“Starting from the premise that aesthetics were just another social construct rather than a product of universal principles, postmodernist thinkers succeeded in toppling hierarchies and nullifying the literary canon. Indeed, they were so good at unearthing the socioeconomic considerations behind canon formation that even unapologetic highbrows had to wonder if they hadn’t been bamboozled by Arnoldian acolytes and eloquent ideologues.”
Category: ideas
Why More Of Us Aren’t Angry About Growing Inequality
The great irony found in three new books books, and of our age, is” that the people who suffer most from inequality are the ones who are least likely to do much about it.”
Our Patent System Is Utterly Borked, But There Are Ways To Fix It
“How ironic that we live in a democratized technological ecosystem in which anyone can invent and patent anything, yet it is mostly just the rich and powerful who can effectively partake of its resources. The patent system is thus hostage to a costly and exclusionary legal system. So let’s liberate it.”
Expertise Can Be So Very Overrated (Especially In Critics)
“The problem with demanding a certain kind of knowledge or a certain kind of expertise in criticism, then, is that it can end up presupposing, or insisting upon, a certain kind of conversation.”
Do People Who Love Tolkien Have A Deep-Seated Hatred For Democracy?
“Moorcock’s literary agitation shook the fantasy and science-fiction establishment and made it possible for writers to step outside the long shadow of Tolkien and other fantasy devices.”
How Data Is Changing Our Relationships With Customers
“Data now feels so central to business success that without an ongoing, data-mediated relationship with their customer base, we may be looking at an environment where data-poor brands will struggle to compete effectively.”
Why Airlines Have An Interest In Making You Suffer
“Here’s the thing: in order for fees to work, there needs be something worth paying to avoid. That necessitates, at some level, a strategy that can be described as “calculated misery.” Basic service, without fees, must be sufficiently degraded in order to make people want to pay to escape it. And that’s where the suffering begins.”
Buddhism, Stoicism, Shmoicism – Do We Really Want To Transcend Suffering?
Todd May: “In their official guise, these doctrines are examples of what I am going to label ‘invulnerabilism.’ They say that we can, and we should, make ourselves immune to the world’s vicissitudes. … Instead, I want to say that most of us, when we really reflect upon our lives, would not want what is officially on offer, but instead something else.”
How Do We Arrive At A Science Of Consciousness?
“Philosopher Alva Noë explores ideas in a new book that suggests consciousness and self is best looked at by combining insight from Western science, Indian philosophy and contemplative practices.”
The Medical Costs Of Loneliness
“The range of harmful neural and behavioural effects of perceived isolation documented in adults include increased anxiety, hostility and social withdrawal; fragmented sleep and daytime fatigue; increased vascular resistance and altered gene expression and immunity; decreased impulse control; increased negativity and depressive symptoms; and increased age-related cognitive decline and risk of dementia.”