Category: ideas

“Why are we the only species on earth that is concerned about things that don’t directly concern our survival or that of our offspring? Porcupines do not look up at the night sky and wonder what all the sparkly bits are; weasels don’t worry about what other weasels think of them; lobsters really don’t enjoy pub quizzes.”

Facebook inventor Mark Zuckerberg’s “version of the internet is profoundly blue, bluer than any internet before, for a reason he didn’t realize was personal until long after the decision was made.”

Maria Konnikova: “When we own more of our time, we feel like we’re in charge of our lives and our schedules, which makes us happier and, ultimately, better at what we do. Our health and happiness also increases in the course of our lifetimes and, with it, our value to the workplace and to society as a whole. Additionally, we may finally recover from chronic sleep deprivation.”

“There were 16 heroes, including 11 women, who rescued the trapped man. Nineteen others, including 12 women, passed by without helping. The remaining 8 tried to help but gave up – they were omitted from the subsequent brain analysis because they were so few in number.”

Philosophers Gary Gutting and Jonardon Ganeri explore how Hinduism’s polytheism – from the point of view of us Abrahamic religion types – changes just about everything about its approaches to ethics as well as spirituality.

“Advances in graphics, computing power and interface devices such as the Nintendo Wii or Microsoft Kinect have opened the door to a new level of sophistication of virtual reality, he says. Most important, though, has been the continuing drop in cost of virtual reality technology, a trend largely driven by the gaming industry.”

“The new meaning of ‘to platform’ is something akin to: Take a traditional media company and add technology that allows readers to upload digital content as varied as links, text, video and other media.”

“From 2014 to 2018, the soldiers’ names will be projected on public buildings and in schools. Each name will be shown for 25 seconds in participating countries, online and on mobile devices.”

“In June, the social network accounted for about one of every six minutes that Americans spent online, and one of every five minutes on mobile phones, according to comScore, a research company. Mothers, the typical household’s chief buyer of consumer products, are among the most dedicated users, spending nearly four times as many minutes on Facebook as other people.”

“To demand that a work be ‘relatable’ expresses a different expectation: that the work itself be somehow accommodating to, or reflective of, the experience of the reader or viewer. The reader or viewer remains passive in the face of the book or movie or play: she expects the work to be done for her.”