Today, Hoover shares a remarkable opportunity for international foreign and defense policy professionals; Thomas Sowell warns that frauds employing artificial intelligence threaten the foundations of truth-seeking and the peaceful resolution of conflicts in free societies; and Peter Berkowitz explains the importance of defending human rights to American foreign policy.
Foreign & Defense Policy Opportunity
Are you—or do you know—a midcareer, non-US professional working in foreign or defense policy, or in a private-sector position with international security implications?
If so, the Hoover Institution International Seminar is an opportunity you should not miss. This seven-day in-person seminar brings midlevel leaders from partner countries together with leading scholars and policymakers in the United States to solve common problems. The purpose of the seminar is to create positive alignments between policymakers in the United States and those in like-minded countries. The future of free and open societies will depend upon such cooperation.
The seminar will take place on the Stanford University campus June 21–27, 2026. Applications are due February 1.
Learn More & Apply
Artificial Intelligence
In a column at The Wall Street Journal, Senior Fellow Thomas Sowell examines the use of artificial intelligence “for deceptive and dangerous frauds.” He explains, “AI has created imitations of my voice, to accompany photographs of me, saying things in various parts of the internet. These include both things I have never said and things the direct opposite of what I have said.” Sowell notes that the same problem has plagued his colleague Senior Fellow Victor Davis Hanson, given that both scholars’ voices and images are widely available online, providing material for fraudsters to train their AI programs on. “Tragically,” Sowell writes, “the AI impersonation fraud is part of a much larger and much longer lasting undermining of the very concept of truth.” Sowell warns that the undermining of truth threatens the foundations of free societies by eroding nonviolent means “for settling our inevitable differences.” Read more here. [Subscription required.]
Values and Foreign Policy
Senior Fellow Peter Berkowitz helped create the Commission on Unalienable Rights, a State Department project formed out of deep concern for the condition of human rights around the globe. Mike Pompeo, then the secretary of state, launched the group because of worries that the noble idea of human rights had been hijacked by illiberal regimes and partisan groups, Berkowitz says in a new interview for Defining Ideas. The commission’s report—hearkening back not only to the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights but also to the Declaration of Independence—sought unity among people of widely different faiths and outlooks to establish a foundation for rights everywhere, he explains. Most important, Berkowitz says, is one of the report’s conclusions: an awareness that commitments to human rights fall short even among rights-protecting democracies, and that these nations need to examine their actions and recommit to their ideals. Read more here.
Philosophy and Mathematics
For the latest episode of Uncommon Knowledge, Peter Robinson sits down with mathematicians David Berlinski, Sergiu Klainerman, and Stephen Meyer to explore one of the deepest mysteries in science and philosophy: the reality of mathematics. From the simple certainty that 2 + 2 = 4 to the mind-bending mathematics behind black holes and quantum physics, the conversation asks why abstract numbers—created in the human mind—map so perfectly onto the physical world. Is mathematics purely logical, or does it point to a deeper structure of reality that isn’t material at all? Along the way, the panel explores beauty in science, the “unreasonable effectiveness” of math, and whether the concept of materialism can really explain the world we live in. This wide-ranging discussion blends mathematics, physics, philosophy, and metaphysics into a fascinating conversation about truth, beauty, and the nature of reality itself. Watch or listen here.
Answering Challenges to Advanced Economies
In a post at the Third Order Substack, Research Fellow Patrick McLaughlin addresses a question that frequently comes up in discussions of increasing the affordability of homes: “If we’ve started changing zoning and permitting rules, why don’t we see affordability improving faster?” McLaughlin says his “argument is pretty simple: legal/regulatory changes (especially zoning and permitting) are necessary, but they may not be sufficient.” He further notes that “even if zoning and permitting are fixed, housing can remain expensive if it’s still costly to produce.” McLaughlin also emphasizes the importance of having a designated leader “responsible for implementation and outcomes” in housing reform, as well as “a plan for follow-through over multiple years.” Read more here.
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