Daily Archives: January 16, 2026

Why Music Charts Are a Model of Institutional Legitimacy

Posted on January 16, 2026 by nathanalbright

Music charts are often treated as trivia: a leaderboard for fans, a marketing tool for labels, or a weekly news cycle of debuts and drops. But viewed more carefully, they are something rarer and more valuable. They are one of … Continue reading →

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Svalbard And Second-Order Effects From Greenland

Posted on January 16, 2026 by nathanalbright

The renewed U.S. strategic interest in Greenland has direct, second-order implications for Svalbard, even though Svalbard is formally governed by Norway under a unique legal regime. The linkage is not territorial—but geostrategic, legal, and signaling-based. Below is a structured assessment. … Continue reading →

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The Phone That Knows Who You Are (and Who You Are Not)

Posted on January 16, 2026 by nathanalbright

The pharmacy calls one person in the household when his prescriptions run out. It does not call the other. This is not because the second person does not exist. The second person is very much present in the world. She … Continue reading →

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Formation and Dysregulation in Religious Practice: A White Paper on the Differential Effects of Spiritual Disciplines on Human Formation

Posted on January 16, 2026 by nathanalbright

Executive Summary Religious practices do not affect participants uniformly. Across traditions, some practices reliably form stable, integrated persons, while others—especially when repeated or intensified—dysregulate a subset of participants, producing anxiety, loss of agency, or involuntary behaviors that are later spiritualized. … Continue reading →

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