Last time we touched this subject, we had a debate on whether we should regulate social media algos. Now we’re having a discussion on if that’s even possible, and who should do it? Bringing a first amendment law professor together with a tech expert to battle it out. What could we do legally, technically, and who do we actually trust (if anyone) to do it?

Upcoming UNMUTED Events
Wednesday, 4/15: An UNMUTED Dialogue: Is the West Still the West? (link)

Thursday, 4/23: An UNMUTED Dialogue: Free Speech is Dead, Long Live Free Speech (link)

Thursday, 5/14: An UNMUTED Forum: Beyond the Yard Signs (link)

The events I’ve got my eye on in the next two weeks. Check them out!

🗓 Monday, April 13
•6:00 PM - Beyond Capitalism
Subject: Economics / Law
Where: The Forum at Columbia University, 601 W 125th St, New York, NY
Who: Columbia Center for Political Economy
What: Look, the title alone is going to make half of you close this email. But hear me out - Columbia's Center for Political Economy is hosting a serious conversation about whether our current economic models are up to the task of handling AI displacement, climate costs, and the growing gap between asset owners and everyone else. Katharina Pistor (author of The Code of Capital) leads the discussion. You don't have to agree with the premise to find the arguments worth engaging with. That's kind of the whole point of this newsletter.

•6:30 PM - Poisoned Ivies: Book Event with Elise Stefanik
Subject: Higher Education / Campus Culture
Where: Midtown Manhattan (exact address provided 24 hours before event)
Who: Manhattan Institute
What: Former Congresswoman and current UN Ambassador Elise Stefanik drops her new book Poisoned Ivies, a behind-the-scenes account of what she calls the "moral rot" at America's elite universities - from campus antisemitism to viewpoint discrimination to the bureaucratic bloat eating higher ed alive. The Manhattan Institute is hosting what should be a lively discussion with a reception before and after. Whether you think she's a truth-teller or a provocateur (or both), the higher ed debate isn't going away anytime soon.

🗓 Tuesday, April 14
•6:30 PM - A Jewish Conservative Perspective: Dinner with Eric Cohen
Subject: Politics / Philosophy / Conservatism
Where: 165 E 56th St, New York, NY (Tikvah offices)
Who: Tikvah Fund Collegiate Forum
What: Eric Cohen - executive director of the Tikvah Fund and one of the sharpest voices in Jewish conservative thought - hosts an intimate dinner unpacking the current crisis of illiberalism in America and the key conservative responses. Whether you lean right or you're just trying to understand what the intellectual right is actually thinking these days (beyond the cable news version), this is the kind of evening that rewards showing up with an open mind. RSVP required; Collegiate Forum members get priority.

•7:00 PM - Beyond Tolerance: Artistic Windows into Spanish Jewish-Muslim-Christian Relations
Subject: History / Culture / Religion
Where: Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center, 1 E 65th St, New York, NY
Who: Temple Emanu-El Streicker Center
What: Dr. Jerrilynn D. Dodds takes you on a visual journey through the art and architecture of medieval Spain - when Jews, Muslims, and Christians lived in a proximity so close it produced some of the most extraordinary cultural fusion in Western history. If you've ever wanted to understand what "pluralism" looked like before we had a word for it, this is your event.

🗓 Wednesday, April 15
•6:30 PM - Lectures on Tap: "Mamdani Is Mayor, Now What? Looking at the Future of NYC"
Subject: NYC Politics / Government
Where: Bar in Prospect Park South, Brooklyn (exact venue on Eventbrite listing)
Who: Lectures on Tap / Prof. Christina Greer, Fordham University
What: Zohran Mamdani is the mayor now, and the honeymoon period is... well, it depends on who you ask. Prof. Christina Greer from Fordham breaks down what we actually know so far about the Mamdani administration's direction - the early wins, the early stumbles, and what the next few months look like for a city that can't seem to agree on anything except that it's the greatest city on earth. Grab a beer and a strong opinion and head to Brooklyn.

•6:30 PM - How Movements are Built
Subject: Politics / Movements / Organizing
Where: Center for Brooklyn History
Who: Brooklyn Public Library
What: How do movements actually get built? Not the headline version, but the quiet, local, unglamorous work that happens before anything erupts into collective action. Saul Austerlitz, author of How to Assemble an Activist and co-founder of Brooklyn Resisters, moderates a panel with Council Member Alexa Avilés, political zine-maker Megan Piontkowski, and Indivisible's Molly Sandley. If you've been feeling the pressure to "do something" but aren't sure what meaningful action actually looks like, this is the conversation. That said, these guys are liberal activists, not people who want to convince people who don’t already agree with them. To me, “doing something” means engaging with people who didn’t vote your way and figuring out where you’re right or where they have a point.

