Brian Gallagher

Writer-editor. Co-author of “Are We Ready for Mars?” Previously @nautilusmag. Here to take everything seriously 100% of the time.

[Brian Gallagher @bsgallagher]

I am indeed on the look out for new opportunities!

If you’re hiring an editor or know someone who is searching for one, I’d be grateful to hear from you.

Shoot me a note at: [email protected]

[Jonathan Haidt @JonHaidt]

If anyone is looking for a great non-fiction editor, @bsgallagher is your man. He did brilliant work for me improving the draft of The Anxious Generation, and on @EthicalSystems. Highly recommend.

[Brian Gallagher @bsgallagher]

@mattyglesias Tbf, Anil Seth, mentioned in the screenshot, does have a “take” on human consciousness that informs his doubts about conscious AI

[Matthew Yglesias @mattyglesias]

B.F. Skinner: “The real question is not whether machines think but whether men do. The mystery which surrounds a thinking machine already surrounds a thinking man.”

https://t.co/6V9Y9h7RJ5

[Brian Gallagher @bsgallagher]

@BDSixsmith @avidseries I don’t understand how she thought they were sincere.

[Brian Gallagher @bsgallagher]

Stumbleupon

[Hubert Thieblot @hthieblot]

Anyone who surfed the early web between 1995-2010.

What’s the one website/app you still think about?

[Brian Gallagher @bsgallagher]

Seems to go against the terror-management theorists

[Rob Sica @robsica]

"In order to do everything well in life, one must think constantly of death."
https://t.co/Sgrly9DeHg

[Brian Gallagher @bsgallagher]

@LegionHoops @ohnohedidnt24 There’s a difference between selling a foul and pretending one happened.

[Dale Chu @Dale_Chu]

“The students who cannot read a 20-page article today are the voters who will not be able to read a bill, or the jurors who cannot follow a closing argument, tomorrow.”

[Brian Gallagher @bsgallagher]

And I, for the record, thought it was captivating, got through it fast, and wasn’t surprised the author got a New Yorker profile, etc. Not the best thing I’ve read, but far as hell from the worst.

[Phil Hoyeck @PAHoyeck]

Finally finished The Three Body Problem. Very sorry to my friends who like it, but I found it unfathomably bad in practically every way. Worst science fiction I've read in a long time. Won't be reading the sequels. 1.5 out of 5.

[Brian Gallagher @bsgallagher]

@quirked_up_anzu lol that’s a good one

[Brian Gallagher @bsgallagher]

@glukianoff This is an instance of a broader and deeper problem with “the sequels” that morally negates them as canon in my book.

[Brian Gallagher @bsgallagher]

Well said

[Leigh Phillips @Leigh_Phillips]

This position comes up a lot, right, center and left with regard to all sorts of sectors, but it is *always* undemocratic: “Imagine if <party I did not vote for> controls <service/industry X>! Wouldn’t that be terrible? That’s why we shouldn’t trust democracy for <service/industry X> and instead leave it to… <unsaid>.”

This argument says democracy is fine, but only so long as my side wins. Which plainly isn’t very democratic. It imagines that The Government is something other than us, the people; some alien, unaccountable thing.

And so if this argument holds for <service/industry X>, then it holds for *everything*. Democracy touts court unravels.

In a democracy, we have to accept when our side loses, and then just organize to fight the next election better.

If the left expects the right to submit to us when, say, it comes to our preferred policies regarding public access to abortion services when we are in the majority, then we have to submit to them in *any policies* they implement in the public sector when they are in the majority.

When we are in the minority, we can certainly critique and protest and even mount strikes, but beyond that, we must submit to the majority. We will get another chance to set policy next election, at which time if *we* win, we expect our opponents to submit to *us*. This is known as loser’s consent.

The question thus cannot be: “Do you really want *Republicans* (Shock! Horror!) to control X service/industry?” but instead: “Why should this part of society be subject to non-democratic rather than democratic control?”

Bernie’s argument is not that *Democrats* should decide what is to be done with regard to what most agree is the most transformative technology ever devised, but that *the people* should decide. If the people vote for Republicans in this regard, then Democrats with a big D just have to suck it up and accept the people’s will—if they are to remain democrats with a little D.

[Brian Gallagher @bsgallagher]

@micsolana @KelseyTuoc Good job guys

[Brian Gallagher @bsgallagher]

@thisguyknowsai @anitaleirfall Is this slop @pangram ?

[Brian Gallagher @bsgallagher]

“The dark side is a pathway to many abilities some would consider to be unnatural.”

[Esfandiar Baraheni @JustEsBaraheni]

This is why this quote from Wemby goes so hard. Bro said he had to dig into the anger and jealousy at times.

Caring &gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;

[Brian Gallagher @bsgallagher]

It was somehow important for American basketball that a Frenchman dethroned a Canadian.

[Brian Gallagher @bsgallagher]

And now Star Wars doesn’t have its aura anymore. Go figure.

[Emir Han @RealEmirHan]

Mark Hamill says he wanted Luke, Leia, and Han to reunite in the Star Wars sequels but he got rejected.

“I said, ‘It’ll only take 30 seconds.’

JJ said, ‘Well, Mark, it’s not Luke’s story anymore”

[Brian Gallagher @bsgallagher]

Safe? It’s necessary

[Dwight Howard @DwightHoward]

Safe to say Wemby should’ve won MVP

[Brian Gallagher @bsgallagher]

Saw Project Hail Mary yesterday and it was funny, touching, heartwarming, thrilling, and life-affirming. Glad I caught it while it was still in theaters.

[Brian Gallagher @bsgallagher]

Absolute legend

[Lucas Star Wars Girl @LucasSWGirl]

RIP Marcia Lucas, ex wife of George Lucas and Oscar Winner for her editing of Star Wars.

She let rip on the Disney Sequels and every single word was true. They never did call her.

[Brian Gallagher @bsgallagher]

The more I hear Wemby speak, the more I like him and want him to win

[TheOldManAndTheThree @OldManAndThree]

"He's reached enlightenment" -JJ Redick had a realization about Wemby during our episode with him back in 2023