Drunk Hubris

Publisher's Note: readers in New York are invited to meet Browser Publisher Uri Bram & fellow Browser readers at the Our Dark Academia event today, Saturday 15th, 8pm-11pm. There will be drinks, nibbles, crafts and readings. Email uri@thebrowser.com if you'd like to find us – this is a free public event unaffiliated with the Browser. –Uri

1,600 Years Of Medical Hubris

Robert Graboyes | Bastiat's Window | 12th October 2022

How on earth did doctors get away with the hocus-pocus which passed, until relatively recently, for medicine? "Why, just fifty years ago, we would have thought your daughter's illness was brought on by demonic possession or witchcraft … But nowadays we know that Isabelle is suffering from an imbalance of bodily humors, perhaps caused by a toad or a small dwarf living in her stomach" (1,900 words)

Will The Wise Man Get Drunk?

John Dillon | Antigone | 10th October 2022

Is it wise policy to get drunk in good company every now and then — with a view to seeing the world a different way, speaking with fewer inhibitions, and hearing what others say when they, too, have unbuttoned? Plato seemed to think so, but only if the drinker was already virtuous: "Relaxation will bring out the worst in foolish people, but in the wise it will bring out the best" (4,100 words)