Columns

SCHULMAN | You Can’t Stop Change: A 1900’s Lesson for 2016

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This week I want to tell a story about politics. It takes place at the end of the Gilded Age, just as the United States was becoming an industrial world power. We were redefining ourselves as a country, but you wouldn’t know based on the day’s politics. Back then, politics were saturated with money and partisanship. The system was too dysfunctional to address the day’s pressing issues like environmentalism, industrial regulation and our changing role internationally.

china

SCHULMAN | China’s Internet Dilemma

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The other week, I found a Facebook picture that was fascinating. I know what you’re thinking — and no, the photo didn’t involve anyone’s crazy weekend. I’m sure there were some crazy photos of some crazy weekends, but this photo was definitely crazier. It was a picture of Facebook — specifically a graph of all the cities connected by Facebook. Tiny dots with lines drawn between them represented the connections between each city.

Columns

SCHULMAN | Hungry for Action on Inequality

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The democratic debate is probably old news by now, but I’ve been itching to talk about Bernie Sanders’ performance. If you watched the debate (and can remember what happened a week ago), you know he wouldn’t shut up about one issue — high rent prices. Just kidding, that’s Jimmy McMillan. Bernie’s issue is income inequality. I’ve been planning on writing about income inequality for a while.

Columns

SCHULMAN | Taylor Swift and the Future of Music

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I don’t like Taylor Swift **queue dramatic background music.** Taylor Swift is stunning, super talented and had made millions of dollars before her 20th birthday. Believe me, I am jealous of Taylor Swift — but that isn’t why I don’t like her. I don’t like Taylor Swift because she has used her clout to oppose free-information — at least in terms of music. Free-information is the idea that all information should be unrestrictedly distributed at no cost. It is a radically different way to think about content.