“The advantage of such shortcut responding lies in its efficiency and economy; by reacting automatically to a normally informative trigger feature, an individual preserves crucial time, energy, and mental capacity. The disadvantage of such responding lies in its vulnerability to silly and costly mistakes.” Robert Cialdini David Sobel, MD, MPH, and Sally MallamContributing Writers As we’ve …
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Featured Book Rescuing the Planet Protecting Half the Land to Heal the Earth Tony Hiss “Everything is impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela A surprising and genuine optimism about the Earth’s future emerges from the pages of Rescuing the Planet, by Tony Hiss, former staff writer for The New Yorker. Hiss finds this hope in otherwise ordinary people …
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In recent years India has defied calls to abandon its aggressive plans to burn more coal. But now economics and a crisis in health have set the nation on a new course. When the Agua Cliente solar plant west of Phoenix, Arizona was commissioned in 2014 it was the largest in world. But the new …
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The “reality” each organism lives inside — whether it is our own or that of ants, cows and, for all we know, grass — is a virtual one. Each organism has evolved a sensory system and a nervous system to select what it needs to get through the day in its neighborhood. Robert Ornstein, PhD; …
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The poor live with lawlessness, poor nutrition, low quality of education, and have so little cash reserves that simple mistakes or health problems can have devastating consequences. The poor live with lawlessness, poor nutrition, low quality of education, and have so little cash reserves that simple mistakes or health problems can have devastating consequences. The …
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“There is a constant give-and-take in which what we experience reflects not just what the world is currently telling us, but what we — consciously or non-consciously — were expecting it to be telling us.”— Andy Clark, The Experience Machine: How Our Minds Predict and Shape Reality Robert Ornstein, PhD; David Sobel, MD, MPH; and Sally …
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Today, all around the world, technology has become a part of everyday life, and its capabilities are progressing rapidly. The world of our children bears little relationship to that of our grandparents. Our future will not be through the past, for biological evolution has not prepared us for a world in which communication is instant …
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Watch: Ethics & Race in Tech Ruha Benjamin in conversation with Meredith Whittaker, City Arts and Lectures June 1, 2020 Benjamin and Whittaker exemplify the kind of discussion we need to imagine and create the world we want. They caution against the expectation that technology will provide a “magic bullet” to right the social fissures underlying the …
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Greek dramatic plays, held in honor of selected gods, were unlike anything the world had seen before. They were performed in amphitheaters that provided a physical space in which foundational elements for the growth and sustainability of democracy were nurtured. By Sally MallamContributing Writer Over at least three days Athenians had the opportunity, time …
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Honoring the Gods involved all aspects of the Panhellenic Games. The agon, or contest, was at the center of life for the Greeks in their striving towards individual excellence, and, at the same time, prepared them both physically and mentally for conflict. By Sally MallamContributing Writer The Olympic Games, held every four years in honor …
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Like other pre-Axial cultures, Greeks believed in a pantheon of Gods who presided over every aspect of life and nature. By Sally MallamContributing Write As in other cultures, the development of Greek religion focused around those aspects of Greek life that were of primary importance, for the Greeks it was the resolution of conflict or statis, …
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Residents waited to collect water from a natural spring in Cape Town. Photo by Discott In 2018 Cape Town, South Africa, a city of over 4 million, ran out of water. The city government announced that on “Day Zero” residents would have no running water in their homes and businesses. People lined up at communal …
Seguir leyendo The Glass Really Is Half Empty → 