Daily Bafflements

• Today in innovation and its discontents: contributing editor Evgeny Morozov appeared in The Guardian this week, deconstructing the tech takeover of Western politics. “While the financial industry has historically been key to ‘buying time’ and staving off the populist rebellion, in the future that role will be assigned to the technology industry,” Morozov warns, leery of the popular idea that “big data, automation, the ‘fourth industrial revolution’—will step in to save us or, at least, delay the ultimate rupture.”

• The future of Irish government remains uncertain after a controversial election left none of the country’s political parties with enough votes to control the government. The issue splitting the country is whether EU-backed austerity policies are a bitter but necessary medicine for the Irish economy or merely a punitive measure, responsible for epidemic homelessness and child poverty. Recently, we’ve had takes from The Baffler’s Sarah Jaffe and David Graeber on the philosophy’s effects on Ireland and the UK.

• After this week’s Supreme Court tie on mandatory union dues for government employees, our friends over at Pacific Standard offer a breakdown on how public sector unions came to be in such a hazardous position.