“I’ve decided that the champions of innovation-speak are as confused by the subject as anyone. To them, technology is a thing with a life of its own. And it can evidently only be understood via the ministrations of a class of reverent spiritual adepts, duly catechized in treating its essence as holy and its creators as demigods. And so their tales are ultimately as simple, as explicit in their lessons, as a sacred text.”
Category: ideas
Learning Narrative From Your Pet Wolf
“Depending on the details I selected, the story could be comic or sad. My parents could be painted as reckless or heroic. I could accept one teller’s version over another. I could create my own. Fiction, through fabrication, finds the truth that real life tends to cover up.”
How Do You Build A Beer Pipeline Under A Medieval World Heritage Site?
“Even under roads and public parks, there are centuries-old historic sites to avoid. There are more practical obstacles, too, like canals, major traffic crossings, and sites where things like underground garages will be built in the future. … Then there’s the chance the drilling process will stumble across something like the ruins of an unknown ancient castle.”
Should We Turn To Science Fiction To Spur Science Innovation?
“As Neal Stephenson puts it, science fiction ‘supplies a plausible, fully thought-out picture of an alternate reality in which some sort of compelling innovation has taken place,’ producing icons that serve as ‘hieroglyphs — simple, recognizable symbols on which everyone agrees.'”
When A Boy With Autism Started A Friendship With Siri
“For most of us, Siri is merely a momentary diversion. But for some, it’s more. My son’s practice conversation with Siri is translating into more facility with actual humans.”
Yes, Almost All Of Us Procrastinate On Deadline (Try A Labyrinth – For Real)
“When the stakes are high enough (meaning that you are now operating within an extremely limited timeframe) a person can enter into a state of hyper-focus which eases and quickens the process. If you like adrenaline rushes, this might be your explanation of choice.”
The Conscious Unconscious (What Science Is Learning)
“After a severe brain injury, some people remain in a vegetative or minimally conscious state, unable to speak or move intentionally, and seemingly unaware of the world around them. In recent years, however, neuroscientists have found signs that some of these patients may be conscious, at least to a degree.”
Are We Merely The Product Of Neurons Firing And Cells Replicating? (Or Is There Something Bigger?)
“What people don’t like, apparently, is the idea, borne in on them every day as science marches through their genetics and into their brains, that a person is merely a slub in the fabric of the universe, no more than a complicated and clever bulge amid the threads of causation, rather than a free-wheeling, free-choosing, autonomous, responsible initiator of deeds.”
Heroes: They Act First, Think Later
“People who perform heroic acts seem to do so instinctively, risking their lives to help someone else without giving the consequences much conscious thought.”
Animals Can Also Be Heroes, Of Course
Sure, we know about dogs who’ve rescued people and the cat that chased a dog away from a toddler, but seals, hippos, and rats are among the many animals who’ve been observed displaying altruistic behavior. (Especially rats, some of whom have learned to locate land mines.)