“The 130-year timeline of telephone innovation describes a relatively steady rise as the technology under the surface was continuously improved … But the timeline of innovation for the defining technology of our new age is barely a line at all: The Internet happens, and all hell breaks loose. … You couldn’t have foreseen Twitter, and if you had, you probably would have dismissed it as a dumb idea. I would have.”
Category: ideas
Scientists Suggest Why Some Of Us Aren’t Good At Planning The Future
“Lately, scientists have come up with an intriguing hypothesis for why some people keep failing at long-term planning — they view their future selves as strangers. In fact, the more you view your future self as a distinct entity from your current self, the more likely you are to put off tasks (like saving for retirement) that will benefit you in the long term.”
Study: Doing Things Alone Can Enrich The Experience (But Many Don’t Believe It)
“As expected, they expressed less interest in visiting the art gallery alone, and anticipated having a worse time, as compared to those who were in a group when they were approached. But reality didn’t match their predictions.”
The ‘Digital Dissenters’ – They Come From The High-Tech World, And They’re Very Worried About It
Jaron Lanier, Astra Taylor, Douglas Rushkoff – even Gary Shteyngart and Pope Francis. They and their fellows are “unhappy about the way the tech revolution has played out. Political progressives once embraced the utopian promise of the Internet as a democratizing force, but they’ve been dismayed by the rise of the ‘surveillance state,’ and the near-monopolization of digital platforms by huge corporations.”
Why It’s Healthy To Reconsider Our Statues And Monuments
“Mysteriously, even uncannily, an artefact, especially a life-like human figure, persuasively stands in for what it represents. When that stone phantom seizes you, the instinctive response is to struggle free.”
Studies: A Definite Link Between Intelligence And Longevity
“The link between IQ and mortality has now been replicated in upwards of 20 longitudinal studies from around the world, and has given rise to the field of cognitive epidemiology, which focuses on understanding the relationship between cognitive functioning and health.”
Know Your Purpose In Life? Researchers Reveal The Benefits
“Individuals who reported a greater sense of purpose preferred larger future gains to smaller immediate ones,” the researchers report. “Importantly, these results persisted after accounting for dispositions in personality traits and positive (emotions), suggesting a robust and unique association between having purpose and future-oriented behavior.”
Eight Things We Learned In 2015 About How The Brain Works
“Studies published this year shed light on the mysteries of the brain and human behavior, and began paving the way for new treatments to mental and neurological health problems, ranging from addiction to autism to Alzheimer’s disease.”
What Have We Lost Now That We Can No Longer Read The Night Sky?
“For most of human history, … it was unthinkable to ignore the stars. They were critical signposts, as prominent and useful as local hills, paths or wells. … On otherwise trackless seas and deserts, the familiar stars would also serve as a valued friend. That friendship is now broken. … Today, we are more disconnected from the stars than ever before.”
Always Watching – Our Modern Surveillance State Has Religious Roots
“In our modern surveillance state, it’s possible we have in some perverse and unexpected fashion actually regained something of the comforts of being known by a higher authority—something that the modern West had largely lost, and for which we have perhaps unconsciously longed.”