Category: ideas

“It’s undeniable that people sometimes act in a way that benefits others, but it may seem that they always get something in return – at the very least, the satisfaction of having their desire to help fulfilled. Students in introductory philosophy courses torture their professors with this reasoning. And its logic can seem inexorable.”

“With the aid of new diagnostic instruments, neurologists and other scientists hope to unlock the secrets of creativity both in artists and the general population.”

“Not only do we not know what all the genes are, we don’t even know how many there are. Most estimates place the human gene count in the neighborhood of 22,000 genes, which falls between the number of genes in a chicken and the number in a grape.”

Frans de Waal: “Perhaps it is just me, but I am wary of anyone whose belief system is the only thing standing between them and repulsive behavior. Why not assume that our humanity, including the self-control needed for livable societies, is built into us? Does anyone truly believe that our ancestors lacked social norms before they had religion?”

“I think we are at a really interesting point in society and in education especially, where many would agree that the definition of ‘smart’ goes beyond what we currently test on IQ tests or subject matter standardized tests.”

“Young Americans today live in a world of endless connections and up-to-the-minute information on one another, constantly updating friends, loved ones, and total strangers.” But new research has “found that college students today are 40 percent less empathetic than they were in 1979, with the steepest decline coming in the last 10 years.”

“Millennials – the generation born between 1980 and 1995 – relate to brands in deep and complicated ways, according to a new study … [B]rand identification is just about as important as religion and ethnicity when it comes to personal identifiers millennials share online.”

“Newly published research confirms and expands upon an insight first revealed in the 1950s: If confidence in one’s core tenets becomes shaky, a common response is to proselytize all the more vigorously.”

“The Thiel Fellowship will pay would-be entrepreneurs under 20 $100,000 in cash to drop out of school. In announcing the program, Thiel made clear his contempt for American universities which, like governments, he believes, cost more than they’re worth and hinder what really matters in life, namely starting tech companies.”

“The criteria used to make our decisions [about a mate] are frighteningly similar to those reviewed to select products we want to bring home. The same set of core standards is pertinent in each situation since both objects and partners need to support us functionally and emotionally.”