Category: ideas

“Do we have some anomalous cohort here? Achievement freaks on a scale we haven’t seen before? Has our hysterically competitive, education-obsessed society finally outdone itself in its tireless efforts to produce winners whose abilities are literally off the charts? And if so, what convergence of historical, social and economic forces has been responsible for the emergence of this new type?”

“If you are working in the arts professionally – that is, being paid or expecting to be paid for what you do or create, is it really so scandalous to try to create something that will generate enough revenue to pay for itself?”

“This is a significant and in some ways counterintuitive set of propositions about how Los Angeles grew. Instead of following the usual logic that the American suburb was created by people fleeing something – usually the overcrowded, overpriced, crime-ridden city – Hise argues that at least in Southern California suburban growth was driven by people drawn to something, primarily jobs.”

“Another benefit, at least for designers, is that they should be able to work more widely, say, by addressing social problems or being integrated into scientific research programs. The old-school grumps complain that this will de-professionalize design, but ‘open’ designers are willing to risk that for the chance to tackle challenging issues. They also argue that society as a whole stands to gain from more extensive use of design.”

“Ideas are emerging as a kind of performance art; a salon for the masses, a form of entertainment at once new and old. On the one hand, ideas festivals recall the days of town hall meetings or speaking tours by authors such as Charles Dickens and Mark Twain. On the other, they are plugged into social media networks and the imperative to be entertaining or provocative: lecture hall erudition meets theatresports.”

“The more data it gathers, the more it knows, the better it gets at what it does. Of course, the better it gets at what it does the more money it makes, and the more money it makes the more data it gathers and the better it gets at what it does – an example of the kind of win-win feedback loop Google specialises in – but what’s surprising is that there is no obvious end to the process.”

“The constellation of behaviors, attitudes and values that come with the time you learned now rule over most of the planet. For more than a century this “modern time” has been fantastically useful, creating unimagined wealth and opportunity. Now, however, it has run its course.”

“Remembering a fiction is much more demanding than remembering something that actually occurred. Because you’re worried about your credibility, you’re most likely trying to control your demeanor, and “looking honest” also saps mental energy.”

“Distressed by most historians’ overwhelming preoccupation with the modern world, an unusual coalition of scholars is trying to stage an intellectual coup, urging their colleagues to look up from the relatively recent swirl of bloody conflicts, global financial exchanges and technological wonders and gaze further back, toward humanity’s origins.”

“Bizarre views are a hazard endemic to metaphysics. … I believe there is not a single detailed exploration of fundamental issues of metaphysics that does not, by the end, entangle its author in seeming absurdities (sometimes advertised as ‘surprising conclusions’).” Eric Schwitzgebel tries to explain.