The Culture Code

Some exciting news! I’ve joined Skeptic’s editorial team as contributing editor and will be writing a new column for them, "Brodsky’s Culture Code"—searching for reason and nuance behind the boldest headlines. A big task, I know.

It’s a great fit, given the values I seek to uphold and Skeptic’s dedication to rationality, and bringing an evidence-based, non-partisan approach to complex issues and topics ranging from AI/technology to science and cultural issues. Extraordinary claims, in particular, deserve extraordinary evidence. Led by executive director and EIC Michael Shermer, Skeptic's editorial board includes the likes of Steven Pinker, Richard Dawkins, Bill Nye, John Gribbin, and other noted scientists, scholars, psychologists, and authors. So I’m thrilled to be in such good company and encourage you to subscribe to both the print magazine and the newly relaunched web-version.

My first column is, fittingly, focused on the future of common sense:

Trust No One, Believe Everything: Does Common Sense Have a Future?

For as long as I can remember, espionage has fascinated me. Over the years, I’ve developed a certain expertise—at least in the pop culture sense—interviewing former spies for publications ranging from The Washington Post to, well, Playboy. I even once worked as a researcher at an international investigative firm, a job that, regrettably, involved fewer trench coats and shadowy rendezvous than one might hope. But I did walk away with a highly marketable skill: knowing how to conduct a proper background check (one never knows when that might prove useful).

Spies have long been the pillars of Hollywood storytelling, woven into thrilling tales of intrigue and deception. But what is it about them that keeps us so enthralled? I’d argue that our obsession stems from an innate desire to know what is hidden from us. Secrets are power, and in a world increasingly shaped by information, nothing is more seductive than the idea of being the one in the know.

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