In the 1950s and 60s artists increasingly looked at the products of pop culture as ideas and materials they could use for their own work. Louis Menand explains. - New York Review of Books
Scholarly consensus regarding cultural appropriation has long accepted that the lines between cultural appreciation and appropriation may be difficult to clearly determine in real time, and especially within the contemporary social media-driven zeitgeist. - The Conversation
If we accept that cult members have some degree of volition, the job of distinguishing cults from other belief-based organizations becomes a good deal more difficult. - The New Yorker
Policy makers, economists, techies, lawyers, business leaders, and consumers should borrow an idea from cultural anthropology and consider the concept of “barter.” - Harvard Business Review
Unlike ideas of air, food and water that allow us to think about the everyday resources we need to survive, the venerable notions of knowledge, truth or justice don’t obviously cater to practical needs. - Aeon
"In today’s context, it is unclear why we are talking about boys and girls as though these are fixed identities to which masculinity and femininity naturally attach, unless to speak in these terms promotes a form of gender moralism, or gender dogma." - Psyche
Studies suggest that bored people score higher on creativity tests. As our distractions have multiplied, our minds have less opportunity to wander. Thus... - Medium
"A researcher at the University of William and Mary analyzed 300,000 Torrance Test scores since the '50s. She found that creativity scores began to nosedive in 1990. - Inc
Face pareidolia – seeing faces in random objects or patterns of light and shadow – is an everyday phenomenon. Once considered a symptom of psychosis, it arises from an error in visual perception. - The Guardian
The decisions that I am aware of speak for me, the conscious agent, who I am and how I impact the world, either locally or, perhaps for some folks, in a more profound global way. These practical decisions about what to do are intentions I form. - 3 Quarks Daily
Apparently, we must retire victim, survivor, trigger warning, and African-American too. We must do so, that is, if we seek to ignore some linguistic fundamentals while also engaging in distinctly callow sociological calisthenics. - The Atlantic
Does it strike you as odd that so many people tuned in to hear about a doctored speedrun of a children’s video game, while barely a ripple was made—even among scientists—by the discovery of more than 80 fake scientific papers? - The Atlantic
For her entire career, Nussbaum, now seventy-four, has blazed a trail for women in philosophy, a field that historically has not welcomed female thinkers. - New York Review of Books
Sometimes distrust is not only appropriate but is also a way to initiate the conversation that’s needed for civic friendship. Distrust, in a democracy, can actually be a good thing. - Psyche
