Self-Making and Lens

The Self-Making World

Jessica Riskin | Aeon | 2nd November 2026

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck is most remembered for being wrong about the giraffe. He suggested that giraffes had elongated their necks by stretching to reach leaves in high branches, small changes through each successive generation culminating in their long necks. This was seen as a joke at the turn of the 20C. His radical idea that organisms actively remake themselves is being more seriously considered today (4,600 words)

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Through The Nazi Lens

Katya Hoyer & Madeleine Johnson | Zeitgeist | 1st November 2026

Documentaries about the Nazi era use images from the Nazis’ own propaganda material, of endless rows of soldiers marching in formation, shiny youth in uniform, order and discipline. Amateur snapshots discovered by chance of the 1934 Nuremberg rally show portly men, unruly families, and litter in the arena. “By looking at the Nazi regime through its own lens, are we perpetuating its propaganda?” (1,400 words)

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