The ghosts of Rome: returning home
Finding bright company in the inner world of the spirit during the winter season.
29
12, 2021
5
08, 2017
Humanity and the machine: AI’s opening gambit (BBC Technology)
How humanity can dream of a machine-filled life.
28
09, 2016
The pen is mightier than the (key)board, says technology (Microsoft News Center)
In an recent study, Norwegian researchers funded by Microsoft discovered that using a pen stimulated more cerebral activity than typing on a computer. Drawing words makes the brain more prone to learning. From the article: Inspired by previous studies that suggested long-hand notetaking using a pen deepens the mind’s ability to retain and process information, van der [...]
26
09, 2016
East and West, healing and medicine
Contrasting the approaches in Eastern and Western medicine.
24
09, 2016
Healthy living from technology and modern science (Sarah Frier, Bloomberg)
Healthy living from technology and modern science: how the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative would change history within the next generation. “Can we work together to cure, prevent or manage all disease within our children’s lifetime?” Chan said Wednesday onstage at an event in San Francisco for the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. “Mark and I believe that this is possible.” Chan, a [...]
18
09, 2016
Civilization’s tricky situation
Civilization's tricky situation: as we enter the autumnal season, the shadow self would be heard, as the gateway to introspection. Here history and imagination are in play. The so-called civilized man has forgotten the trickster. He remembers him only figuratively and metaphorically, when, irritated by his own ineptitude, he speaks of fate playing tricks on him [...]
16
09, 2016
Thinking critically on the job (Kate Davidson, Wall Street Journal)
Thinking critically on the job: do workers have what it takes (non-technically speaking) to succeed in the Age of Technology? From the article: To determine the most sought-after soft skills, LinkedIn analyzed those listed on the profiles of members who applied for two or more jobs and changed jobs between June 2014 and June 2015. The [...]
14
09, 2016
The costs of learning
The costs of learning: prudent parents have thought of better investments than financing the studies of their children I am thinking of something I heard in Bologna, where I was a student, from a certain honorable citizen, the father of a legal scholar, who told me more than once that there was nothing he regretted as much [...]
12
09, 2016
No literature allowed (Steven Pearlstein, Washington Post)
No literature allowed: parents see little need for their children to receive a broad university education, as its ROI seems negligible. From the article: For me, there’s nothing more depressing than meeting incoming freshmen at Mason who have declared themselves as accounting majors. They’re 18 years old, they haven’t had a chance to take a course in [...]
10
09, 2016
Math and the Mayans (Eric Vance, National Geographic)
Math and the Mayans: an archaeologist brings his engineering experience to bear in reinterpreting pre-Columbian calendars. From the article: Archaeologists have long looked to Venus to understand Maya calendars and tradition. But now, a fresh look at an ancient text called the Dresden Codex suggests that our understanding of how the Maya tracked Venus for their celestial calendars [...]