreed that it had to be a member of the Simpsons family the episode is a fantastic, fun ride with an all-time great reference to Twin Peaks in part two.

A high-concept anthology inspired by Pulp Fiction, this episode is now best known as the origin of the 'Steamed Hams' meme. Even before that was a thing, though, the segment between Seymour Skinner and Chalmers was masterful a hilariously detailed encounter between a failing suck-up and his constantly incredulous boss. That Skinner sacrifices his own mother to a house fire to placate Chalmers remains a brilliant gag.

But this whole episode, which divided up scripting duties between the very talented Simpsons writing room, is full of highlights. Cletus' theme song rhyming 'folk'll' with 'yokel'; Moe locking himself behind bulletproof glass while Snake robs him; Nelson laughing at a tall man in a small car. It's all wonderfully inventive, and it's amazing The Simpsons hasn't tried this format again in the intervening years, given that a few classic episodes like Kamp Krusty have been revisited in the modern era.

The Simpsons leave Springfield, after Homer is offered a job by Globex Corporation just for being the power plant's second-longest serving employee (after Waylon Smithers). The family moves to Pike Creek, which is seemingly idyllic. Unfortunately, Lisa realizes she's allergic to the wildlife, Bart is put in 'remedial' class with troublesome children ("I like to burn things!") and Marge starts drinking a small glass of red wine a day because she has no housework to do.

The problem is, Homer is happy for once, working for new boss Hank Scorpio (Albert Brooks) without knowing he's on the payroll of a James Bond villain come to life. This is almost a movie-sized Simpsons plot, rife with brilliant jokes and putting the emotional focus on every member of the family at once.

Picking a single episode as The Simpsons' best is truly difficult so we've opted for a big, funny storyline featuring every member of the family for our number one. Itchy & Scratchy Land is functionally a parody of Westworld, as the robots working at the park come to life, as well as a riff on Disneyland. But it's the cloud of terrible Simpsons holidays past hanging over the family's trip that makes this episode so funny, as Marge faces the doomed reality that Homer and Bart will find a way to ruin this vacation like they always do.

"Mom, dad! Bart's dead!" followed by "That's right! Dead serious about going to Itchy & Scratchy Land!" is a top-tier joke in this episode. But the winning gag in Itchy & Scratchy Land is the 'Bort' license plate in the park's gift shop a masterful creation that's inspired the best Simpsons meme group on the internet, which is the last non-cursed thing on Facebook.

There's no single Simpsons episode that has absolutely everything: this isn't a heartfelt episode, and it doesn't really feature the rest of Springfield, which are key ingredients in so many episodes on this list. But it's so brilliantly funny and inventive, tied to a story idea that's a perfect vehicle for The Simpsons' type of satire. There is no day where we're not in the mood to rewatch Itchy & Scratchy Land.

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The best Simpsons episodes: 30 highlights of the animated sitcom - TechRadar

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