“Bad procurement policy is just one reason the United States has begun to lose its technological edge. Indeed, the multibillion-dollar valuations in Silicon Valley have obscured underlying problems in the way the United States develops and adopts technology.”
Category: ideas
Why Guilt-Prone People Aren’t “Team Players”
“A lot of us know someone who is a bit more guilt-prone than they should be, liable to nose-dive into a shame spiral over seemingly minor incidents. A new study hints at some of the effects this trait could have in the workplace or the classroom: Guilt-prone people may be less likely to want to team up on projects out of fear they will disappoint their colleagues.”
On Fame: Why Would Anyone Care If They’re Remembered After They’re Dead?
“The idea that fame is a kind of immortality is an ancient one that shows no sign of losing its attraction. But why? What good does it do the dead to be famous?”
Yes, Virginia, We Can Resist Utilitarian Rationality: The Philosophical Case For Believing In Santa Claus
Why did Francis P. Church, in his famous editorial responding to young Virginia O’Hanlon, “argue for making the leap to Santa belief, rather than standing pat with Santa agnosticism?” Eric Kaplan writes that “it’s worth restating his point about the benefits of a belief in Santa in more modern, prosaic terms.”
The Hipster Rebranding Of Libraries Has Begun
Libraries should “become more like coffee shops with free Wi-Fi and comfy sofas, according to a report into the future of the service. The era of libraries as hushed reading rooms with books as their sole product is over.”
Keeping The Navajo Language Alive By Dubbing ‘Finding Nemo’
“The language is still spoken by more than half of the Navajo Nation — the largest tribe in the U.S. with more than 300,000 members — but is less popular among a critical segment of the population: children.”
Can A Computer Create A Work Of Art? If So, It Might Pass The Lovelace Test
“First, they ask for a creative artifact such as a story, poem, or picture. And secondly, they provide a criterion. For example: ‘Tell me a story about a cat that saves the day,’ or ‘Draw me a picture of a man holding a penguin.'”
The Intricate Dance Of Machine And Human In The Marble Quarry [VIDEO]
“In the Apuan Alps of northern Tuscany in Italy, ‘Il Capo’ or the chief directs the processes of extraction at a quarry for Carrara marble.”
Too Much Choice? Yeah, Well, That’s Why You’re Unhappy…
“We evaluate ourselves by comparing ourselves to other people. Well, if you compare yourself to other people in life, you get to see their good moments and bad moments. But if you’re comparing yourself to other people on Facebook, well, everyone is a superstar on Facebook. The result is you feel that your life is duller and duller, shabbier and shabbier. You seem less and less special, less and less competent, because everyone else is living this perfect life.”
Would People Really Rather Get Electric Shocks Than Be Alone With Their Thoughts? Don’t Be So Sure
“Texting, email, social media – we use these to self-stimulate throughout the day and, for some of us at least, throughout the night as well. So there’s got to be something deeply right in the finding that, in the words of the paper, ‘most people do not enjoy ‘just thinking’ and clearly prefer having something else to do.’ Deeply right, maybe, but there is good reason to doubt some of the findings of the study. Not the data, so much, as the way it gets interpreted.”