Category: ideas

Henry Markram’s goal wasn’t to create a simplified version of the brain, but a gloriously complex facsimile, down to the constituent neurons, the electrical activity coursing along them, and even the genes turning on and off within them. From the outset, the criticism to this approach was very widespread, and to many other neuroscientists, its bottom-up strategy seemed implausible to the point of absurdity. – The Atlantic

“We don’t need digital detox. Or more accurately, we do need a detox, but we have misidentified the toxin. Interacting online is not inherently poisonous, and online interactions are no less meaningful than talking face to face. Different, yes, but just as valuable. If we experience problems relating to each other online, I believe it’s because we’re doing it wrong.” – NewMusicBox

In the popular mind, an epicure fine-tunes pleasure, consuming beautifully, while a stoic lives a life of virtue, pleasure sublimated for good. But this doesn’t do justice to Epicurus, who came closest of all the ancient philosophers to understanding the challenges of modern secular life. – Aeon

Zora Neale Hurston, Ruth Benedict, and Margaret Mead – all influenced by their mentor, Franz Boas – changed the way we think about human relationships. “The anthropologists had a revolutionary new idea, which they called ‘cultural relativity.’ The phrase is a bit misleading, because it implies there is no truth to be found, but Boas and his students didn’t think that. Instead, they argued that all societies face the same basic problems—love and death, work and children, hierarchy and community—but that different societies could find different, and equally valuable, ways of solving them.” (And Mead, especially, had a lot of sex along the way.) – The Atlantic

Sure, people use the word “epicurean,” but do they know what the pursuit of happiness really means, or where it came from? In our age of deep anxiety about politics and the planet itself, it’s a good time to find out more about the original philosopher. – Aeon

It’s a longstanding thing – consider the ways that Clytemnestra became “an archetypal domestic murder plot” after the play premiered in 458 BCE. “Killing Eve is just the latest example of popular culture’s preoccupation with attractive young women who conceal a dark psychopathy: Villanelle is the embodiment of the classic female killer, who both seduces and repels.” – The Guardian (UK)

San Diego Comic Con, like the moon walk, turns 50 this year. And, wow, things have changed. “More than 130,000 people are expected to attend this year; they’re here for comics, yes, but also for their favorite movies, TV shows, books and toys. It’s a far cry from the 300 people who gathered in the basement of San Diego’s U.S. Grant Hotel in the summer of 1970, to see Kirby and the equally legendary sci-fi author Ray Bradbury.” – NPR

Perhaps our distant evolutionary ancestors, millions of years in the past, also had an innate navigational ability that exploited magnetic field lines. This would be extremely useful, offering advantages not only in barren environments, but when exploring new territories to find resources for survival. – Aeon

Unruliness, perversity, pigheadedness—psychologists have long been interested in this bestiary of paradoxical thought and action. Perversity is a puzzle. It’s hard to explain, scientifically, what Edgar Allan Poe described as “the imp of the perverse.” – The New Yorker

The company is developing a device to implant inside the brain that supposedly will allow people to control computers and other devices with their minds. At the announcement, Musk said the company is on track to begin testing the implants in human patients as soon as next year. – The Atlantic