Tim Ferris is a popular author, podcaster, and self-proclaimed “self-experimenter.” He’s written a number of best-selling books, including The 4-Hour Work Week, in which he purports to show readers how to “hack” the traditional work week and achieve more in less time. But is his advice really worth following? Let’s take a closer look. There … Read more
In recent years, Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson has become something of a celebrity. His self-help book, 12 Rules for Life, has sold millions of copies and has been translated into more than 50 languages. But what many people don’t realize is that Peterson’s so-called wisdom is nothing more than a regurgitation of well-worn cliches that … Read more
You’re telling me that the answer to life, the universe, and everything is to stand up straight with your shoulders back? That’s the first rule in Jordan Peterson’s book 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos, and it’s one of the most idiotic things I’ve ever heard. In fact, all of Peterson’s rules are … Read more
How do people react when they’re actually confronted with error? You get a huge range of reactions. Some people just don’t have any problem saying, “I was wrong. I need to rethink this or that assumption.” Generally, people don’t like to rethink really basic assumptions. They prefer to say, “Well, I was wrong about how … Read more
People have speculated that out-of-body experiences (OBEs) provide conclusive evidence that consciousness can leave the body. Consider the following example of an OBE reported by a woman who had an internal hemorrhage after an operation:. I was awake and aware of my surroundings. A nurse came in to take my blood pressure every half hour. … Read more
One of the most influential thinkers of the twentieth century, Foucault’s work has had a seismic impact in such fields as criminology, cultural studies, history, philosophy, political theory, and psychiatry, as well as sociology. His inter-disciplinary studies of madness, medicine, knowledge, punishment, and sexuality have significantly altered how sociologists now approach these topics. In his … Read more
Douglas Hofstadter’s Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in non-fiction. The book draws inspiration from mathematical riddles such as those found within formal logic and computing procedures to explore ideas about AI with its narratives that are presented through different perspectives including those held by artist M. C. Escher or composer … Read more
I think the world which we live in is not the world we anticipated in the Enlightenment. We live in a world which feels to be spinning out of our control so the future which we were supposed to master has become a pain. Globalization means increasing interdependence of world society – it means that … Read more
Giddens is perhaps Britain’s leading sociologist, renowned especially for his theories of structuration and late modernity. He formed Polity Press in 1985 and became director of the LSE in 1997. His growing status as the most visible intellectual proponent of ‘Third Way’ politics drew him into the inner circle of British prime minister Tony Blair. … Read more
In Thinking: The New Science of Decision-Making, Problem-Solving, and Prediction, edge.org’s John Brockman has put together a collection of essays by some of the top thinkers (psychologists, neuroscientists, and philosophers) on the topic of decision-making – how and why we make discussions, and to what end. One of the best chapters is “The New Science … Read more