The modern online public sphere, a place of rapid conclusions, rigid ideological prisms, and arguments of 280 characters, favors neither nuance nor ambiguity. - The Atlantic
"I know something about this rhetorical vagary because it involves nominally the same efforts America supposedly applies to strengthen its own communities that are “vulnerable,” “underserved,” “traditionally overlooked” — you choose the euphemism for poor." - Medium
Sixty years after Kennedy’s speech to Congress, you’d be hard pressed to find anyone willing to make the case that accomplishing hard tasks, solving hard problems, and committing to collective action are particular ambitions or ideals or strengths of American democracy. - The Walrus
The ubiquity of overwork is a serious obstacle for many of the ideas about how we might reshape our professional lives in the months ahead. - The New Yorker
As near as I can figure, when I claim to know something, I am only announcing to myself or to others that henceforth I am going to act and speak as if that something is true. I am going to adopt that claim as a kind of policy guiding my future actions. - 3 Quarks Daily
Most of the time, thinking sounds like hard work, but add “smart” to the front and it sounds more attractive: hipsterishly mid-Atlantic, vaguely technological (like “smartphone”), and with an implied promise of some handy trick or shortcut. - The Guardian
According to a series of surveys conducted by researchers at the University of London, not only did those who engaged in naturism have higher levels of self-esteem and life satisfaction than their clothed counterparts, they also became even happier as they participated in those activities more frequently. - The Walrus
"Comics artist Ilan Manouach and AI engineer Ioannis Siglidis developed the Neural Yorker, an artificial intelligence (AI) engine that posts computer-generated cartoons on Twitter." The results can be hilarious - or deeply unsettling. - Hyperallergic
It opened in 1765 in, of course, France, with a Latin phrase inscribed on the front that translates as, "Come to me, those whose stomachs ache, and I will restore you." - Fast Company
“Scientists have searched fruitlessly for brain boundaries between thinking, feeling, deciding, remembering, moving and other everyday experiences." But these "are poor guides for understanding how brains are structured or how they work.” - Quanta
It’s a truism that high culture, as it used to be known, has been steadily losing its authority since the rise of mass culture in the early twentieth century. - New Criterion
If you want to summarize the changes in family structure over the past century, the truest thing to say is this: We’ve made life freer for individuals and more unstable for families. - The Atlantic
I can hide my mom’s photos or block her zombie Facebook account. But I’ve become accustomed to grieving this way. Technology has dictated what I remember and when, because I’ve let it. - Wired
The idea of the urban rambler—the flâneur—as a half-belonging creature took hold in the latter half of the nineteenth century, and adopted a variety of forms in the twentieth. - The New Yorker
Consciousness has long been the preserve of philosophers and priests, poets and artists; now neuroscientists are investigating the mysterious quality and trying to answer the hard question of how consciousness arises in the first place. - The Guardian
