Category: ideas

“Despite our unprecedented ability to rapidly learn new things and crowdfix mistakes, Knowledge and its sinister twin Error continue to propagate in complex and intriguing ways. Errors persist among us for far longer than they should and even when there is more accurate knowledge elsewhere. Newer knowledge does not spread as fast as it should and weaves its way unevenly throughout society.”

“Other animals fight over limited resources and desirable mates, but humans fight for both biological and cultural reasons. We alone will go to war to defend our honour and values. … What’s more, conflict seems to be an integral part of our social organisation. … Paradoxically, these antagonistic tendencies may be intimately linked with another, much more noble side of human nature: our unparalleled capacity for large-scale cooperation and altruistic self-sacrifice.”

“Insights about brain anatomy, combined with economic models of neurons in action, could produce new insights into how people make decisions about money and life.”

“Pick a mammal. Squirrels engage in play that looks a lot like tickling. So do – of all species – elephants. So do rats … But only chimpanzee and human mothers gaze deeply into the eyes of their infants – and then tickle them. … It’s a social dance: Tickling is the way we and the chimps establish, without words, that we’re in this thing together.”

“Suppose there had not been a single riot in response to the now infamous video The Innocence of Muslims, Not a single car burned, not a single embassy breached, not a single human being physically hurt. Would the makers of this risible little clip have done anything wrong? If so, to whom, and why?”

Many Americans simply don’t comprehend the rage some Muslims feel over visual images (even flattering ones) of Muhammad. “The confusion stems, in part, from the ubiquity of sacred images in American culture. God, Jesus, Moses, Buddha and other holy figures are displayed in movies, cartoons and churches and on living room walls.” But that wasn’t always the case.

“In Nigeria’s megacity of Lagos, where the country’s 500 languages come together in a chaotic medley, the rapid-fire rhythm of pidgin is the symphony of the streets. … Officially known as Naija, Nigerian pidgin is spoken by tens of millions across the country. Current affairs, English and local languages are brewed together to dish up playful imagery at breakneck speed.”

“Science has always been about getting closer to the truth, and anybody who understands it knows that a continual transformation of accepted knowledge along the way is how it works. However, sometimes it can feel random and unsettling. Smoking has gone from doctor-recommended to deadly. Eating meat used to be good for you, then bad, then good again.”

The astonishing upward trend in IQ levels is known as the “Flynn effect,” named after American political scientist James Flynn, who is now in his late seventies and lives in New Zealand.