Tag: the human mind

Simon Leys: The View from the Bridge. His lectures on Learning, Reading, Writing and Going Abroad and Staying Home (1996)

First posted August 4, 2018 In 1996, Professor Pierre Ryckmans (Simon Leys) presented the ABC Boyer Lectures. Subsequently published under the title The View from the Bridge the lectures were serialised in four parts in China Heritage Quarterly with the permission of the author. The first lecture was called Learning (some introductory paragraphs are given below; but the link will… Read More Simon Leys: The View from the Bridge. His lectures on Learning, Reading, Writing and Going Abroad and Staying Home (1996)

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Gideon Lewis-Kraus: How Harmful Is Social Media?

In April, the social psychologist Jonathan Haidt published an essay in The Atlantic in which he sought to explain, as the piece’s title had it, “Why the Past 10 Years of American Life Have Been Uniquely Stupid.” Anyone familiar with Haidt’s work in the past half decade could have anticipated his answer: social media. Although Haidt concedes that political… Read More Gideon Lewis-Kraus: How Harmful Is Social Media?

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Dr Gabor Maté on toxic culture and its relationship to mental + physical health

Dr Gabor Maté is a renowned speaker and bestselling author; sought after for his expertise on drug addiction, stress and childhood development. Here is his speech on interpersonal relationships and health Dr. Gabor Maté on The Connection Between Stress and Disease Gabor Maté: In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts #GaborMaté #ToxicCulture CREDIT: Speaker: Dr Gabor Maté… Read More Dr Gabor Maté on toxic culture and its relationship to mental + physical health

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“Hello darkness, my old friend…”

The story behind the first line of The Sounds of Silence     Adapted from Sandy Greenberg’s memoir: “Hello Darkness, My Old Friend: How Daring Dreams and Unyielding Friendship Turned One Man’s Blindness into an Extraordinary Vision for Life.”…  Lyrics It began when Arthur “Art” Garfunkel, a Jewish kid from Queens, enrolled in Columbia University. During freshman… Read More “Hello darkness, my old friend…”

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Elon Musk is the king of trolls in an age of troll politics / What better owner for Twitter than master of the ill-advised tweet?

Even while hammering out the final details of his £35bn ($44bn) purchase of Twitter, Elon Musk took some time out this weekend to tweet. He likes tweeting, does the world’s richest man, usually from what he calls his “porcelain throne” (that detail disclosed on Twitter, naturally enough). This one was a photo of Bill Gates, zeroing… Read More Elon Musk is the king of trolls in an age of troll politics / What better owner for Twitter than master of the ill-advised tweet?

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Two Strangers Who Meet Five Times. By Marcus Markou

Two Strangers Who Meet Five Times screened at the following festivals throughout 2017 and 2018 – winning the following awards. Los Angeles Film Awards Paris Play Film Festival – WINNER BEST SHORT LA Shorts Awards Mindfield Film Festival, Albuquerque – WINNER BEST SHORT San Luis Obispo International Film Festival – WINNER BEST NARRATIVE SHORT New… Read More Two Strangers Who Meet Five Times. By Marcus Markou

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Lynn Paramore: Our Economic System is Making Us Mentally Ill

If you’re unlucky enough to reside in a town where data centers house computer servers storing everything from financial data for giant corporations to military secrets, you’re likely to find that a loud, whining noise becomes life’s agonizing background. The sound peaks and subsides, but it’s always there, never allowing you to fully relax. Eventually,… Read More Lynn Paramore: Our Economic System is Making Us Mentally Ill

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Book review: How Thomas Mann escaped to America and waged a moral battle against Hitler

Mann returned to Europe in 1952, never to leave again… it was politics that had brought him to America, and politics that pushed him away. The mind is always in exile.. “I am an American,” Thomas Mann said during a radio interview in 1940. If he sounded relieved, it was because he was: He had… Read More Book review: How Thomas Mann escaped to America and waged a moral battle against Hitler

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