Category: ideas

Stanley Fish: “[I do not] ‘endorse the idea that lying is acceptable in an autobiography.’ … I am just observing that the truth or falsity of an autobiographer’s assertions is not the main focus of a reader’s interest … (If it were discovered that St. Augustine never stole those pears, would we throw his Confessions away or downgrade the book?)”

“The longer a person stays at a particular level in an organisation, the more most measures of their performance fall – including subjective evaluations and the frequency and size of pay rises and bonuses. It is a finding entirely consistent with the idea that people eventually become bogged down by their own incompetence.”

New research out of Stanford Univ. found that subjects who did the most multitasking “had difficulties, compared to the low media-multitasking group, when asked to ignore information that was in the environment or in their recent memory. They also had greater trouble relative to their counterparts when asked to switch rapidly between two different tasks.”

“Jesus, or Isa, as he is known in Arabic, is deemed by Islam to be a Muslim prophet rather than the Son of God, or God incarnate. He is referred to by name in as many as 25 different verses of the Quran and six times with the title of ‘Messiah’.” Crucially, Jesus is referred to “as the ‘Word’ and the ‘Spirit’ of God. No other prophet in the Quran, not even Muhammad, is given this particular honour.”

“We know that firstborns are generally smarter than their younger siblings and more likely to become leaders, while younger brood-members tend to be more rebellious.” But the eldest child’s greater chances of success “may come at the cost of a less trusting, uncooperative disposition.”

“A newly published study … [asks] the intriguing question: How does praying for someone affect the person saying the prayers? The answer seems to be: It makes them more forgiving, at least toward the person they are praying for.  … And forgiveness, as the researchers note, is a vital element in maintaining close relationships.”

Sound from other humans “is where we get information about our competitors and our potential mates–the things we need to know to be successful creatures. We developed an ear for the tones common in human vocalizations, the same way a sommelier might develop a taste for fine wines. Those are the tones we find most appealing and thus, the ones we made into our musical art.”

“Bioinformaticist Bob MacCallum and evolutionary biologist Armand Leroi of Imperial College London have devised a way to watch music evolve right before their eyes – and in doing so study the cultural analogue of biological evolution, also known as memetics.”

“The finding raises the possibility of using brain scans to determine the true intentions of criminals who are up for early release on parole.”