December 2025
Dear Reader,
It is impossible to fold a standard-sized piece of paper in half more than seven times. I tested this theory in third grade, after returning from recess, to find a small stack of white A4 printer paper on each of our desks. Our teacher told us that if we could fold the paper in half eight times, she would not assign homework. The first four folds were easy, though after the fifth, our typical child-like confidence began to dwindle as the material thickened and our young fingers struggled to manipulate it. Hands that hadn’t existed a decade prior were frustrated by their inability to conquer this unchangeable fact of science. Despite our very best efforts, we were unable to overcome the limitations of human knowledge and ability. Minutes of creasing and compressing were filled with laughter that covered disappointment and the ripping of paper, but we kept trying. Even then, there was something in us that believed persistence might soften the laws of the universe, that if we tried hard enough, the impossible might yield.
Our longing for a single answer to our questions is a universal human trait. The same part of me that wanted to fold the paper eight times hoped that an esoteric idea could be neatly organized. What we do in politics, or linguistics, or astronomy, or any other field of your choice, is treat human experience as if we could finally “get it right.” We can draw the borders, draft the laws, talk about the people or equality as if it were a measurable thing, and think that, maybe, if we just press down a little harder, we can get the eighth fold that will solve all of our problems.
John Stuart Mill warned of “the despotism of custom” in On Liberty, insisting that societies must overcome inherited forms of life to pursue rational progress. What he’s pointing to is the instinct to cling to familiar explanations simply because they’ve been handed to us. It’s easier to defend a category than to examine it. It’s easier to want the eighth fold than to admit the paper has limits. When I struggle to move past the seventh fold, it’s usually because I’m letting certainty or inherited assumptions do the thinking for me. But none of us is served by a politics that treats inherited belief as Truth. I urge you, as you read, to read for the sake of inquiry.
Thank you for thinking with us,
Annie Walker, Editor-in-Chief