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A philosopher can spend a month, a year or a career thinking about one knotty problem. Making assertions, testing theories, understanding how others are thinking about it as well. But this exercise shouldn’t be reserved for academics. What are you working on? When will you change your mind? What can you learn, what can you […]
a year ago

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More from Seth's Blog

Job churn

Since I was born, humans have created 6 billion jobs. All while technology relentlessly disrupts existing industries. The pin making machine replaced the hand-crafted pin. The ox-pulled plow replaced millions of hours of backbreaking work. The amplification and electronic distribution of music upended the work of the live musician, and the camera replaced countless portrait […]

52 minutes ago 1 votes
“GET OUTTA MY WAY”

Pedestrian traffic in Grand Central Station is a bit of a miracle. Thousands of people, all walking quickly, in almost non-Euclidian chaos, headed toward different trains. And no one collides. We see the same thing at a more dangerous clip when a four lane highway merges. The cars are just a few feet apart (or […]

yesterday 3 votes
Aha!

Teaching is not about assignments, textbooks or authority. It’s about the pedagogy, connection and approach that creates the conditions for a willing student to change their mind. Everything else is simply grunt work. Sooner or later, we are all self taught.

2 days ago 4 votes
Centering

Conversations and projects usually revolve around an axis. It could be a goal or an urgency or a person. It might be the boss. Wondering what they want, what they need, what sort of mood they’re in, what just happened, what might happen. “What would Jeff do?” It might the clock. SNL goes on at […]

3 days ago 6 votes
The violinist problem

Two hundred years ago, there were a lot of violinists. Many made a living at it. If you were of means and wanted to hear music, your best option was to hire someone to play it for you. Of course, the invention of the phonograph and the radio changed all of that. Now, one great […]

4 days ago 7 votes

More in creative

Job churn

Since I was born, humans have created 6 billion jobs. All while technology relentlessly disrupts existing industries. The pin making machine replaced the hand-crafted pin. The ox-pulled plow replaced millions of hours of backbreaking work. The amplification and electronic distribution of music upended the work of the live musician, and the camera replaced countless portrait […]

52 minutes ago 1 votes
The Origins of Satan: The Evolution of the Devil in Religion

The Devil, the Beast, Beelzebub, Lucifer, Satan: whichever name we happen to call him, we know full well who the guy is — or at least, we think we do. In fact, the images and evocations of that embodiment of (or perhaps metaphor for) sin, deceit, and temptation that many of us have encountered in […]

an hour ago 1 votes
“GET OUTTA MY WAY”

Pedestrian traffic in Grand Central Station is a bit of a miracle. Thousands of people, all walking quickly, in almost non-Euclidian chaos, headed toward different trains. And no one collides. We see the same thing at a more dangerous clip when a four lane highway merges. The cars are just a few feet apart (or […]

yesterday 3 votes
Gustave Doré’s Haunting Illustrations of Dante’s Divine Comedy

Inferno, Canto X: Many artists have attempted to illustrate Dante Alighieri’s epic poem the Divine Comedy, but none have made such an indelible stamp on our collective imagination as the Frenchman Gustave Doré. Doré was 23 years old in 1855, when he first decided to create a series of engravings for a deluxe edition of […]

3 days ago 6 votes
The violinist problem

Two hundred years ago, there were a lot of violinists. Many made a living at it. If you were of means and wanted to hear music, your best option was to hire someone to play it for you. Of course, the invention of the phonograph and the radio changed all of that. Now, one great […]

4 days ago 7 votes