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“Don’t covet your grief like a precious thing, something that justifies your every whim.” In the controversy over Cordoba House, The Economist sees a petulant America just trying to get its way.
Children’s author Roald Dahl was a socialite, fighter pilot, and spy for the British government after World War II. A new biography details the unassuming author’s foreign conquests.
A new meta-analysis shows a large majority of subjects for psychology experiments have been U.S. undergraduates, a population from which one should be wary of making generalized conclusions.
“Telekinesis. Harnessing the mind to control your surroundings. It is the stuff of fantasy. Now, that fantasy is crystallizing into reality.” The L.A. Times on consumer products that read your mind.
“Reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated”, Mark Twain famously responded after reading his obituary in the New York Journal. To which may now be added “Reports of the […]
“Society has clearly benefited from the invention of caffeine, so why shouldn’t we also put a touch of amphetamine in the water?” The Frontal Cortex ponders human enhancement.
As Moscow is afflicted by heat waves and smoke from neighboring forest fires, Russians are sometimes at a loss. The countries cultural wisdom turns on surviving the cold (with vodka), not the heat.
“The loudest and most important lesson of the Soviet experience should always be: don’t ever do this again. Children, don’t try this at home.” A new book chronicles the failed experiment.
“The FCC has halted discussions amid reports spread that Google and Verizon will propose their own, less regulatory framework for Net neutrality.” The L.A. Times says the FCC must act now.
Since this is Big Think’s ‘Month of Thinking Dangerously’, here are my three pennies worth. In politics it has almost been impossible to think dangerously on either side of the Atlantic […]
“When life is being led in public, every word and gesture is open to criticism.” A new book explains how social media recall the dating games of Jane Austin’s provincial England.
Harvard psychologist Gene Heyman says what while people may have predispositions to addiction, evidence shows people consciously choose to break their addictive habits (or not).
“We assume that more rational analysis leads to better choices but, in many instances, that assumption is exactly backwards.” Being too analytic confuses our value judgments, say new research.
“Offering a cash prize to encourage innovation is all the rage. Sometimes it works rather well.” The Economist says patrons are offering big prizes like the Ansari X to motivate inventors.