iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Reposted by Thomas Chatterton Williams

The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 18/09/2026

AI is sapping people’s concentration in a new way—one that abstaining from the technology won’t fix, @chatterton.bsky.social argues:

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The Other Way AI Impairs Our Thinking

Suddenly the technology is sapping people’s concentration in a new way, one that abstaining from AI won’t fix.

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Reposted by Thomas Chatterton Williams

The New Yorker @newyorker.com · 11/09/2026

“Perhaps sophistication is not a way of feeling superior to the world but a wish that the world would itself become superior,” Adam Gopnik writes. newyorkermag.visitlink.me/qVvVxW

newyorkermag.visitlink.me

The Art of American Sophistication

How striving, self-invention, and charm became America’s national style.

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Thomas Chatterton Williams @chatterton.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

One of the great little corners of the world, la Costa Brava

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Reposted by Thomas Chatterton Williams

The Economist @economist.com · 01/09/2026

It is growing common to hear academics shrug that perhaps students no longer need strong basic skills. That is not pragmatism—it is surrender

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Students are doing worse than you think

Some at college or university are testing no better than ten-year-olds

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Thomas Chatterton Williams @chatterton.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

“Accept the truth from whatever source it comes” —Maimonides

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Thomas Chatterton Williams @chatterton.bsky.social · 10/08/2026

Picture of a perfect Swiss backyard from earlier this summer

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Thomas Chatterton Williams @chatterton.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

I wrote about the powerful irony in French culture and politics right now: As voters embrace a narrow conception of Frenchness rooted in ethnic resentment, the nation’s most globally influential, successful, and beloved representatives—Wembanyama and Mbappé—are living rebukes against it.

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Thomas Chatterton Williams @chatterton.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

In Orange, France, in front of one of the greatest surviving structures of the Roman empire. Unlike the Colosseum in Rome, which lost much of its outer shell, this Roman theatre still possesses its monumental stage wall, which almost never remains intact elsewhere.

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Reposted by Thomas Chatterton Williams

The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 11/07/2026

When Thomas Chatterton Williams moved to Paris years ago, he was invited to join a tight-knit band of friends on their recurring guys’ night out. He reflects on why those evenings became the most important social habit of his life:

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The Social Ritual That Made Me a Better Man

Long live guys’ night.

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Thomas Chatterton Williams @chatterton.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

“The last 10 years have seen a radical transformation in French parenting habits, and the blame, according to Goldman, lies with an American import: positive parenting.” www.nytimes.com/2026/06/29/m...

nytimes.com

Did American-Style ‘Gentle Parenting’ Spoil French Children?

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Thomas Chatterton Williams @chatterton.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Ezra Klein attacked Sam Harris and essentially accused him of racism for not having enough black guests on his podcast and then gave Chris Rufo the most softball and deferential interview I could have ever imagined. It’s actually bizarre. Something was really off about it.

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Reposted by Thomas Chatterton Williams

The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 28/06/2026

Debates about air-conditioning availability in France reveal a fundamental divide about how America and Europe address discomfort, @chatterton.bsky.social argues:

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The Overlooked Reason Europe Doesn’t Have AC

Americans and Europeans tend to have very different ideas about physical suffering and sacrifice.

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Thomas Chatterton Williams @chatterton.bsky.social · 26/06/2026

Today in Paris, where buildings are beautiful and would be visually disfigured by visible AC units

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Reposted by Thomas Chatterton Williams

The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 08/06/2026

The white identitarians have more cultural and political power today than they did at any point in the past half century—and now that DEI and anti-racism are in retreat, they're moving on to a more ambitious goal, @chatterton.bsky.social argues.

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The White Identitarians Are Having a Moment

Now that DEI and anti-racism are in retreat, they’re moving on to a more ambitious goal.

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Reposted by Thomas Chatterton Williams

The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 09/06/2026

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The White Identitarians Are Having a Moment

Now that DEI and anti-racism are in retreat, they’re moving on to a more ambitious goal.

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Reposted by Thomas Chatterton Williams

The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 09/06/2026

“We’d save ourselves an enormous amount of trouble in the future if we’d agree to a simple litmus test: Immediately disregard anyone in the business of selling a vision who proudly proclaims they hate reading,” @chatterton.bsky.social wrote in 2023:

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The People Who Don’t Read Books

Identifying as someone who categorically rejects books suggests a much larger deficiency of character.

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Reposted by Thomas Chatterton Williams

The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 23/05/2026

The controversy surrounding the casting of Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy in Christopher Nolan’s adaptation of “The Odyssey” says “more about today’s pathological understanding of identity than it does about classical antiquity,” Thomas Chatterton Williams argues.

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The Absurd Misunderstanding Fueling the Debate Over ‘The Odyssey’

Elon Musk’s outrage at Christopher Nolan says more about today’s myopic notion of identity than it does about classical antiquity.

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Thomas Chatterton Williams @chatterton.bsky.social · 21/05/2026

Shout out to my daughter’s Bengal, Joe, who is a scene stealer and has now appeared in Monocle and Le Monde

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Reposted by Thomas Chatterton Williams

The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 14/05/2026

Some literary savants have had a complicated relationship with alcohol, Luis Parrales writes. In The Atlantic’s archives, he found stories about how drinking to excess has affected the creative process:

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The Origins of Alcohol as a Muse

The complicated relationship that plagued some literary savants

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Reposted by Thomas Chatterton Williams

The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 23/04/2026

“Moral rectitude, in some left-wing corners of the commentariat, is out; flagrant disregard of the social contract is in,” @chatterton.bsky.social argues.

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Since When Is Looting a Form of Virtue Signaling?

In some left-wing corners of the commentariat, moral rectitude is out. Flagrant disregard of the social contract is in.

