Consolation for artists and intellectuals
For all the great strides we've made in rationalism and reason, as a species we seem to be irrevocably ruled by our emotions. Is this a flaw for us to overcome with science, or can our emotions reveal to us the truth? Rick Anthony Furtak digs deep in his book Knowing Emotions.
“Do you want to go to World Press Photo and feel bad about everything?” This year's World Press Photo exhibit, on display in Amsterdam until July 22, is no exception to the rule that no news is good news.
"What I love about compassion, what makes it so cool, is that when you give back to others, the person who benefits the most is actually you."—Parneet Pal, in our interview about her work at Wisdom Labs.
"If you care about giving communities stability and a chance to keep themselves safe and produce a civic life, then housing is a big part of that story."—Matthew Desmond, in our interview about his book Evicted.
"A lot of the things that people deal with in psychology that are treated as individual pathologies, are more a product of the economic structure in which we’re embedded, namely advanced capitalism."—Michael Arfken, in our interview about his conference on Pathologies of Capitalism
In his new book Bullshit Jobs, David Graeber pulls apart the open secret of modern-day work and wages: many of us know that our jobs are completely made up.
"My project is like visual research into women on the shelf, arranged marriage, and the irrelationship—the forced intimacy—of it all. I want viewers to experience those forced relationships."—Yingguang Guo, in our interview about her photo series The Bliss of Conformity.
What do I want to do with my life? is one of the most basic questions of our time on Earth, as well as among the most heavyweight. Philosophy professor Cheshire Calhoun makes her case for how to break it down in her new book, Doing Valuable Time.
"Maybe the ‘love’ metaphor is an interesting one; we shouldn’t fall in love with the future, it’s too dangerous. We need to keep a distance, have a mature relationship."—Andrew Keen, in our interview about his book How to Fix the Future
“We, human beings, are a species that’s not only capable of acting on hidden motives—we’re designed to do it,” write Kevin Simler and Robin Hanson in their new book The Elephant in the Brain.