Category: ideas

“Newly published research suggests that [apologies] perform the important function of building trust. In our minds, anyone who takes note of our misfortune, and expresses dismay over it, is impressively empathetic and thus worthy of our confidence.”

“It’s no secret that smell is intimately tied up with emotions, and things like real estate agents baking cookies in houses they show is an attempt to have the warm feeling produced by that fragrance transfer to the property. … What we’re learning is how physically tied up the two systems – the one that rules emotions and the one that rules smells – are.”

“By studying musicians and asking them when inspiration struck them, researchers found that breakthrough moments often happened when players were humming to themselves or tapping out rhythms on the table or imagining dance moves inspired by the music.”

“The war veteran who recoils at the sound of a car backfiring, and the recovering drug addict who feels a sudden need for their drug of choice when visiting old haunts have one thing in common: Both are victims of their own memories. New research indicates those memories could actually be extinguished.”

“The emerging popular consensus about our biological predisposition to warfare is troubling. It is not just scientifically weak; it is also morally unfortunate, as it fosters an unjustifiably limited vision of human potential.”

The C.E.O. of Getty Images: “Say to yourself, ‘Am I going to make this significantly better, or am I going to make it only 5 or 10 percent better?’ Because in fiddling over the small stuff, you take away all the empowerment.”

“In performance, Shakespeare can safely be left to look after himself. His plays deal in primal emotions and obviously have a broad appeal. … But what about the parallel academic industry of Shakespeare studies?”

“Arguments about free will are mostly semantic arguments about definitions. Most experts who deny free will are arguing against peculiar, unscientific versions of the idea, such as that “free will” means that causality is not involved.”

“While a popular movement is afoot to teach children, including adolescents, to code–touted by the likes of Bill Gates and basketball star Chris Bosh–few people believe that kindergartners can learn how to bend machines to their will.”

The standard theory, which Turchin calls the “bottom up” theory, is that humans invented agriculture around 10,000 years ago, providing resource surpluses that freed people up for other ventures. But what Turchin and his team have found is that the bottom-up theory is wrong, or at least incomplete. “Competitions between societies, which historically took the form of warfare, drive the evolution of complex societies,” he says.