J. Danielle

We live in an era of unraveling scripts

The path to taste is really as simple as writing a little plus and minus in the margin more often.

I have thousands of photos of my children but few that I’ve set aside to revisit. I have records of virtually every text I’ve sent since I was in college but no idea how to find the ones that meant something. I spent years blasting my thoughts to millions of people on X and Facebook even as I fell behind on correspondence with dear friends. I have... See more

Historian Peter Turchin illuminates this possibility with his theory of “elite overproduction.” When societies generate more elite aspirants than there are roles to fill, competition for status intensifies. Ambitious but frustrated people grow disillusioned and radicalized. Rather than integrate into institutions, they seek to undermine them.... See more

Thomas Hine’s 1995 book, Total Package, which chronicles the history of consumer packaged goods, described the things that house the products we buy as “persuasive containers”—boxes and jugs and jars designed not just to safeguard their contents but to produce particular behaviors in the people who encounter them. The consumer system puts forth a... See more

“If someone truly is creative and inspiring,” they write, “it will show up in how they allocate their spare time.” In job interviews, the authors advise hiring managers to ask, “What are the open tabs on your browser right now?”