Human Incompetence In The Glass Cage, Carr warns about a near future that is dominated by artificial intelligence – he argues that the problems that come with advanced artificial intelligence go beyond the loss of jobs for some people the way technology always had. He thinks that at some point, because of the ease with … Read more
“The sadist doesn’t create a masochist, he finds him ready made.” – Ernest Becker, The Denial of Death Masochism in Modern Man explores the psychological roots of masochism from an interesting perspecitve. When I read the final chapters of The Denial of Death by Ernest Becker, I was struck by an interesting discussion about sadomasochism, … Read more
The Denial of Death is about man’s primal repression. Freud believed that man’s basic repression is sexual, but Becker argued that it is the denial of finitude, creatureliness, and mortality. Becker makes this argument based on the work of Otto Rank, Norman Brown, Soren Kierkegaard and Sigmund Freud. Freud observed that man’s neurosis was a … Read more
One of the main things that move man is the fear of death and heroism is a direct response to this modern rediscovery. Our primate ancestors ignored the cowardly and deferred to those who were extra-powerful. Man has elevated animal courage into a cult. The ceremonies of Christ’s rise form the death is a symbolic … Read more
The claim John Perkins makes in the Confessions of an Economic Hitman is not that there is one global conspiracy or that there is a small group of men in a dark room scheming about how to take over the world, but that there are many small conspiracies taking place at the same time, by … Read more
Fear and Trembling was written by Kierkegaard, a Danish philosopher who was a controversial figure, his work was unpopular during his lifetimes, and in no small part, this was due to his criticism of the Danish church for pushing a diluted form of Christianity and his rejection of widely accepted ideas. Appreciation for his writing … Read more
The 50th Law by Robert Greene and Curtis Jackson (50 Cent) is about overcoming fear. The ten chapters of the book each focus on a common fear between people – this may be a fear of change, or death, or of leading from the front, or of being patient. The virtues that lead to success … Read more
In An Introduction to Middle East Politics, Benjamin McQueen provides a brief history of the Middle East, focusing on its relationship with the West, and how this relationship has changed, and in other ways has stayed the same, from the time of the Ottomans until present day. With this historical context, the Arab uprisings that … Read more
The Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith was written at a time when Mercantilism was the dominant economic policy. Those who advocate mercantile policies think that for any country, imports are bad while exports are good. But what Adam Smith argued for, was that the key to growth and prosperity, was not to engage in … Read more
Focus: The Hidden Driver of Excellence is a book about gaining control over your attention. It’s getting harder to focus because there is more information and more ways to access this information. But what is important is to think of attention as a muscle, that, if worked on, will get stronger. What you decide to … Read more