Leo Tolstoy on Finding Meaning in a Meaningless World

My question … was the simplest of questions, lying in the soul of every man from the foolish child to the wisest elder: it was a question without an answer to which one cannot live, as I had found by experience. It was: “What will come of what I am doing today or shall do tomorrow? What will come of my whole life?” Differently expressed,

… [ Read more ]

Authors: Leo Tolstoy, Maria Popova
Source: The Marginalian (Brain Pickings) (June 3, 2014)
Subjects: Articles & Links, Excerpts, Intelligence | Knowledge, Life & Society, Meaning, Philosophy, Psychology | Behavior, Religion

The U.S. Cannot Be Run Like a Business

A healthy society balances the power of respected governments in the public sector with both responsible businesses in the private sector and robust communities in what I call the plural sector — the clubs, religions, community hospitals, foundations, NGOs, and cooperatives with which so many of us engage. The plural sector, although the least recognized of the three, is large and diverse. Many of us … [ Read more ]

Author: Henry Mintzberg
Source: Harvard Business Review (HBR) (March2017)
Subjects: America, Articles & Links, Excerpts, Life & Society, Politics & Public Policy

The Four Desires Driving All Human Behavior: Bertrand Russell’s Magnificent Nobel Prize Acceptance Speech

All human activity is prompted by desire. There is a wholly fallacious theory advanced by some earnest moralists to the effect that it is possible to resist desire in the interests of duty and moral principle. I say this is fallacious, not because no man ever acts from a sense of duty, but because duty has no hold on him unless he desires to be

… [ Read more ]

Authors: Bertrand Russell, Maria Popova
Source: The Marginalian (Brain Pickings) (September 21, 2015)
Subjects: Articles & Links, Excerpts, Psychology | Behavior

Where Did Steve Bannon Get His Worldview? From My Book.

We can identify four “turnings” that each last about 20 years — the length of a generation. Think of these as recurring seasons, starting with spring and ending with winter. In every turning, a new generation is born and each older generation ages into its next phase of life.

Author: Neil Howe
Source: The Washington Post (February 24, 2017)
Subjects: Articles & Links, Excerpts, Foreign Policy, History, Politics & Public Policy, Sociology | Anthropology

Nietzsche on How to Find Yourself and the True Value of Education

“Do you have the courage to bring forth the treasures that are hidden within you?” This is among life’s most abiding questions and the history of human creativity — our art and our poetry and most empathically all of our philosophy — is the history of attempts to answer it.

There is no drearier, sorrier creature in nature than the man who has evaded his own

… [ Read more ]

Authors: Friedrich Nietzsche, Maria Popova
Source: The Marginalian (Brain Pickings) (September 30, 2015)
Subjects: Articles & Links, Excerpts, Life & Society, Personal Improvement, Philosophy

How Not to Be Elizabeth Gilbert

Gilbert has inspired a whole niche of faux travel writing by women. […] In this genre, the focus of attention is the self, and the beautiful locale becomes the backdrop of the real action, which is interior psychodrama.

These writers position themselves against the iconic travel writer who is, of course, male. From Sir Richard Francis Burton to Bruce Chatwin to Paul Theroux, the traveler is … [ Read more ]

Author: Jessa Crispin
Source: Boston Review (July 20, 2015)
Subjects: Articles & Links, Excerpts, Travel

The Confidence Game: What Con Artists Reveal About the Psychology of Trust and Why Even the Most Rational of Us Are Susceptible to Deception

It’s the oldest story ever told. The story of belief — of the basic, irresistible, universal human need to believe in something that gives life meaning, something that reaffirms our view of ourselves, the world, and our place in it… For our minds are built for stories. We crave them, and, when there aren’t ready ones available, we create them. Stories about our origins. Our … [ Read more ]

Authors: Maria Konnikova, Maria Popova
Source: The Marginalian (Brain Pickings) (January 12, 2016)
Subjects: Articles & Links, Excerpts, Psychology | Behavior, Trust

The 10 Most Popular Conspiracy Theories in America

Some have viewed conspiracy theories as a particular affectation of the American right […] Modern researchers, however, challenge the view that conspiracies are an exclusively rightwing feature, seeing such theories as a kind of magical thinking that allows people from all walks of life and political persuasions to cope with complex emotions, often brought on by an inexplicable event.

[…]‌

The view that people believe in conspiracies … [ Read more ]

Author: Paul Ratner
Source: Big Think (March 19, 2017)
Subjects: Articles & Links, Excerpts, Politics & Public Policy, Psychology | Behavior

C.S. Lewis on Equality and Our Core Misconception About Democracy

“The notion of obligations comes before that of rights, which is subordinate and relative to the former. A right is not effectual by itself, but only in relation to the obligation to which it corresponds.” – Simone Weil

Nowhere do we muddle these two notions more liberally than in our treatment of democracy and its foundational principle of equality — a basic right to be conferred … [ Read more ]

Authors: C.S. Lewis, Maria Popova
Source: The Marginalian (Brain Pickings) (November 29, 2016)
Subjects: Articles & Links, Excerpts, Politics & Public Policy

A Minority President: Why the Polls Failed, And What the Majority Can Do

Setting aside the title, George Lakoff provides an interesting framework to explain fundamental differences between conservatives and liberals or progressives. Specifically, he introduces the idea of the Nurturant Parent family (progressive) and the Strict Father family (conservative). He also discusses the folly of considering demographics vs. worldview or values and how that relates to specific issues.

