Wiser Every Day

The mental health system is making us sicker

The 20th century was the age of diagnosis. The 21st must become the age of recovery, measured not by how many people we enrol in the mental health…

Feb 26 • Steven Schwartz

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When universities forgot how to say no

Academic freedom is inseparable from professional responsibility.

Feb 6 • Steven Schwartz

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December 2025

A Christmas Carol

Why a book so often dismissed as sentimental has never gone out of print—and what our discomfort with being moved says about us.

Dec 24, 2025 • Steven Schwartz

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The ghost in the machine

Why we keep talking as if we have two minds — and why it matters.

Dec 5, 2025 • Steven Schwartz

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October 2025

Getting dumber: the reverse Flynn effect and the politics of denial

For decades, humanity appeared to be getting smarter. Then, inconveniently, it wasn’t. IQs are now sliding backwards, and instead of asking why, we’ve…

Oct 31, 2025 • Steven Schwartz

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We pretend to teach, and students pretend to learn

In our brave new AI world, academics pretend to teach, students pretend to learn and administrators pretend it all adds up to something called higher…

Oct 14, 2025 • Steven Schwartz

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September 2025

The bullshit detector’s survival guide

In a world of waffle and weasel words, plain speaking is a small act of rebellion. Here are seven ways to recognise bullshit, challenge it, and, if…

Sep 22, 2025 • Steven Schwartz

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Degrees of difficulty

Universities are struggling. Staff see livelihoods at risk, students see disruption, and managers see balance sheets collapsing. Everyone is right …

Sep 15, 2025 • Steven Schwartz

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Beyond diagnosis: building a mental health system that works

A landmark disability scheme was built on compassion, but captured by a “cash for diagnosis” culture. This is not just a budget problem. It is a human…

Sep 1, 2025 • Steven Schwartz

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August 2025

The world is turning classical

The world is turning classical. Not everywhere. Not all at once. But unmistakably - and just in time.

Aug 13, 2025 • Steven Schwartz

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Our daily bread (and other dangerous substances)

Your dinner doesn’t need an app or a PhD, just something to eat, something to drink, and a little gratitude. This is a story about science, food, and…

Aug 7, 2025 • Steven Schwartz

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July 2025

Favourites from the Wiser Every Day archive (in case you missed them)

Our most-read essays so far—still free to read and share.

Jul 18, 2025 • Steven Schwartz

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