"Move fast and break things" is well known as Facebook's former motto, but it may well be the motto of all of Silicon Valley. Put another way, the Valley builds first, and deals with the consequences later. But this approach is creating bigger and bigger problems.

A new intellectual counterculture has been coalescing in virtual space. The intellectual dark web is billed as island of free speech in a sea of dogma: a place where bold, creative thinkers can discuss their ideas at length and without censure by the mainstream media or suppression by a hidebound academic establishment.

A new book by Michelle Boulous Walker, Slow Philosophy: Reading Against the Institution, critiques the rapid tempos that adversely affect our relation to the world. Boulous Walker's focus is how something is lost for philosophy, both as an activity and a discipline, when it has to meet a certain pace of reading and production.

Should we encourage students to study philosophy because it turns out that it's actually a great way to make money and have a lucrative career? Or in doing so are we losing sight of the value of a philosophical education? Isn't philosophy essential for a democratic citizenry, for example?