🗓 Thursday, April 16
•6:00 PM - Moments that Defined a Nation
Subject: Presidents / History
Where: Temple Emanu-El
Who: Streicker Center
What: I freaking love Doris Kearns Goodwin. The Streicker Center is inaugurating a yearlong semiquincentennial (lol that’s 250 for you non-elitists) celebration with Goodwin exploring the leadership of American presidents at defining moments in the nation's history, sharing behind-the-scenes stories and her signature wit. This is more history-politics than live partisan politics, but it's a Pulitzer Prize-winning presidential historian in a serious room with political overlap. If I was in town, I would go to this. Well, maybe not because it’s sold out. But I would try to get scalped tickets at the door.

🗓 Friday, April 17
•3:00 PM - The Last Human Job: The Implications of Automating Connective Labor
Subject: Technology / Labor / Philosophy
Where: CUNY Graduate Center, 365 5th Ave, New York, NY (Hybrid - also available online)
Who: CUNY Graduate Center
What: What happens when we automate not just factory floors and spreadsheets, but the jobs that require actual human connection - therapists, teachers, caregivers? Allison Pugh from Johns Hopkins presents her research on "connective labor" and whether AI can replicate the thing that makes us, well, us. This one starts at 3 PM (I know, I know - it's a Friday afternoon, you have a job), but it's free, and the topic is too important to skip over,

•7:00 PM - Poetry & Prose: Richie Hofmann and Benjamin A. Saltzman
Subject: Literature / Arts
Where: Book Culture, 536 W 112th St, New York, NY
Who: Book Culture
What: A reading and conversation with two writers working at the intersection of poetry and deep history. Richie Hofmann reads from The Bronze Arms, and Benjamin A. Saltzman presents Turning Away: The Poetics of an Ancient Gesture - a book about how the simple act of looking away became one of the most loaded gestures in Western art and literature. If your Friday night vibe is "smart people talking about things I didn't know I cared about," Book Culture on the Upper West Side has you covered. Free.

🗓 Saturday, April 18
•Evening - Queens Night Market Season Opener (Sneak Preview)
Subject: Culture / Civic Life / Food
Where: New York Hall of Science Parking Lot, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Queens
Who: Queens Night Market
What: The Queens Night Market is back, baby. The annual sneak preview kicks off what has quietly become one of the most democratic civic institutions in the city - dozens of vendors from every corner of the globe. If you've never been, this is the night to start. If you're a regular, you already have it circled. I’m going to go to this!

🗓 Sunday, April 19
None this week

🗓 Monday, April 20

•6:30 PM -1920s NYC: Immigrant Neighborhoods, Culture, and Backlash
Subject: History / Immigration / Policy
Where: NYC bar (location revealed after RSVP)
Who: Lectures on Tap
What: 250 years of America means 250 years of arguing about who gets to be here. This talk digs into the 1920s, when NYC's immigrant neighborhoods were booming, jazz was taking over, and the political backlash was fierce. Sound familiar? RSVP on Eventbrite.

🗓 Tuesday, April 21
•6:30 PM – The Queen and Her Presidents: The Hidden Hand That Shaped History
Subject: History / Foreign Policy / Politics
Where: The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West Who: New-York Historical Society
What: Susan Page (Washington Bureau chief of USA Today) in conversation with Lesley Stahl about how Queen Elizabeth II worked with thirteen American presidents over her 70-year reign — more than any other leader, foreign or domestic. From Truman to Trump, she played the long game. $35 general admission ($25 members), and yes, a glass of wine is included.

6:00 PM – Digital Colonialism
Subject: Technology / Politics / Power
Where: CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue, Skylight Room
Who: Center for the Humanities at the CUNY Graduate Center
What: WARNING: this will be a panel of people who likely hate technology. Some of our people are into that, some of us aren’t. This panel takes on digital colonialism: the idea that new technologies can become tools of domination, extraction, and control. AI, land, sovereignty, environmental politics, and who gets to shape the rules of the future. If you want something political and current and you hate tech, this is a strong Tuesday option.Free and open to the public.

