Commonplace Richer Charisma Changed Philosophy Chances
The Glass Box And The Commonplace Book by Steven Johnson (stevenberlinjohnson.com): In times past, men like John Locke and Benjamin Franklin would keep a “commonplace book”, a collection of quotes and their reactions to quotes; Locke thought this invaluable to the formulation of ideas, and well, philosophers still talk about him today, don’t they? John Locke’s “commonplace book”, in a lot of ways, resembles a well-kept blog, and Johnson uses it to elegantly argue why the no-copy-and-paste glass box of the iPad may be regrettable for humanity.
Chances Are by Steven Strogatz (New York Times/Opinionator): A fantastic meditation on probability statistics, what they mean, why they terribly confuse people, how they can be misused, and how misleading statistics might have contributed to OJ’s not guilty verdict.
Philosophy For The All-Too-Common Man by John Gray (The National Interest): AC Grayling is the most pre-eminent fan of the Enlightenment, and John Gray is the most pre-eminent critic of the Enlightenment; so the sparks do fly in this article, as Gray tries to savage the ideas of Grayling (in my opinion, not entirely successfully, but not entirely unsuccessfully, either - I still think the Enlightenment is noble and has given us more than a cynic like Gray would admit, but like any ideology it has flaws). [via]
If I May Be So BOLD: How Charisma Can Make You Hand Over Your Brain by Meera Lee Sethi (Inkling): Listening to someone who a) has charisma, and b) you believe to be right, seems to shut down large areas of the frontal cortex - we lose our ability to judge. [via]
The Times, They Changed by Jerry Lembcke (Chronicle Review): Why are students not more outraged about the state of the world today? Lembcke argues that the student activism of the 60s was a unique case formed in special conditions that have dramatically changed since, usually in ways that severely limit the amount of time students have or their ability to believe that they might make a difference.
India’s Criminal Tribes: If They Were Crooks, Wouldn’t They Be Richer? (The Economist): The Pardhi tribe are part of 60 million Indians considered criminal solely by tradition, by the caste-system - India is weird, that you are criminal solely by dint of who your parents were. [via]
