"(It) challenged long-held theological and scientific assumptions about nature and humankind’s place in it: that the Bible was to be taken literally; that the world had been made a mere 6,000 years before; that a divine being wrought man in his own image; that humans were the pinnacle of Creation." - The Atlantic (MSN)
“A truly effective remedy need seek not only to punish Google for its past offenses but also open markets by meaningfully restraining the company from similar conduct in the future.” - The New York Times
"Where do we learn and refine the skills to be an artist or an athlete? We go to school. … (Schools) provide resources to train in creative and athletic skills – but very few other life skills, and fewer that promote flourishing and transcendence in the way contemplative practice can." - Psyche
"When asked to make a mental note of the first number that comes into their heads, (people) … expect the frequencies of response to be more or less equal across the range of response options. In fact, ... responses tend to cluster in reliable and predictable ways, especially with large audiences." - The MIT Press Reader
"The difference between being mean and being cruel has to do with intention, scale, and intensity. ... Being mean is always directed at another person. It is a way of telling the truth … that, through carelessness or minor wickedness, gives pain to someone else." - The Hedgehog Review
“We may yearn for the freedom from all the extraneous stuff embedded in our smartphones — the distractions from the world around us — but liberty comes at the cost of becoming cut off from all the essentials, too.” - Washington Post
“This summer’s three biggest relatively high-brow, low-budget horror films — Maxxxine, Longlegs, and Cuckoo — represent a move toward big moods. … A horror movie doesn’t have to be smart to be enjoyable, but is it unfair to ask them to at least not be so dim?" - The Verge
“We seem to be torn between two approaches to the role of the arts in American life — whether we need a narrowly political approach at times of crisis, or whether we have faith in the chaotic, democratic possibilities of unrestrained speech and art.” - The New York Times
"(There's currently) a wave of writers encouraging active resistance to the relentless 'goal-oriented' expectation that, 'in a world where our value is determined by our productivity', every hour and minute of our time should be put to good use." Note the spread of the word "niksen," the Dutch term for doing nothing. - BBC
"(There's a) trend in Asia seeing architects seek inspiration from the region's rice terraces and other agricultural heritages to help urban communities reduce waterlogging and flooding. Examples range from adapted wetland parks in Chinese cities to homes in Vietnam with rice paddy-inspired rooftops" — and one particularly innovative university building in Bangkok. - BBC
Assembly theory, as ASU professor Sara Walker and her colleagues call it, "looks at everything in the universe in terms of how it was assembled from smaller parts. Life, the scientists argue, emerges when the universe hits on a way to make exceptionally intricate things." - The New York Times
"Researchers analysed thousands of gestures made by wild chimps in east Africa and found striking similarities with the turn-taking seen in human conversations, in particular how swiftly the apes responded to one another." - The Guardian
"A neural code refers to particular patterns of brain activity associated with distinct words in their contexts. We found that the speakers’ brains are aligned on a shared neural code. Importantly, the brain’s neural code resembled the artificial neural code of large language models, or LLMs." - The Conversation
“When it comes to the health consequences of phones, so much depends on context. How someone uses an app matters, as well which app. One person might use Instagram to message with friends, whereas another could just scroll their feed aimlessly, feeling worse about themselves.” - The Atlantic (MSN)