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Reposted by Thomas Chatterton Williams

The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 27/03/2026

Some of America's most powerful tech oligarchs seem pathologically unreflective—yet these are the people who most need to understand themselves, @chatterton.bsky.social argues:

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The People Who Think Introspection Is Dumb

For some of America’s tech oligarchs, looking inward seems to be a waste of time better spent moving fast and breaking things.

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Thomas Chatterton Williams @chatterton.bsky.social · 27/03/2026

www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0... “The people who seem least interested in introspection are also those whose work is most profoundly shaping our collective reality.“

theatlantic.com

The People Who Think Introspection Is Dumb

For some of America’s tech oligarchs, looking inward seems to be a waste of time better spent moving fast and breaking things.

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Reposted by Thomas Chatterton Williams

Max Boot @maxboot.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Kind of impressive--if also very disturbing--how Trump can completely contradict himself in a single paragraph.

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Thomas Chatterton Williams @chatterton.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

Honestly hard to believe how common this kind of comment is on Bluesky. Just the casual tacit approval of lethal violence against political foes draped in a sense of moral superiority. Of course this is how the other side sees things too.

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Thomas Chatterton Williams @chatterton.bsky.social · 20/03/2026

My latest on the reassessment of what constitutes the extreme in French politics after left-wing activists stomped a man to death in Lyon last month: www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

theatlantic.com

The Homicide Upending French Politics

A recent killing of a neo-Nazi activist could bring France’s far-right party closer to power than it’s ever been.

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Thomas Chatterton Williams @chatterton.bsky.social · 02/03/2026

if b-boy bouiebaisse were to introspect he might draw productive conclusions

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Reposted by Thomas Chatterton Williams

The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 13/02/2026

“The truest understanding of slavery doesn’t serve any political faction,” @chatterton.bsky.social argues—“rather, it acknowledges the horrors of racial oppression while still allowing us to see beyond them.”

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Why MAGA Wants You to Think Slavery Wasn’t That Bad

Both the left and the right try to co-opt it, but the real story of American slavery doesn’t serve any one faction.

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Thomas Chatterton Williams @chatterton.bsky.social · 13/02/2026

“Sanitizing slavery has become a core objective of the reactionary right—a malignant response to progressives’ oversimplification of American history. But the truest understanding of slavery acknowledges the horrors of racial oppression while still allowing us to see beyond them.” t.co/XrF5UjIlj6

t.co

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/02/slavery-matt-walsh-1619-project/685982/?gift=m7bpo1wLmDtXRccAmHjxqiNXkygeIWq38_MKOp4LHbk&utm_source=copy-link&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=share

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Reposted by Thomas Chatterton Williams

Jonathan Haidt @jonathanhaidt.bsky.social · 22/01/2026

Perhaps more than any other group, looksmaxxers reveal the depth of the moral crisis that confronts young men today. @chatterton.bsky.social in @theatlantic.com www.theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/0...

theatlantic.com

‘Looksmaxxing’ Reveals the Depth of the Crisis Facing Young Men

The most narcissistic corner of the internet is having a moment.

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Reposted by Thomas Chatterton Williams

Adam Kinzinger @adamkinzinger.substack.com · 12/01/2026

Subpoenaing the Fed chair in the middle of a political fight over interest rates is not normal. It’s intimidation. Jerome Powell says he won’t bend—but this sets a dangerous precedent for the independence that keeps inflation in check. open.substack.com/pub/adamkinz...

open.substack.com

Jerome Powell Won’t Be Intimidated. The Institution He Leads Might Not Be So Lucky.

The Federal Reserve has been served with a grand jury subpoena tied to Chair Jerome Powell’s testimony. Powell says he will not be intimidated—but with his term nearing its end.

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Thomas Chatterton Williams @chatterton.bsky.social · 11/01/2026

Bluesky is such a sealed epistemic vacuum in many corners not a single person points out that just this past September Charlie Kirk literally got his neck blown open in public *by his ideological opponent.*

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Thomas Chatterton Williams @chatterton.bsky.social · 11/01/2026

@jamellebouie.net I’ve been quite clear in condemning the killing. Even a cursory glance at my twitter, IG or even this Bluesky account I barely use shows you’re dishonest. It’s actually more productive to argue with Megyn Kelly than such a bad faith actor as you.

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Thomas Chatterton Williams @chatterton.bsky.social · 10/01/2026

There is a growing and palpable bloodlust and desire to see ideological opponents quite literally eradicated that should give us all extreme pause. It’s been a long time since the most meaningful divide in American political and cultural life was between “left” and “right.” 1/2

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Reposted by Thomas Chatterton Williams

The Atlantic @theatlantic.com · 09/01/2026

The philosopher Rebecca Newberger Goldstein argues in her new book that the often-painful struggle to justify our existence is the very thing that makes us human, John Kaag writes:

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A New Understanding of Human Beings’ Most Basic Desire

Rebecca Newberger Goldstein argues that a good life is one that seeks to create order out of a natural state of chaos.

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Thomas Chatterton Williams @chatterton.bsky.social · 07/01/2026

A large masked man who is surrounded by armed backup shooting a lone and panicked woman in the face in broad daylight is such an insane visual metaphor for this administration’s overall disproportionate use of force

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Reposted by Thomas Chatterton Williams

Malcolm Nance, Leading Resister @malcolmnance.bsky.social · 07/01/2026

STRAIGHT UP MURDER

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Thomas Chatterton Williams @chatterton.bsky.social · 07/01/2026

so many people will grasp for the flimsiest reason to justify a needless death then blithely go about their day

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Thomas Chatterton Williams @chatterton.bsky.social · 06/01/2026

“It is re-reading, not reading, that counts

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