Category: ideas

“Even while it outperforms its younger self in many ways, the middle-age brain gets a bad rap. It’s true that we can lose our focus or get distracted more easily as we age, but there is plenty of emerging and established science to show that people underestimate the formidable talents of the mature brain.”

“Younger people are particularly affected: almost 30 percent of those under 45 said the use of these devices made it harder to focus, while less than 10 percent of older users agreed.”

“Some experts believe excessive use of the Internet, cellphones and other technologies can cause us to become more impatient, impulsive, forgetful and even more narcissistic. More and more, life is resembling the chat room…”

“Scientists say juggling e-mail, phone calls and other incoming information can change how people think and behave. They say our ability to focus is being undermined by bursts of information.”

“The idea that personal liberty defines America is deeply rooted, and shared across the political spectrum. But are Americans really so uniquely individualistic? Are we, for example, more committed individualists than people in those socialist-looking nations of Europe? The answer appears to be no.”

“For years now numerous observers have described the process by which the very fundaments of art are changing from the old principle of one man, one creation. Recombinant art is the rage. What all these forms have in common is appropriation and a sense of rampant collaboration in which every work of art is simply raw material for anyone who decides to put his or her imprint on it.”

“[In] engaging with a host of environmental technologies and issues,” the Plastiki – a solar-powered sailing ship built from 12,500 plastic bottles – “also mirrors a broad cultural shift in design’s focus. Design now exists less to shape objects than to produce solutions. Instead of creating a desire and designing an object to fulfill it, a designer spotlights a problem or need and solves it.”

There’s “extraordinary charity,” of course. “Then there are the miracles. A saint needs to have performed two … But while they’re a sine qua non, miracles are not the engine of sainthood. In the halls of the Vatican, more thought is given to a good life story. It’s the moving quality of a saint’s vita that will carry him or her through.”

“Are we more or less likely to lie to someone if we are communicating via email or text message than if we are speaking face-to-face? One researcher has found that using the computer can actually encourage people to lie.”

Studies by an Illinois professor of law and psychology indicate “that apologies can potentially help resolve legal disputes ranging from injury cases to wrongful firings, giving wounded parties a sense of justice and satisfaction that promotes settlements and trims demands for damages.”