In the consumerist world, the difference between true and false needs vanishes—we become convinced that ultimate fulfillment can be found in our next luxury purchase or mass-market commodity, and when it inevitably fails to deliver, we seek out another. - The Point
Google was incredibly insecure—always was, and still is. The company, which had toppled a market leader by building better technology, is haunted by the fear of being pushed aside itself. - The Atlantic
The mathematics that's all around us, after all, doesn't come to us smoothly, in neatly formed themes or topics or packages. It's not separated into ascending levels of difficulty. It's not necessarily chronological, certainly not alphabetical, never orderly. - Shaastra
The current state of public discourse, if it’s even worthy of that name, is a strange fusion where smarm and snark wrestle and embrace one another in vicious shadowy vacuums. It is less clear than ever which side is winning. - LitHub
I wanted to know what percent of all Americans change their race over the span of the panel, what percent of Americans who initially identify as white change their race, what percent of initial Black Americans do so, and so on. - Psyche
As higher education continues to over-produce PhDs, many have sought an alternative path. This is a new niche of the online info-tainment ecosystem. These intellectual influencers produce content for an audience that they hope will embrace and financially support their work. - 3 Quarks Daily
There will always be a need for genuine community and human connection, which can be aided by tools like this. We see chatbots being used in fun and innovative ways to complement community and human connection — not replace it.” - The Verge
"Many Super Bowl ads aren’t actually trying to be good. They’re just out to shock us awake, to sizzle our brains, to spike our dopamine. And in this effort, a bad ad can serve quite well—especially if it’s truly, exponentially, off-the-charts bad." - Slate
It is hard to think of any human institution enduring for centuries of which it can seriously be said it was all good or all bad. If the British Empire was all bad, then it stands almost unique in the three millennia of recorded human barbarism. - Literary Review
From the myth that humans only use 10 percent of their brain to the idea that creativity and logic is a "right-brained" versus "left-brained" issue, there are many popular misconceptions about neuroscience that have wormed their way into public consciousness. - Salon
The modern U.S. economy is really made up of metropolitan regions, not states whose boundaries are arbitrary compared to local economies. A 2009 study identified eleven “megaregions” in the United States with 31 percent of all U.S. counties but 74 percent of the nation’s population. - Big Think
I don’t think culture is one thing. Sometimes it is a set of understandings and practices that we share with other people who have had the same kind of experiences, like a generation. - Public Books
It might just be inevitable to conclude that, as Shakespeare himself wrote, ‘there be nothing new, but that which is hath been before’ – borrowing from the Old Testament, of course. - Psyche
‘Good old-fashioned telepathy’ (GOFT) involves a direct transfer of thoughts from one mind to another. It has captivated people for a few reasons. - Aeon
For as long as technologies of writing and reading have been extending the mind, writers have offered strategies for managing that interaction and given advice for thinking properly in media environments that appeared hostile to ‘proper’ thought. - Aeon
