Category: ideas

“Thinking of one’s life in terms of a career used to make a lot of sense, but it no longer does. The main reason is that the economy has changed course dramatically with the result that the concept of a career is applicable to fewer and fewer cases.”

“The point is for transit agencies to provide enough information to put riders in control of their experience and have greater choice in when and where to ride. People don’t want to feel they are at the mercy of paper schedules, even if they are, and there’s nothing worse than waiting for buses that may or may not be on time.”

“The public nature of the river baptism is what sets it apart from so many other religious rituals (especially in America, a country of believers with, paradoxically, few shared rituals). A river baptism doesn’t have to be in a river; it can be in a creek, the sea, an old bathtub in the yard.”

“Some students swear by colourful mind maps. Others go for flash cards. The most common practice is rereading notes and highlighting the relevant material. … [But it] turns out that one technique stands head and shoulders above the rest …”

“The first lesson we learn from studying our own circuitry is shocking: most of what we do and think and feel is not under our conscious control. The vast jungles of neurons operate their own programs. The conscious you – the I that flickers to life when you wake up in the morning – is the smallest bit of what’s transpiring in your brain.”

“But what is a language? And is this really the sort of thing you can count? Let’s compare this to a different question: How many objects are there? Simple question. So there must be a simple answer. Right? No. And for a simple reason: The answer depends on why you are asking.”

“This dreaming self isn’t just responding to life (as Freudians would have it), but rehearsing for life. And dreams’ emotional content can be a window into our own makeup. On average, 30 percent of our dreams are anxious. … Perhaps we’re biologically programmed to be anxious one-third of the time.”

“People who readily accept the principles of modern economics, psychology and biology still cling to notions about language that are as antiquated as a belief in physi­ocracy or leeching.”

“What are the forces at work that make us deny the big threats that stare us in the face?” and “Why, after any major failure or calamity, do voices always emerge saying they’d seen the danger, warned about the risk — but their warnings had gone unheeded?”