Category: ideas

“Today’s Luddites are scared that technology will reveal that humans are no different from technology—that it will eliminate what it means to be human. And frankly, I don’t blame them. Humanity has had such a particular and privileged conception of itself for so long that altering it, as technology must inevitably do, will indeed change the very nature of who we are.”

“Outside of science, there isn’t much progress – even of the vaguer sort – in the history of thought. Bad ideas aren’t defeated by falsification, and they don’t fade away.”

Trekkies. Deadheads. Beliebers. Red Sox Nation. The throngs at ComicCon. Are fan groups like these simply means of social cohesion, or do they eventually take over their members’ lives? Jared Keller gives a glimpse into the mindset of a superfan (he’s obsessed with the ’70s band Tower of Power) and looks at the evidence.

The move to understand things theoretically only comes about when there is some interruption or “deficiency” in our ordinary dealings. A common error in philosophy, however, has been a kind of “intellectualism,” treating all our contact with the world in terms of concepts and representations, assuming that “knowledge is the only mode of experience that grasps things.”

Jonathan Haidt looks at “a most extraordinary paper” by two sociologists who argue that Western societies moved from being “cultures of honor” to “cultures of dignity” in the 18th and 19th centuries – and are now in transition to a new “culture of victimhood” – one with striking similarities of the culture of honor.

“For the last decade, forensic psychiatrist Michael Welner has led a curious, self-funded effort to create something he calls the Depravity Standard … But can a scientist really define the outer edges of our morality?”

“Argument and debate, however heated, outrageous, offensive, hurtful and, profane is the price we pay for the privilege of speaking freely. We are currently going through a period where speech is being severely restricted and goalposts of tolerance are moving closer to allegedly protect people from discomfort of any kind.”

Can you track how culture and ideas spread around the globe? One way to try is to map the birth- and death-places of significant thinkers throughout history. Where did the big brains migrate and interact? This short visualization maps them.

“Nowadays, robots work alongside humans in hotels and factories, while driverless cars are being test driven on the roads. Behind the scenes, AI engines in the form of smart algorithms “work” on stock exchanges, offer up suggestions for books and films on Amazon and Netflix and even write the odd article. But AI does not have the greatest public image – often due to sci-fi films that display dystopian visions of robots taking over the world.”

“About 35% of current jobs in the UK are at high risk of computerisation over the following 20 years, according to a study by researchers at Oxford University and Deloitte.”