Mirrors and clocks transformed society, but they’re so old that nobody questions them.
Clocks created a culture of anxiety.
Mirrors created a culture of narcissism.
My first recommendation would be fiction. Reading fiction is important to understand the cross-sectional variation in humanity, to understand how difficult generalizations can be, to just get a sense of how different social pieces fit together, and to get a sense of different historical eras – and plus, reading fiction is often just plain flat-out... See more
I wish surfing the web felt more like taking a stroll around the internet. Snapping a photo here, collecting a bouquet of interesting things there, maybe slipping a postcard under a friend’s door...
And my philosophy of reading is that no-one reads quickly. So someone once asked me “How long did it take you to read that book?” And I said, “Fifty-seven years.” I’m fifty-seven years old. So the way you read well is just by reading a lot, and by reading a lot your whole life. And then when you go to read actual books you’re like “I know that, I... See more
Anyone trying to apply science via technology must reason through contingencies, constraints, and behavior in specific circumstances. Questions like What is most appropriate and desired in this context? arise. Science focuses on necessity and universality; technology focuses on contingencies and specificities. Thus, technology does not just follow... See more
Writing with Open Access takes the next step to reach more people by bringing the spirit of the museum to you through writing. Like visiting the museum, this project offers new ways of thinking about ideas. Unlike the museum, however, the ideas in question are your own. This makes the collection immediately personal. It creates a link between your... See more