If it isn’t in another category, it is here.
28
12, 2016
George Orwell: A Life in Pictures
George Orwell: A Life in Pictures An insightful docudrama using Orwell's words and re-creating episodes from his life.
26
12, 2016
Daydreaming and neuroscience (Alison Gopnik, Wall Street Journal)
Daydreaming and neuroscience: how brain imaging may track the creative process fostered by the wandering mind. From the article: Dr. Christoff and colleagues suggest that creative thought involves a special interaction between these control systems and mind-wandering. In this activity, the control system holds a particular problem in mind but permits the brain to wander [...]
23
12, 2016
Do the humanities provide nothing?
Do the humanities provide nothing? And if so, does this "nothingness" reveal more than does science or other fields of knowledge? The Yellow Emperor went wandering To the north of the Red Water To the Kwan Lun mountain. He looked around Over the edge of the world. On the way home He lost his night-colored pearl. [...]
21
12, 2016
Material success and intellectual life: worlds collide (Ramesh Ponnuru, Bloomberg View)
Material success and intellectual life: worlds collide. Ramesh Ponnuru interviews Robert P. George and Cornell West, with surprising results. From his account: One thing that surprised me about our panel, though, was how little they dwelt on political correctness and how much they talked about another threat to the liberal arts: the tendency to view [...]
18
12, 2016
Solitude, inwardness, and demands of life
Solitude, inwardness, and demands of life: how listening to the inner self, the poetic voice, offers freedom from conventions of work and society. I don’t want you to be without a greeting from me when Christmas comes and when you, in the midst of the holiday, are bearing your solitude more heavily than usual. But [...]
16
12, 2016
Tiny bubbles, of the mind (Sydney Finkelstein, BBC Capital)
Tiny bubbles, of the mind (make us feel happy / make us feel fine): the way technological mathematics limits our thinking, enclosing us in ever-smaller circles of awareness. From the article: The ubiquity of incredibly powerful algorithms designed to reinforce our interests also ensures that we see little of what’s new, different and unfamiliar. The [...]
13
12, 2016
The breath of memory: the science of our historical lives (ScienceDaily)
The breath of memory: the science of our historical lives. How we breathe, and when we breathe, affects the way we recognize and recall what lies before us. A new study has wide implications for our reading and understanding the world's many forms of expression. From the study: The rhythm of breathing creates electrical activity in the [...]
11
12, 2016
Learning, language, and moral character
Learning, language, and moral character: to what degree does education, in humanities or the sciences, influence our moral progress? Their own weakness, however, is not the only factor which can make students of philosophy waver and double back. The earnest advice of friends and the mocking, bantering attacks of critics can also, on their occurrence, [...]
10
12, 2016
The business of Britain: Theresa May speaks about investment in science, but not in humanities
The business of Britain: Prime Minister Theresa May speaks about investment in the sciences. But what of the humanities? From her speech: I want to ask you to work with me to show that the forces of capitalism, globalisation and free trade offer the best hope for the problems facing so many people in our country.... [...]
8
12, 2016
Papillon Enterprise: Creativity with a Conscience
"Papillon Enterprise is a socially & ecologically conscious business with a mission of stimulating the Haitian economy by exporting and marketing Haitian artisan goods. We are creating jobs for mothers & fathers who don’t want to have to abandon their children to an orphanage because they can’t feed them." h/t Rick Love [...]