Guest Thinkers — September 1, 2010

Quick update for 2/23/2010

Nothing like the flu to get you off track

Posts might be a little sparse for the next few days – I’m recovering from a rather nasty bout with a flu-type thing, so I’m fallen behind in pretty much everything. I’ll try to get back up to speed here in a few days, but if you run across any fascinating volcano news, feel free to post it here.

The Past

Islam has become less rational since its medieval Golden Age. What went wrong?

Once a cosmopolitan faith, Islam valued intellectualism and modernity. It was derailed by various geopolitical and religious forces.

a black and white drawing of two men in a library.

The Past

The other, more important Renaissance you never learned about

A new book by historian and author Paul Strathern argues that the Northern European Renaissance has long been overlooked.

The Future

A general-purpose robot is entering the workforce

Named “Phoenix,” this AI-powered humanoid could be your next coworker.

a black and white photo of a person in a box.

High Culture

Forget Transylvania. Dracula was inspired by an Irish cholera epidemic

Bram Stoker’s mother survived a terrible cholera outbreak and recounted the ghastly scenes to her son years later.

A statue of a man sitting under a night sky filled with stars.

The Learning Curve

The 3 disciplines of Stoicism: A guide for living a life of meaning and intention

Philosophers Massimo Pigliucci and Greg Lopez discuss how Stoicism can help us gain perspective on our emotions and act with intention in the world.

Up Next

Guest Thinkers

Friday Flotsam: Another rumbling Russian and tossing nuclear waste into volcanoes

The latest USGS/SI volcano report, how we use the magnetism of minerals to tell us about a volcano and should we dispose of nuclear waste by throwing it into a volcano (?!)