Category: ideas

“Discoveries in biology are calling into question all kinds of ideas, historically important ideas, in the social sciences–everything from the origin of free will, to collective expression and collective behavior, to the deep origins of basic human behaviors. All of these things are being challenged and elevated by discoveries in biology.”

“But American linguistic diversity as a whole isn’t dying – it’s thriving. … From Syracuse, N.Y., in the east to Milwaukee in the west, 34 million Americans are revolutionizing the sound of English.”

“For men, it turns out, close identification with a superhero can have psychological benefits–and perhaps even physical ones.”

“You can’t evoke Paris with just the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe. You need to find the distinct visual cues that emerge block after block, street after street. In Paris, the algorithm ferreted out the city’s blue and green street signs, tall double-paned windows, balconies enclosed by iron filigree, and, as Pixar captures above, a particular lamppost style. Paris’s je ne sais quoi, is, to the contrary, quite knowable after all — discoverable by both artist and algorithm.”

“The Old Testament and other religious texts prohibit taking the Lord’s name in vain, but do the gods have a problem with words like s— and f—?” The answer isn’t straightforward: Of the Abrahamic religions, only one explicitly prohibits what one might call obscene language in its scriptures.

“Some people can recall what happened on almost every day of their lives. Unlocking their secrets could shed light on the way all our memories work.”

“Sometimes, there is no easy approach to studying the intricate vagaries that are the human mind and human behavior. Sometimes, we have to be okay with qualitative questions and approaches that, while reliable and valid and experimentally sound, do not lend themselves to an easy linear narrative–or a narrative that has a base in hard science or concrete math and statistics.”

“A couple of tourists wander through a quiet woodcarving exhibit. They stare intently at a carved eagle and various tools kept behind glass. What they don’t know — until he tromps downstairs — is that 60-year-old Tom Richter lives upstairs. With his easy grin, bare feet, cut-off khakis and baggy T-shirt, he looks kind of like he walked out of a Jimmy Buffet song.”

Seems like it: The Oatmeal’s “Let’s build a goddamned Tesla museum” campaign raised more than half a million dollars in the 48 hours after it began.

Or maybe the ubiquity of tip jars is more an example of how the U.S. is deeply failing its workforce – and its understanding of its founding ideals.