The Navigator, Saturday, August 23, 2025
Moving to Tulsa, Beijing's Robot Olympics, AI's new power serve, Trump's use of 'tactical' empathy; white-lining, endangered Millennial lifespans—and more
We don’t do nuance very well anymore. The loudest voices—the ones that thrive on outrage—flatten every debate into black or white, good or evil, win or lose. But the real world doesn’t work that way. Climate change isn’t solved by a single policy. Immigration isn’t just about “open” or “closed” borders. Even your daily life—family, work, health—isn’t one straight line. It’s layers, contradictions, and trade-offs.
F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote that “the test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function.” That’s precisely what nuance demands. It’s not about being indecisive. It’s about being willing to wrestle with contradiction and complexity—because reality doesn’t hand us clean answers.
The problem is, nuance doesn’t trend. It doesn’t fit neatly into 280 characters or get shouted on cable news. But if we want to understand what’s happening around us, we have to be willing to sit with the messiness. To ask better questions instead of demanding simple answers.
Nuance isn’t weakness. It’s the starting point of resilience. The ability to hold two truths at once, to acknowledge progress and pain, to weigh risks and rewards—that’s how we navigate change without losing the thread. And that’s the work of this newsletter: to dig past the slogans, the panic, the easy narratives, and get closer to what’s really happening. Because only then can we decide what to do next.
Hundreds of Californians have been paid $10,000 to relocate to Oklahoma. Did they find paradise? (The Los Angeles Times)
A program to lure remote workers to Tulsa, Okla., has attracted hundreds of Californians in the last few years as they look to plant roots where the costs of living are significantly lower.
The Founders of This Development Say You Must Be White to Live There (The New York Times)
Housing rights experts say a community restricted to white residents is illegal, but the creators believe they could win a potential challenge in court in the current political climate.
This Year Will Be the Turning Point for AI College (The Atlantic)
Members of the class of 2026 have been using ChatGPT since they were freshmen. Is it helping them boost their productivity at the expense of learning?
This World-Renowned Negotiator Says Trump’s Secret Weapon Is ‘Tactical’ Empathy (The New York Times)
The use of empathy as a negotiating tactic rather than as a shared emotion.
American Millennials Are Dying at an Alarming Rate (Slate)
We’re mortality experts. There are a few things that could be happening here.
AI isn’t just replacing tasks. It’s replacing the office, the manager, and maybe even the mission (Fast Company)
A new study reveals numerous new takes and predictions about the technology’s power to dramatically change the world of work—if we let it.
These birds won’t stop singing, and it’s our fault (The Washington Post)
A sweeping analysis of more than 4 million recordings has found birds tweet for nearly an extra hour a day in areas disrupted by light pollution.
It’s (Still) The Economy, Donald (WIRED)
As US labor and inflation data seemingly worsen, the White House refrain is “no panicans”—in other words, no room for panic. That isn’t keeping everyone in Trumpworld from getting the jitters.
The World’s First ‘Robot Olympics’ Featured Soccer, Kickboxing and Lots of Falling Down (The Smithsonian Magazine)
Hundreds of humanoids from 16 countries stumbled over each other while competing in the World Humanoid Robot Games in Beijing, and one even lost its head.
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