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“Reach distils what made Halo such a trailblazer in the first place: the combat is extraordinarily good fun. … Halo remembers that, above all else, the art of battle is what counts the most.”
“The real utility of the term ‘Islamism’ is that it can be applied to any person, position, value, or policy that one wishes to smear as vaguely fascist or fundamentalist.”
People like to use categories for people (race, religion, nation, class, gender) as explanations for others’ behavior (for example, I was late because there was traffic and I have a […]
“A result of a certain kind of overparenting, we are learning, is children who are better prepared for college but less prepared for life.” Lisa Belkin says parenting has become too sacred.
“The loss of linguistic diversity means permanently shutting the door on a vast wealth of potential scientific knowledge.” Obit’s Axel Rose on the downside of English as lingua franca.
“There’s a better reason for the non-fanatical to return to an antiquated medium like vinyl. Listening to music on a computer or iPod via headphones has become the ultimate in anti-social activities.”
“Under our current system of campaign finance, there is a fundamental gap between the interests of voters and of contributors.” Harvard’s Lawrence Lessig on the Congress’ institutional corruption.
“Either you and everyone you love are going to be killed by robots; or you are going to live forever.” A.I. guru Michael Vassar on what future technology has in store for humans.
“Athletic teams, administrators and tenured professors soak up huge chunks of colleges’ budgets, and tuition and fees rise to keep up.” The L.A. Times follows the money trail.
“If the past is any guide, plenty of today’s science will be discredited in future. There is no reason to think that today’s practitioners are uniquely immune to the misconceptions.”
A world free of disease and poverty. A dictatorial and all-powerful artificial intelligence. Picnics on sunny days with one’s grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren. Genetically engineered dangerous mutants. Which one of […]
“Artists know as well as anybody that music sells stuff, so why shouldn’t they sell the stuff too?” Rob Walker says musicians no longer lose credibility by marketing products.
Why do we listen to someone talking on the phone with more attention than to a conversation where we hear both sides? The Frontal Cortex explains the unavoidable temptation to eavesdrop.