Author: George Lakoff
Subjects: Articles & Links, Excerpts, Politics & Public Policy, Trump

Remember the ‘Thucydides Trap’? The Chinese Do; Trump Clearly Does Not

In my cover story in the December issue of the magazine, on how the United States should prepare for the possibility of a more truculent and repressive China, I mention the concept of the “Thucydides Trap.” The article describes the implications:

This concept was popularized by the Harvard political scientist [and my one-time professor as an undergraduate] Graham Allison. Its premise is that through the 2,500

… [ Read more ]

Author: James Fallows
Source: The Atlantic (December 17, 2016)
Subjects: Articles & Links, Excerpts, Politics & Public Policy, Trump

A Brain Scientist Explains How To Turn Trump Into A ‘Loser’

“The conservative and progressive worldviews dividing our country can most readily be understood in terms of moral worldviews that are encapsulated in two very different idealizations of family life: The Nurturant Parent family (progressive) and the Strict Father family (conservative).

[…]‌

Many union members are strict fathers at home or in their private life. They believe in ‘traditional family values’ — a conservative code word — and … [ Read more ]

Author: George Lakoff
Source: The National Memo (November 27, 2016)
Subjects: Articles & Links, Excerpts, Politics & Public Policy, Trump

Do Trade Agreements Lead to Income Inequality?

The arguments being pushed by the Trump administration regarding tariffs and related restrictive trade policies are off the mark because they overlook two crucial issues, according to Wharton dean Geoffrey Garrett: “Rapid technological change coupled with economic stagnation have caused more of the pain felt in Middle America than free trade.” In this opinion piece, Garrett also notes that while free trade lowers the cost … [ Read more ]

Author: Geoffrey Garrett
Source: Knolwedge@Wharton (February 1, 2017)
Subjects: Articles & Links, Economics | Economy, Excerpts, International, Politics & Public Policy

Is Our Trade Deficit a Problem?

What is a trade deficit?
A trade deficit happens when a country’s imports of goods and services exceed its exports of goods and services. In other words, when a country buys more from the rest of the world than it sells, the country incurs a trade deficit. […] The size of the trade deficit is primarily determined by four macroeconomic forces:

  1. The difference between U.S. household

… [ Read more ]

Authors: Euijin Jung, Gary Clyde Hufbauer
Source: PBS NewsHour (February 2, 2017)
Subjects: Articles & Links, Economics | Economy, Excerpts

Rushing to Judgment

Many scientists agree that the Earth seems warmer than in centuries past. But what is the cause? Part of a two-article series (Global Warming: Both Sides) on global warming examining both sides of the argument.

The debate about global warming has grown ever more intense in recent years and become as much political as it is scientific. There’s no doubt that Earth is warming— the … [ Read more ]

Author: Jack M. Hollander
Source: The Wilson Quarterly (Spring2003)
Subjects: Articles & Links, Environment | Sustainability, Excerpts, Politics & Public Policy

Experimenting with Earth

Two scientists present the evidence that greenhouse gases are causing the Earth’s warming. Part of a two-article series (Global Warming: Both Sides) on global warming examining both sides of the argument.

The debate about global warming has grown ever more intense in recent years and become as much political as it is scientific. There’s no doubt that Earth is warming— the scientific evidence shows that … [ Read more ]

Authors: Tim P. Barnett, V. Ramanathan
Source: The Wilson Quarterly (Spring2003)
Subjects: Articles & Links, Environment | Sustainability, Excerpts, Politics & Public Policy

Full Text of Remarks by Top State Dep’t Official Discharged by Trump’s White House–Tom Countryman’s Powerful Farewell Address

Last week, six top State Department officials were suddenly discharged by the White House—an Undersecretary, an acting Undersecretary, and four Assistant Secretaries—without notice and without even a nominee selected to replace them. Tom Countryman, who served the nation for 35 years and at the time as Assistant Secretary of State for International Security and Nonproliferation, was in Amman booked to fly to an international meeting … [ Read more ]

Authors: Ryan Goodman, Tom Countryman
Source: Just Security (February 3, 2017)
Subjects: America, Articles & Links, Excerpts, Foreign Policy, International, Politics & Public Policy

Healthcare Articles

Healthcare is a huge part of the economy and has been a huge public policy issue and political problem for many years. After the election of 2016 the expectation was that full Republican control of government would lead to the repeal of Obamacare (Affordable Care Act) that the party had been championing since immediately after it became law. As of now that still hasn’t happened, … [ Read more ]

Subjects: Articles & Links, Health & Medicine, Politics & Public Policy

More Money, More Problems: How Profit Hijacked U.S. Health Care

The cost of health care in the United States is spiraling upward while politicians continue to bicker over how to fix a broken system. Elisabeth Rosenthal has a sweeping view of the problem because she has seen it from all sides. Rosenthal is a Harvard Medical School graduate who practiced emergency medicine before becoming a journalist. She covered health care and other topics for The … [ Read more ]

Author: Elisabeth Rosenthal
Source: Knolwedge@Wharton (June 2, 2017)
Subjects: Articles & Links, Excerpts, Health & Medicine, Politics & Public Policy

Twelve Innovative Ideas for Fixing American Health Care

The challenge of providing affordable, high-quality health care for all Americans is the subject of furious debate in the nation’s capital. University of Pennsylvania’s Ezekiel Emanuel, chair of the medical ethics and health policy department and a health care management professor at Wharton, helped craft the Affordable Care Act during the Obama administration. He puts forward some ideas for improving the system in his book, … [ Read more ]

Author: Ezekiel Emanuel
Source: Knolwedge@Wharton (June 22, 2017)
Subjects: Articles & Links, Excerpts, Health & Medicine, Politics & Public Policy