The Scholar's Stage

Notes From All Over 04/08/2018 (WEIRD Catholics, Chinese Intimidation Tactics, and Human Genetics)

05 August, 2018Books and Literature, Community, Culture, Europa Regina, Military Affairs, Notes From All Over, The Middle Kingdom

A collection of articles, essays, and blog post of merit. TOP BILLING “The Origins of WEIRD Psychology”Jonathan Schulz, Duman Barahmi-Rad, Jonathan Beauchamp, and Joseph Henrich. PsyArXiv. 2 July 2018. Recent research not only confirms the existence of substantial psychological variation around the globe but also highlights the peculiarity of populations that are Western, Educated, Industrialized, […]

1 Comment

Why Didn’t China Give Birth to Democracy?

22 July, 2018Dogs of War, Europa Regina, Political Theory, Small and Simple Things, The Middle Kingdom, Tyranny

“The nominal form of [China’s] government… is an irresponsible autocracy; its institutions are likewise autocratic in form, but democratic in operation.” —Herbet Giles, The Civilization of China (1919) Yuhua Wang and Mark Dincecco have an interesting paper out in the Annual Review of Political Science. The paper offers and tests a new hypothesis for why […]

12 Comments

Being vs. Doing in Ancient Chinese Thought–A Note

11 July, 2018Cognition, Culture, Narrative, The Middle Kingdom

Yesterday’s excerpt from the Zuo Zhuan is an excellent case study in the difficulty of translating classical Chinese into English (or into modern Chinese, for that matter). Here is the sentence of interest, as translated by Stephen Durrant, Wai-yee Lee, and David Schaberg: Having watched from her bedchamber, the girl said, “Gongsun Hei is handsome, to be […]

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Manning Up in Ancient China

10 July, 2018Culture, The Middle Kingdom

One of many delightful pearls found inside the Zuo Zhuan, the oldest historical narrative in East Asia: The younger sister of Xuwu Fan of Zheng was beautiful. You Chu had already formalized his engagement with her when Gongsun Hei sent someone who insisted on presenting her with a betrothal fowl. Alarmed, Xuwu Fan told Zichan. […]

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What Cyber-War Will Look Like

06 July, 2018Dogs of War, Futuristics

When prompted to think about the way hackers will shape the future of great power war, we are wont to imagine grand catastrophes: F-35s grounded by onboard computer failures, Aegis BMD systems failing to launch seconds before Chinese missiles arrive, looks of shock at Space Command as American surveillance satellites start careening towards the Earth–stuff […]

4 Comments

The Scholar’s Stage: Who Are You and What do You Like to Read?

28 June, 2018Site Announcements

Folks, I am pleased to announce that—starting this week—the tempo at which I publish new material here shall increase dramatically. In a recent post I mentioned that I was leaving China. That move is now over with. My new position in America will allow me to devote far more time to writing than I could […]

6 Comments

Moral Hazards and China

01 June, 2018The Middle Kingdom, Tyranny

Image Source. Four hundred thousand to one million people in concentration camps.If these estimates are true, that means that at least one—and perhaps far more—of every ten Uyghur men lives in a re-education camp right now.Those numbers come from an article published by the Associated Press two weeks ago. [1] This week’s Economist lists a similar tally. […]

17 Comments

Book Notes — Military Strategy: A Very Short Introduction

01 May, 2018Books and Literature, Political Theory

Antulio Echevarria’s Military Strategy: A Very Short Introduction is a short and accessible introduction to military strategy, as ‘strategy’ is thought about and debated in American national security circles today. It will be a useful read for many simply as introduction to the terminology of the modern defense intellectual. Echevarria has both the strengths and weaknesses of […]

1 Comment

Losing Games We Don’t Know Are Being Played

10 April, 2018Entangling Alliances, The Middle Kingdom

The Sydney Herald Morning Post has this on their front page today: China eyes Vanuatu military base in plan with global ramifications China has approached Vanuatu about building a permanent military presence in the South Pacific in a globally significant move that could see the rising superpower sail warships on Australia’s doorstep. Fairfax Media can […]

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My Grand Theory of Jordan Peterson

23 March, 2018Culture, Narrative

I have a short essay out in the Weekly Standard this week arguing that most of the commentariat have a deeply flawed understanding of pop psychologist Jordan Peterson. To quote: The spectacular rise of Jordan Peterson has caught much of the world flat-footed. caught much of the world flat-footed. Discussions of the psychology professor from […]

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