Category: ideas

“A recent study found that the “likes” prompted by your status updates and photo posts might also have a negative impact, especially on your waistline and pocketbook.”

“People tend to worry too much about things that it doesn’t do any good to worry about, and not to worry enough about things we should be worrying about. … it may sound comforting to say that ‘the only thing we need to worry about is worry itself’ … but anybody who has lived through Chernobyl or Fukushima knows otherwise.”

“This is not to say that Lincoln was a naysayer or negative thinker, but rather that he demonstrated an acute understanding of the power of negation in language and was unusually adept at putting that force to use.”

In Allahabad, “at the confluence of the Yamuna, Ganges and (mythical) Saraswati Rivers, as many as 100 million people will participate over the next month in an ancient Hindu festival known as the Kumbh Mela.” Urbanists are studying the logistics of what they’re calling a “pop-up megacity”, and social scientists are finding that participating in these gatherings really does bring long-term benefits.

László Krasznahorkai: “To be honest I wouldn’t have been surprised if he hadn’t knocked but beat at the door, or simply kicked the door in, but now that I hear the knocking, it’s clear there is no difference between his knocking and beating or kicking the door in, I mean really no difference, the point being that I am dead certain it is him, who else; he of whom I knew, and have always known would come.”

“When today’s present turns into the distant past, today’s everyday life won’t fall into oblivion anymore. For the self-perception of society, the lack of historical memory loss is even more consequential than the current loss of privacy.”

“The exaggerated, primary flavors of junk food might seem to dominate the senses and aesthetic faculties, but like any other food, junk is still embedded in a complex web of cultural connotations, social relationships, and other meanings. The winter holidays are particularly emblematic of that. Why would we bake so many cookies if not to wish sweetness upon our friends and family?”

“To my mind the one thing that would unquestionably be worth learning would be the law of unintended consequences.”

“There’s no insult in comparing art to a sex toy. … It does get at the raw truth of this recent urge to participate: It’s more about your body than your brain, about putting you at the center of the universal truths art strives to deliver.”

“Is our job in giving feedback to reward the excellent and punish the weak? Do I approach the giving of feedback from a failure-based standpoint, or from a commitment to be facilitative?”