Selected excerpts from Things Hidden Since The Foundation of the World by Rene Girard. Fundamental Anthropology “The most we can do is to recognize as the one who produces symbolic forms, systems of signs, and who then confuses them with ‘reality’ itself, forgetting that in order to make reality meaningful he interposes an always particular … Read more
WYSIATI is an acronym for What You See Is All There Is, and it is linked to of 3 cognitive biases. Overconfidence: Rhetoric > Quality of Evidence Framing Effects: 90% Fat Base Rate Neglect: Steve is a meek and tidy soul (therefore, he is a librarian, not a farmer). See The Sin of Representativeness The … Read more
If you wanted to find the antidote to bullshit, look not further than the fine craftsman. Each product designed by the craftsman is as it should be. At no point does he relax his thoughtful self-discipline, even for parts of his work that aren’t immediately visible. But he does not do this to impress others. … Read more
Bullshit is not a recent invention. It is difficult to know exactly, when the first instances of it were recorded, but it is safe to say that the phenomenon of bullshit predates the internet by many many years. In The Red Queen (summary), Ridley details the many ways animals deceive each other. The tricks of … Read more
Naked Lunch Title: Naked Lunch Author(s): William S. Burroughs First Published: 1959 The reader follows the narration of junkie William Lee, who takes on various aliases, from the U.S. to Mexico, eventually to Tangier and the dreamlike Interzone. The Biology of Desire Title: The Biology of Desire: Why Addiction Is Not a Disease Author(s): Marc … Read more
Why Buddhism is True by Wright is about how the central insights of Buddhism with regards to habits and pleasure has been corroborated by modern scientific evidence. Evolutionary psychology is described as the study of how the human brain was designed—by natural selection—to mislead us, even enslave us. Natural selection has its virtues, and being … Read more
How We Know What Isn’t So Title: How We Know What Isn’t So Author(s): Thomas Gilovich First Published: 1991 Thomas Gilovich offers a guide to the fallacy of the obvious in everyday life. Summary 1 Summary 2 Thinking: Fast and Slow Title: Thinking: Fast and Slow Author(s): Daniel Kahneman First Published: 2011 System 1 is … Read more
“Triumph of the Therapeutic: Uses of Faith After Freud,” written by sociologist Philip Rieff in 1966, is a seminal work that scrutinizes the shift in societal values and the rise of psychological man in the aftermath of Freudian thought. Rieff posits that Western society, having detached from traditional religious and moral commitments, is witnessing the … Read more
Altered Traits by Daniel Goleman and Richard Davidson takes a scientific look at the practice of meditation. From the start, we are assured that the authors are not interested in giving us a sales pitch about meditation. They acknowledge that many hucksters try to make money by promoting meditation in a dishonest way, promising benefits … Read more
The Culture of Narcissism by Christopher Lasch was published in 1979. Lasch argues that the “me generation” that Tom Wolfe previously celebrated, was in fact, dysfunctional, empty, and worthy of contempt. He bases his argument on Sigmund Freud’s insights, who wrote an important paper on the subject called, On Narcissism. At first, Lasch points out … Read more