The Philosopher Redefining Equality , an article in the latest New Yorker, describes the work of professor Elizabeth Anderson (of the University of Michigan).

I’m still reading the article , but one takeaway for public speaking is Anderson’s advice to a new Ph.D worried about giving talks at conferences:

“Don’t write up,” Anderson advised. “Just do PowerPoint slides.” … She went on, “Give the big picture, make points to motivate the idea, and punt all the objections to the Q. & A. What ensues is a very lively Q. & A.”

Chuang knitted her brow. An esteemed philosopher at Oxford reads his talks, she said.

“Yeah, horrible,” Anderson said. “So retro.” The issue was that people were afraid of questions, and tried to address them all preëmptively. She laughed darkly: Hhhh-aahr-aahr-aahr. “Philosophers are too risk averse, and this makes listening to philosophers tedious.”