On Nov. 27, 1881, in Vienna, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, one of the world’s greatest writers was born as a gift to humanity. His name was Stefan Zweig. He was a world-renowned celebrity, earning the distinction of being one of the most translated authors of the first half of the 20th century. Even […]
An Evaluation of Private Governance: Creating Order in Economic and Social Life
The ideological foes of Edward Stringham’s book Private Governance: Creating Order in Economic and Social Life are many. Principally, it is an argument against the “legal centrist” mentality, according to Stringham, the practitioners of which are bound to place the role of the state as central to private economic transactions and exchanges. They look to […]
Print Edition of Devolution Review Magazine
Cosmopolitanism in the 21st Century
This is, without a doubt, one of the best times to be alive. We live longer. We’re subject to less violence. We live in cleaner, more prosperous cities, and enjoy more civil and individual freedoms than any generation before us. Innovations have brought us closer together and shed our prejudices. Young men now take up […]
Questionable tastes and precarious friendships: ‘Art’ reveals the complexity of post-modern friendship
By Yaël Ossowski | Devolution Review Review of ‘Art’, a play by Yasmina Reza. Performed at Vienna’s English Language Theatre Jan. 15 – Feb. 24, 2018 Directed by Sean Aita For any young fool, a hefty portion of their lives is fraught with the pursuit of finding an ideal partner. There’s a plethora of novels, […]
Beyond the Café Window
Beyond the café window, there’s a young girl squeezing her schoolbooks between her clasped arms. Her round glasses sit low on her nose, and her long brown hair swings from side to side. She’s waiting on the light to change, her head quickly darting to and fro to anticipate the bustle of horn-friendly cars. The […]
Crypto Imagination and the Coming Nightmare
In one of the episodes in the newest seasons of Netflix’s Black Mirror, a young woman visits a strange museum across the way from a gas station in the hot desert. Inside, she meets the museum’s proprietor who offers her an early tour. The exhibitions preserved onsite include eccentric artifacts viewers of the series recognize […]
Going Bearish on Bitcoin: Cryptocurrencies are the tulip mania of the 21st century
By Yaël Ossowski | Devolution Review Admitting you’ve changed your mind is daunting. Even more so when you’ve poured money, time, and effort into promoting a particular cause and idea. For me, that time has come with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and the promise of the underlying Blockchain technology. In the beginning, Bitcoin was something of […]
A Sole Flame Cast Against a Hall of Mirrors
By Yaël Ossowski | Devolution Review Being a sole flame cast against a hall of mirrors has always been an excitable affair. Customs and ordinary occurrences are strange and new. There’s a deep yearning for understanding the deeper meaning of each word, each syllable, and each dialect spoken from anyone’s mouth. Even if comprehension is […]
What of Our Grand Experiment?
By Yaël Ossowski | Devolution Review The fate of Europe seems forever in flux. We need to rethink its foundations. Unbeknownst to millions of ordinary European citizens, they’ve participated in a grand experiment for the past two decades. It’s the modern version of an imperial territorial zone, customs union, and free travel zone—all rolled into […]