From the Archives: In Praise of Sneaky Irrelevance

In the third month of the year 2011, in a fit of vintage 21st-century madness, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas—my city’s school, a school I loved in a city I loved—proposed eliminating its department of philosophy, among others. While that particular madness ultimately faded at dear old UNLV, I suspect it lingers in the broader culture, where we often forget that quality results come from quality process, quality process comes from quality thought, and quality thought comes from supple and creative minds. So it makes sense to train those minds to think beyond the technical specifications of the latest and soon-to-be-obsolete job posting. Anyway, that’s what I argued in 2011. It was old-fashioned then, and it’s older-fashioned now. But I trust that America still loves a good antique. Here’s the case I made in the pages of Vegas Seven, “In Praise of Sneaky Irrelevance.”

Photo illustration by Thomas Speak for Vegas Seven.