What Makes Life Worth Living?

Plus: the lost art of conversation; Britain’s hip-hop ambassador; and the exotic pets of Texas. View in browser | Update your preferences Wednesday, March 15, 2023 In today’s newsletter, the power of the senses, and then: • The lost art of conversation • Britain’s hip-hop ambassador • The exotic pets of Texas Nicholas Humphrey’s Beautiful Theory of Mind In the new book “Sentience,” a neuropsychologist argues that consciousness evolved to make us feel that life is worth living. Illustration by Samuel Rodriguez “If perceptions make life possible, sensations make it worth living.” That’s how Nick Romeo distills the insights of the neuropsychologist Nicholas Humphrey, in a deeply thought-provoking new piece reported from Greece, where the two men visit a cave that some early archeologists speculated was the basis for Plato’s famous allegory. Romeo charts the idiosyncratic popular and academic career of the seventy-nine-year-old Humphrey, who has argued that, beyond the obvious adaptive benefits of sensation—orgasms good, pain bad—“human beings have evolved to take intrinsic delight in conscious sensation for its own sake,” allowing us access to the rarified condition of having a soul. Read the story Do you listen to our Fiction, Writer’s Voice, or Poetry podcasts? We’d like to know what you think. Take a brief survey » From the News Desk Letter from the Southwest The Allure of Exotic Animals in Strange Places Thefts from the Dallas Zoo made headlines. But Texas is a hotbed for ownership of all kinds of rare species. By Rachel Monroe Annals of Communications The Fallout of Fox News’ Public Shaming The Dominion lawsuit has exposed instances of pandering and duplicity, but none of it is likely to change the network’s business model. By Clare Malone Q. & A. What the Saudi-Iran Deal Means for the Middle East Brokered by China, the agreement between the two regional rivals reflects shifting economic—and ideological—alignments. By Isaac Chotiner Editor’s Pick Books What Conversation Can Do for Us Our culture is dominated by efforts to score points and win arguments. But do we really talk anymore? By Hua Hsu The New Yorker Live On May 9th at 7 P.M. E.T., the actor and author Tom Hanks will join The New Yorker’s editor, David Remnick, at Symphony Space, in New York City, to discuss Hanks’s début novel, “The Making of Another Major Motion Picture Masterpiece,” and his path from film to fiction. Subscribers are eligible to buy tickets during a twenty-four-hour presale, which lasts until 1 P.M. on Thursday, March 16th. Tickets will then go on sale to the general public. Subscribers who have not already received the code for the presale can do so by contacting support@newyorker.com. Buy tickets » Culture Dept. Pop Music Central Cee, Britain’s Hip-Hop Ambassador The musician takes Americans on a tour of British rap. By Carrie Battan Screening Room The New Yorker Documentary A Trans Father Bonds with His Daughter in “My Parent, Neal” A filmmaker uses a mix of animation and photography to document her parent becoming more himself. Film by Hannah Saidiner Text by Nathan Burstein Fun & Games Dept. Name Drop Play Today’s Quiz Can you guess the notable person in six clues or fewer? By Will Nediger Daily Shouts Becoming a Crocs Person First, the shoes. Then the Jibbitz. Finally, the ego death. By Whit Taylor Crossword A Lightly Challenging Puzzle Speaks hoarsely: five letters. By Brooke Husic Daily Cartoon Wednesday, March 15th By Sofia Warren and Ellis Rosen P.S. The exiled Chinese tycoon Guo Wengui has been arrested in New York, on charges connected to an alleged billion-dollar fraud scheme. To better understand this enigmatic figure, read Evan Osnos’s investigation from this past fall, which tracks how Guo became a close associate of Steve Bannon and quickly “established himself as an election denier, a vaccine skeptic, and a right-wing provocateur” in the United States. Today’s newsletter was written by Ian Crouch. Thanks for reading. Let us know your thoughts about today’s edition. Plus, browse more newsletters and invite a friend to sign up for The Daily. You’re receiving this e-mail because you signed up for The Daily from The New Yorker. Manage your preferences | View our Privacy Policy | Unsubscribe Copyright © Condé Nast 2023. One World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007. All rights reserved.