Category: ideas

The Pirahã people of Brazil’s northwestern jungles speak a language with no words for integers and only three that express quantity in even vague terms. How do they count, or even ask for three of something instead of two or one? The answer is difficult for us even to comprehend.

“According to the new study, eating the iconic black and white cookies activated more neurons in the [lab] rat brain’s ‘pleasure center’ than drugs such as cocaine.” (Well, that’s certainly been our experience.)

“Does the enormous size of our temporal footprint mean that we can speak for human beings who are not yet alive? In other words, what are the epistemic and ethical grounds upon which our relation to the future can unfold?”

“Understanding what evil means to Google might be central to grasping its role in contemporary culture. … If Google has made a contribution to moral philosophy, it amounts to a devout faith in its own ability to preside over virtue and vice through engineering.”

“Some consumers are likely to be horrified by what supporters of so-called neuro pricing are already calling a revolution in marketing: the determination of a feel-good price on the basis of brain testing in the laboratory.”

“What our correspondent also understood, sitting there in his basement bathtub, was that the literature of creativity was a genre of surpassing banality.”

“The researchers set up three rooms, each bathed in a different light and infused with different aromas. The first smelled of fresh-cut grass, had turf on the floor, a croquet set and the sounds of gamboling sheep.”

“Although there is no way to play it safe in the entertainment industry, a blockbuster strategy is the safest way to play.”

“An object can have value beyond being used … it can provide visual pleasure or engagement.”