Wiser Every Day

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 • 

Steven Schwartz

12

4

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 • 

Steven Schwartz

8

2

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 • 

Steven Schwartz

7

4

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 • 

Steven Schwartz

3

4

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 • 

Steven Schwartz

7

5

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 • 

Steven Schwartz

8

4

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 • 

Steven Schwartz

1

1

Between Patience and Fortitude

In an age of noise and urgency, the library is a quiet kind of miracle.

Jul 9 • 

Steven Schwartz

16

10

June 2025

Revival: Knowledge without wisdom

It's time we once again started hearing the word wisdom on campus. (Vice-Chancellor’s Lecture. Original version.)

Jun 23 • 

Steven Schwartz

9

4

The Fraying of Reality

Is a fake summer reading list a harmless AI "hallucination" or a glimpse of something more troubling: a culture slowly surrendering to the smooth…

Jun 10 • 

Steven Schwartz

10

9

May 2025

The Age of Bullshit

In a world of “frameworks,” “stakeholders,” and “outcomes,” public language is losing its grip on meaning.

May 22 • 

Steven Schwartz

19

12

Step by step, moment by moment, breath by breath

If nothing really matters, then why does it matter that nothing matters?

May 13 • 

Steven Schwartz

8

6