Samarth Bansal
@samarthbansal
Samarth Bansal
The reason we’re so increasingly intolerant of long articles and why we skim them, why we skip forward even in a short video that reduces a 300-page book into a three-minute animation — even in that we skip forward — is that we’ve been infected with this kind of pathological impatience that makes us want to have the knowledge but not do the work of... See more
Maria Popova • Maria Popova — Cartographer of Meaning in a Digital Age
Mary’s Room (Frank Jackson): This thought experiment questions the nature of consciousness and the acquisition of knowledge. Mary is a scientist who has lived her entire life in a black and white room, learning about the world through a black and white television. She knows everything there is to know about the physical world and color, but she has... See more
Writing gave words permanence. Typewriters reduced the friction between having a thought and transferring it onto a page. Computers reduced the cost of editing thoughts after you typed them. The internet made it possible to send your words anywhere, instantly, for zero cost. And now AI will help you think through ideas more completely as you type t... See more
Every • Writing with Machines
The Chinese Room Argument (John Searle): Searle imagines a scenario in which a person who does not understand Chinese is locked in a room full of boxes of Chinese symbols and a rule book for manipulating the symbols. The person can receive questions in Chinese and, by following the rules, send out appropriate responses in Chinese, indistinguishable... See more
Imagine a society without any form of government. People come together and agree to form a government. What powers would you be willing to give to this government, and what rights would you reserve for individuals? This thought experiment, associated with philosophers like Thomas Hobbes and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, explores the nature and legitimacy ... See more
David Lynch on the limitations of language:
“Cinema is a language. It can say things—big, abstract things. And I love that about it. I’m not always good with words. Some people are poets and have a beautiful way of saying things with words. But cinema is its own language. And with it you can say so many things, because you’ve got time and sequen... See more
