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The pleasure of throwing rocks
Benjamin Franklin once noted not to “throw stones at your neighbors, if your own windows are glass.” The impulse to point out other’s mistakes is not a hallmark of the pre-frontal cortex. It assumes one is resting on a pedestal. It provides temporary comfort to the insecure spirit. Finding flaws in others tastes similar to…
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The Russification of discourse
Yesterday I had a long conversation with a close relative. Among many things came up my recommendation of 60 Minutes, the American CBS news show. The mistrust expressed towards my vouching of the show’s neutrality and journalistic integrity put me off. Media bias is a real thing, but to treat all outlets as equally biased…
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Winning hearts
It’s been documented that facts don’t change people’s minds. The mental habit of seeking to pressure-test or challenge one’s own views for the sake of truth-seeking is increasingly scarce. To change positions in the face of new evidence is now indicative of a weak moral backbone. I posit the opposite is true. John Maynard Keynes…
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Flash Bob
Last Saturday I participated in my first Flash Bob in Central Park, a queer spin-off of a more traditional flash mob. We practiced under the Naumburg Bandshell, a 1920s neoclassical coffered half dome that serves as an amphitheater. We spent the first few hours of practice dissolving the shame and self-consciousness that gets in the…
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The courage to be disliked
I often wonder where would I be had I leaned more on the confidence that comes with less introspection. Too much therapy has the risk of undermining the belief in oneself and make questioning of oneself a habit of the mind. The habit of interrogating one’s own motives all the time then brings about timidness,…
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La Cuarta Década
Hoy comienza la cuarta década. Tengo unas ganas enormes de hacer cambios en la trayectoria en la que me encuentro. Veo mi futuro por el cañón de una escopeta. Bendito el retorno de Saturno. Es tiempo de escuchar mi voz interior, de no desperdiciar esa tolerancia al riesgo que trae la juventud. Es tiempo de…
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Alexis de Tocqueville
The French essayist Alexis de Tocqueville titled his 1835 book “Democracy in America”, not “American Democracy.” I think he was doing something interesting here. As if he knew that democracy is rare and precious, not exceptional or inevitable, much less inherent to a nation or city-state. Boy he has been proven right.
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Absorption spectrums
Wouldn’t it be nice to have an interactive tool that allows you to play with visible absorption spectrum curves and see how the geometry and distribution of single or multiple curves affect the resulting color? Can the same color be produced from different combinations of curves? Something similar should be applied for particle size distribution…
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Curiosity is the eros of the mind
David Hume once asserted that “reason is the slave of passions.” I think he is right. Nietschze’s Apollonian and Dionysian dichotomy of intellect and pleasure, of self-restraint and disinhibition, of prudence and folly, is not a binary choice, nor a uni-dimensional spectrum. These may reinforce. Reasoning begins with curiosity, and ends with boring blandness. Curiosity…
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Lecture styles
I’m reflecting on different ways of instruction. Some of my intellectual heroes have a knack at lecturing. When they are at their best, they teach their students how to arouse their curiosity within a disciplined scaffolding. Among these are Richard Feynman, Timothy Snyder, Vincent Scully, Salman Kahn, and Michael Sandel. I describe their lecturing style…