In 2019, three scientists won the Nobel prize for discovering the harmful effects excess oxygen in the body. Four years earlier, Patrick McKeown wrote The Oxygen Advantage, where he explains how breathing from the nose in a careful controlled manner can help you regular the amount of oxygen you take in. The positive consequences of … Read more
Platform Scale: How an emerging business model helps startups build large empires with minimum investment – Sangeet Paul Choudary Platform Revolution: How Networked Markets Are Transforming the Economy – and How to Make Them Work for You – Geoffrey G. Parker, Marshall W. Van Alstyne, Sangeet Paul Choudary Matchmakers: The New Economics of Multisided Platforms … Read more
Intelligence in Nature: An Inquiry Into Knowledge The Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge DMT: The Spirit Molecule The Biology of Belief
In Man Disconnected, Zimbardo writes about the plight of the male in the modern world. A combination of excessive gaming, porn abuse, a lack of responsibilities, a lower quality education has all contributed to the phenomenon of the man-child, who can’t change a tire, but has multiple shampoos and styles ready for his masculine beard. … Read more
Following in the great tradition of Nietzsche and La Rochefoucauld, Nassim Taleb has written The Bed of Procrustes. For those who are interested, the name of the book comes from Greek mythology. Procrustes “the stretcher [who hammers out the metal]”), was a rogue smith and bandit who attacked people by stretching them or cutting off … Read more
Religion is not the antithesis of technology – in many ways, it is the prelude to it David F. Noble seeks out to illustrate a counter-intuitive fact. The greatest scientific minds of the past, and present, have religious beliefs, it is not that their religious beliefs are coincidental, but that they form the very basis … Read more
In The Minimal Self, Lasch says, “The minimal or narcissistic self is, above all, a self uncertain of its own outlines, longing either to remake the world in its own image or to merge into its environment in blissful union.” The narcissist inhabits a world of struggling fantasy, discovering and fighting battles against the world in … Read more
As someone who has learned a great deal from Nassim Taleb’s writings over the years, I cannot help but feel grateful for his contributions. They have changed my thinking on many things. But Taleb has a fatal flaw, and it is the kind of thing you only notice in a close relative or childhood friend. … Read more
Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to reform (or to pause and reflect). Mark Twain More than just a clever quip, this quote is profoundly relevant in an age where consensus is everything. There are two dangers: one is to always question the majority, the other is to … Read more
The Loneliness and Anxiety of Modern Man In Man’s Search For Himself Rollo May writes about a feeling of emptiness common to all. But what does it mean to feel emptiness? A human being is not empty in a static sense, as though he were a storage battery which needs charging. The experience of emptiness, … Read more