Many thinkers including Kierkegaard, C.J Jung, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Carl Rogers, and Plato have all written about the discovery of the self. To Kierkegaard, there was only one greater tragedy than failing to become oneself – it was succeeding in becoming something you were not. Or as Kurt Cobain famously and cogently said, “I’d rather … Read more
Carl Rogers advances many concepts in A Way of Being that today are more widely accepted. He advocates for openness, self determination, being skeptical of tradition and authority, and of anything that seeks to dominate and control. He urges his readers to seek a balanced life that includes the body and spirit instead of being constrained by only the intellectual. … Read more
You cannot accuse someone of being dogmatic, because to do so you must be dogmatic yourself. When you accuse someone of extremism in their beliefs, it must be relative to a lack of extremism in your beliefs. But you can be extreme in your lack of extremism. You may believe that those that have extreme … Read more
In 21 Lessons for the 21st Century, Harari writes about globalism, nationalism, religion, technology, meditation and economics but the book is more philosophical than historical although many interesting historical references are made. Harari’s thesis is that the source of the development of society is the fictions we have created, but when these fictions are taken … Read more
Harari acknowledges that while he has dismantled almost everything from politics to religion to business as some form of myth, he is required to provide something in its place. His answer is meditation. If you want to understand death, you need to understand life. For years, to understand what life was about, Harari read books … Read more
The Disney story of The Lion King reiterates mythological ideas about the meaning of life. Namely, that there is an eternal circle of life, and that it is one’s obligation to follow his destiny. Simba must not waver off his path lest he suffer painful consequences and see the collapse of his kingdom at the … Read more
There are many ways of categorizing people according to their personalities, but a simple and effective one is into doers vs thinkers. Here, I define the thinker as someone who’s main profession is to think about matters abstractly, this can be the professor, novelist, or artist. The doer is defined as someone who is reacting … Read more
What has worked in the past will not necessarily work in the future. Following the advice of people who were older than you worked better in the past because the world was more stable and predictable. But in a world where technology is rapidly and constantly reshaping economies, it is risky to follow advice that … Read more
Escaping the Matrix Science fiction today commits a grave error, it conflates intelligence for consciousness. This is why most works in this genre imagine a future war between man and machine. But the real fear should be of a conflict between a small superhuman elite who have privileged access to technology and a vast underclass … Read more
Confirmation bias is a form of cognitive bias and while it is not considered a logical fallacy, it is considered irrational. But this is not necessarily true. Intuitively, one would imagine that rational behavior is the same as scientific behavior in that it excludes bias. That is, if you wanted to act rationally, you should … Read more