my thoughts on anything related to philosophy.
The spread of disinformation that is palpable on social media can be traced to a much earlier period in history, back when the news could only be communicated through newspapers. In the beginning, there was a high standard of quality that was expected of them, but eventually newspapers came to depend not on the quality … Read more
The internet economy is largely driven by clicks. The quality of information is no longer important as it once was in the pre-internet age. The way modern media outlets grab attention is through sensationalism. That is, to design the titles of the news stories in such a way, so as to generate the maximum amount … Read more
William James, the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States, made an interesting argument about habits. He said that society would fall apart if not for habits. James was not arguing that this was a good thing, it is simply how the world works. If people were not habitual, business would … Read more
A History of Proverbs Proverbs are cultural signs for recurrent social situations. They are employed as verbal strategies to assure meaningful communication, in a metaphorical fashion. The wisdom contained in these pithy formulaic utterances is based on observations and experiences that are believed to be general enough that they deserve to be remembered through memorable … Read more
In The 37 Percent Rule, the basic idea is that you have a series of candidates you are interviewing for the role of secretary (this thought experiment originated in the 1950s). You interview each candidate one by one and must decide on the spot if you will stop your search there and hire the candidate. … Read more
Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things – Isaac Newton One book that I have read, by Baudrillard, fits this category. The entire book, and his entire line of thought (which include multiple books) can be summarized in a few sentences. Essentially, we create representations … Read more
One of the most important physicists who ever lived, Isaac Newton, told us, that “Truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things.” After him, Albert Einstein wrote, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.” Physics is a very complicated subject. Newton and Einstein are … Read more
The founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, once came up with a heuristic to make decisions called The Regret Minimization Framework – the idea is to project yourself into the future and look back on your decision from that perspective, to know what you should do. After Bezos popularized this idea, many writers have used it … Read more
The simulacrum is never that which conceals the truth–it is the truth which conceals that there is none. The simulacrum is true. Ecclesiastes In a world increasingly mediated by technology and awash in data, the notion of “reality” seems ever more elusive. Jean Baudrillard, the French philosopher and cultural theorist, brought this paradox into sharp … Read more
The idea of the superorganism by Howard Bloom, answers the question posed at the end of this article: Do nations embody the same psychological characteristics as individual human beings do? According to Bloom, every nation is a superorganism, a cluster of billions of cells, that attempts to gain power, whenever an opportunity presents itself. And … Read more