🗓 Wednesday, April 22

Happy Earth Day! 🌎

•6:30 PM - Democracy Under Threat: A Transatlantic Perspective with Daniel Ziblatt
Subject: Politics / Democracy / History
Where: CUNY Graduate Center, 365 Fifth Avenue (Midtown)
Who: Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies
What: I really hate titles like this. Like a deep hatred. My eyes roll at unhealthy levels when I see this stuff. Didn’t win the election in 2024! Stop doing it. Anyways, Daniel Ziblatt, Harvard professor and co-author of "How Democracies Die" and "Tyranny of the Minority", gives the annual Otto and Fran Walter Memorial Lecture on democratic backsliding from both sides of the Atlantic. If you read either of those books (or if you didn't but have opinions anyway - likely, if you’re the kind of person who loves hyperbole), this is your night. Free and open to the public. RSVP required.

•7:00 PM – Creative Climate Awards: Collective Power
Subject: Art / Climate Action / Community
Where: DUMBO Archway Plaza, Brooklyn
Who: Human Impacts Institute
What: Climate art projected onto the Manhattan Bridge. A cash bar under the Archway. This Earth Day celebration brings together artists, activists, and regular humans who give a damn about the planet, and does it in one of Brooklyn's most cinematic settings. It's free, it's outdoors, and it's the kind of thing that makes you remember why you live in this city. All ages welcome.

🗓 Thursday, April 23
•6:00 PM- The Presidency of Joseph R. Biden: A First Historical Assessment
Subject: Politics / History / Presidency
Where: Roosevelt House, Hunter College, 47–49 E. 65th Street
Who: Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute
What: A panel of serious historians, including Julian Zelizer, looks at Biden’s presidency before the story hardens into cliché. This is the kind of event that gets past campaign-era yelling and asks what actually changed, what failed, and what future presidents will inherit. Good if you want a room full of politically engaged people who can be honest about what went wrong. Bad if you hate that!

•6:30 PM – Soho Forum Debate: Zephyr Teachout vs. John Ketcham
Subject: NYC Politics / History / Presidency
Where: Roosevelt House, Hunter College, 47–49 E. 65th Street
Who: Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute
What: OOOOO this is a good one, I wish I didn’t have an event the same day! The resolution is whether Mamdani can keep his affordability promise…Zephyr Teachout is a famous leftist attorney/politician who teaches at Fordham, John is a friend of UNMUTED and Manhattan Institute scholar. If someone is going to this, I’d love to have Zephyr do a debate on Citizens United!!!!!!

🗓 Friday, April 24
•6:00 PM – The 122nd Annual Gala of the Metropolitan Republican Club
Subject: Conservative Politics / GOP / Civic
Where: Private club, Midtown Manhattan (address provided upon ticket purchase)
Who: Metropolitan Republican Club
What: New York's oldest Republican club throws its 122nd annual gala, themed around the nation's 250th birthday. Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman keynotes, and Mayor Giuliani receives the "Commander in Chief Award." Benny and Kate Johnson pick up the Theodore Roosevelt Award. Cocktails at 6, dinner program follows. For my right-leaning rich people, and those of you who just want to be around people who have too much money, this is the big one.

•8:00 PM – ReelAbilities Comedy Night
Subject: Culture / Comedy / Disability Advocacy
Where: Lincoln Center, Kaplan Penthouse (Rose Building)
Who: Lincoln Center / ReelAbilities Film Festival
What: Part of Lincoln Center's Big Umbrella Festival, a two-week celebration of neurodiversity, this comedy night features an all-star lineup of disabled comedians headlined by Keith Robinson. Pavar Snipe hosts, and there's a magician, a storyteller, and a musical act thrown in too. Choose-What-You-Pay (suggested $5). Ages 13+. Seems like a nice thing.

🗓 Saturday, April 25
•10:00 AM - Car-Free Earth Day 2026
Subject: Civic / Sustainability / Urban Policy
Where: 50+ streets across all 5 boroughs
Who: NYC Department of Transportation What: NYC DOT shuts down 50+ streets to cars and opens them up to humans. Public art, community programming, free Citi Bike rides all day (unlimited 30-minute classic bike rides), and a massive installation by artist Frahydel Falczuk called "The Plastic Sea." Started in 2016 with a few Manhattan blocks, now it's a citywide thing. Whatever your politics, walking down the middle of Broadway with no cars hits different.

🗓 Sunday, April 26
None I liked!

That’s it for this week. Let us know if there are events to highlight in upcoming weeks!

Show up, think deeper, and as always, stay UNMUTED!

The UNMUTED Team