"In speeches, Glied seemed to urge his audiences to embrace the qualities of empathy and independent-mindedness and to reject a world view that emphasizes superficial differences between people over their shared humanity. This is not always easy, argues Waller, given that humans have evolved to be tribal. Xenophobia, ethnocentrism, and the desire for one’s group … Continue reading Civilization is Savage
Category: articles
Affective Presence
"Throughout the day, one experiences emotional “blips” as Elfenbein puts it—blips of annoyance or excitement or sadness. The question is, “Can you regulate yourself so those blips don’t infect other people?” she asks. “Can you smooth over the noise in your life so other people aren’t affected by it?” This “smoothing over”—or emotional regulation—could take … Continue reading Affective Presence
The Philosopher Redefining Equality | The New Yorker
"'People now have the freedom to have crosscutting identities in different domains. At church, I’m one thing. At work, I’m something else. I’m something else at home, or with my friends. The ability not to have an identity that one carries from sphere to sphere but, rather, to be able to slip in and adopt … Continue reading The Philosopher Redefining Equality | The New Yorker
If You’re Over 50, Chances Are the Decision to Leave a Job Won’t Be Yours — ProPublica
"Through 2016, our analysis found that between the time older workers enter the study and when they leave paid employment, 56 percent are laid off at least once or leave jobs under such financially damaging circumstances that it’s likely they were pushed out rather than choosing to go voluntarily...When you add in those forced to … Continue reading If You’re Over 50, Chances Are the Decision to Leave a Job Won’t Be Yours — ProPublica
Not Here to Dance
"The one thing I would say to any girl who is reading this right now is this: You can’t lose your fire. You can’t let anybody take your fire away from you. If you have big dreams, the fire is the only thing that will get you there. Talent alone will not do it. Patience … Continue reading Not Here to Dance
Dear Nick Jonas, Here’s Your Beginner’s Guide to Bollywood
"Never forget that 'Bollywood' is not an all-inclusive term for any Indian film. You don’t call every sandwich a burger, now do you? Bollywood refers to the Hindi-language film industry. Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Tulu (to name a few) are all Indian languages with entirely different film industries (and I highly recommend that you check … Continue reading Dear Nick Jonas, Here’s Your Beginner’s Guide to Bollywood
Resolution of the Mirage
"As explained by Lisa Feldman Barrett, a professor of psychology at Northeastern University, emotions take form as we interpret events and our physiological states. The richer the repertoire of emotional concepts we have to draw on, the more precisely we can name our feelings. This articulation shapes our experience of the world: The more precisely … Continue reading Resolution of the Mirage
The Unlikely New Generation of Unabomber Acolytes
"What is bad about an article like the one I expect you to write is that it may help make the anti-tech movement into another part of the spectacle (along with Trump, the ‘metoo movement,’ neo-Nazis, antifa, etc.) that keeps people entertained and therefore thoughtless." —Ted Kaczynski quoted in John H. Richardson, "Children of Ted." … Continue reading The Unlikely New Generation of Unabomber Acolytes
Frauchiger-Renner Paradox Clarifies Where Our Views of Reality Go Wrong
"The experiment, designed by Daniela Frauchiger and Renato Renner, of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, involves a set of assumptions that on the face of it seem entirely reasonable. But the experiment leads to contradictions, suggesting that at least one of the assumptions is wrong. The choice of which assumption to give up … Continue reading Frauchiger-Renner Paradox Clarifies Where Our Views of Reality Go Wrong
CPR as Death Ritual | Topic
"Only about one in five receiving CPR in a hospital leave the hospital alive. Only 1 in 10 elderly patients receiving CPR are alive a year later... ...A society's death rituals make a statement not only about what it means to die, but also what it means to live. For a world obsessed with technology, … Continue reading CPR as Death Ritual | Topic
End of Trust
"The first all-nonfiction McSweeney’s issue is a collection of essays and interviews focusing on issues related to technology, privacy, and surveillance. The collection features writing by EFF’s team, including Executive Director Cindy Cohn, Education and Design Lead Soraya Okuda, Senior Investigative Researcher Dave Maass, Special Advisor Cory Doctorow, and board member Bruce Schneier. We also … Continue reading End of Trust
One Can Not Feel Like An Old Fogey
"A good Christian can not attend church and still be saved." "A good Christian cannot attend church and still be saved." "Example 1 speaks uncontroversially of the possibility that good Christians may be forgiven for lax church attendance. Example 2, by contrast, states a radically anticlerical claim: that church attendance will wreck your chances of … Continue reading One Can Not Feel Like An Old Fogey
Greg Egan and the Permutation Problem
"Then on September 26 of this year, the mathematician John Baez of the University of California, Riverside, posted on Twitter about Houston’s 2014 finding, as part of a series of tweets about apparent mathematical patterns that fail. His tweet caught the eye of Egan, who was a mathematics major decades ago, before he launched an … Continue reading Greg Egan and the Permutation Problem
The Difference Between Possible and Practical
"The difference between the possible and the practical can only be discovered by trying things out. Therefore, even though the physics suggests that a thing will work, if it has not even been demonstrated in the lab you can consider that thing to be a long way off. If it has been demonstrated in prototypes … Continue reading The Difference Between Possible and Practical
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