Justin Smith-Ruiu

From sex and music to religion and politics, a history of irrationality and the ways in which it has always been with us - and always will be. In this sweeping account of irrationality from antiquity to the rise of Twitter mobs and the election of Donald Trump, Justin Smith argues that irrationality makes up the greater part of human...

A fascinating history that reveals the ways in which the pursuit of rationality often leads to an explosion of irrationality. It's a story we can't stop telling ourselves. Once, humans were benighted by superstition and irrationality, but then the Greeks invented reason. Later, the Enlightenment enshrined rationality as the supreme value. Discovering that reason is the defining feature of our...

An original deep history of the internet that tells the story of the centuries-old utopian dreams behind it - and explains why they have died today. Many think of the internet as an unprecedented and overwhelmingly positive achievement of modern human technology. But is it? In The Internet Is Not What You Think It Is, Justin Smith offers an original...

What would the global history of philosophy look like if it were told not as a story of ideas but as a series of job descriptions—ones that might have been used to fill the position of philosopher at different times and places over the past 2,500 years? The Philosopher does just that, providing a new way of looking at the...