provocations
provocative ideas, musings, and statements to mull on
sari and
provocations
So true:
“I think the pressures are always the same—the only difference is the amount of money that’s involved. I mean, it’s a lot of pressure to produce something for $25 dollars when you really need $25. It doesn’t matter if the pressure is for $2,500 or $25,000—it’s the same pressure.”
- Frank Stella.
Why is life expectancy so long in Hong Kong? Life expectancy in Hong Kong is 84.23 years, more than five years longer than the US and the highest in the world. Hong Kong is not that wealthy (median household income is $38,000 USD); it’s somewhat polluted; people don’t obviously eat what seems like a healthy diet; and they don’t seem to exercise a g... See more
Tyler Cowen • Work on these things - Marginal REVOLUTION
(PDF) The Environment Is Not A System
PDF | This paper considers some of the limitations and possibilities of computational models in the context of environmental inquiry, specifically... | Find, read and cite all the research you need on ResearchGate
researchgate.net
Data-driven research methods necessitate the collection of huge quantities of data and in doing so, they dismantle opportunities for paying close specific attention to the world. These methods also tend to obscure the many other ways of building understanding. Also, perhaps intentionally, data collection increasingly acts to maintain the status quo. We use data to study problems that would be more effectively addressed through simple political action. The impetus to “study the problem” ad nauseam gives the appearance of addressing an issue while perfectly maintaining the present state of affairs.
The story ends when enough people stop believing in it, not when the opportunity space actually dries up.
Venkatesh Rao • Narrative Slipstream Effects
What are the words you do not have yet? [Or, “for what do you not have words, yet?”]
What do you need to say? [List as many things as necessary]
“What are the tyrannies you swallow day by day and attempt to make your own, until you will sicken and die of them, still in silence?” [List as many as necessary today. Then write a new list tomorrow.
Wild Hope: Indy Johar Keynote
youtube.comMutually-assured thriving
“You’re doing it all wrong,” said someone doing nothing at all.
Literacy as Deviance
The document argues that literacy is a deviation from our natural cognitive abilities, and as technology progresses, the need for traditional literacy skills diminishes.
nysgs.orgHow are we to prepare the young, whom we already scarcely know, for a future we cannot imagine, from a past that has been swept away?
And that’s for comparatively structured questions, like “What is the optimal way to convert input X into output Y?” It’s even harder for uncertain jobs, like “What should input Y be?” Was the team that designed the “like” button more productive than the team that produced Slack’s “emoji react” feature? We can argue indefinitely. Maybe the “like” ti... See more