language vs reality
In post-structuralist literary theory, meaning is a central concern. By meaning, I am not referring to some grand purpose for an individual or for humanity, but rather the simpler and more prosaic concept discussed by linguist Ferdinand de Saussure. The connection between a signifier and its signified, between a word and its referent, is the issue.
... See moreGeorge P. Hansen • The Trickster and the Paranormal
Sometimes, knowing the name is good enough. Most cognitive biases work that way. Once you find out what availability bias is, you can figure out where you’ve fallen for it. Noticing availability bias without knowing it is much harder. It’s the same for emotions, ideas, design patterns, and specific situations in life. Having a name helps you notice... See more
Neil Kakkar • Vocabulary as a Meta Mental Model
availability bias
“Sometimes, knowing the name is good enough.”
The roots of the word “compete” are the Latin con petire, which meant “to seek together.” What each person seeks is to actualize her potential, and this task is made easier when others force us to do our best. Of course, competition improves experience only as long as attention is focused primarily on the activity itself. If extrinsic goals—such as
... See moreMihaly Csikszentmihalyi • Flow: The Psychology of Happiness
Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann, the influential phenomenological sociologists, have written that our sense of the universe in which we live is held together by conversation. When I say to an acquaintance whom I meet in the morning, “Nice day,” I do not convey primarily meteorological information—which would be redundant anyway, since he has the s
... See moreMihaly Csikszentmihalyi • Flow: The Psychology of Happiness
These are the terms amateur and dilettante. Nowadays these labels are slightly derogatory. An amateur or a dilettante is someone not quite up to par, a person not to be taken very seriously, one whose performance falls short of professional standards. But originally, “amateur,” from the Latin verb amare, “to love,” referred to a person who loved wh
... See moreMihaly Csikszentmihalyi • Flow: The Psychology of Happiness
turns out if you let yourself want what you want*, everything is amazing
(* instead of supposed-tos, shoulds, “if I were a good person, I’d…”s, rules, everybody else’s opinion, what’s ‘sane’, what’s ‘reasonable’, what you have worked out intellectually, etc.)
