It’s both impossible and stupid to not judge others. This is too obvious for words, except that I repeatedly find myself being accused1)Somewhat judgementally. of “judging people” as though it were the supreme wrong. But to do otherwise would be to sleepwalk through the world. Footnotes 1. ↑ Somewhat judgementally.
An opinion piece on education? I know. Don’t worry this is less than a thousand words. In rich countries the education system we currently have is frequently and enjoyably criticised from every angle1)Leaving higher education to one side, early childhood, primary and secondary education is an area I have some expertise in, having been a…
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In a well anthologised quotation, the philosopher Jean-François Lyotard defined the postmodern condition as “incredulity towards metanarratives”. We all need more incredulity, especially towards the large, totalising explanations of the world and history that Lyotard had in mind. The narratives offered by religions, national myths, and pre-packaged political ideologies obviously need to be met with virile scepticism….
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Many people say you should do what you’re passionate about. It’s an inspirational idea, espoused often in commencement and graduation speeches, and these are the most inspirational types of speeches. However I prefer a softer formulation: Do what doesn’t make you sick with boredom. While it may seem cynical it forms a welcome out from…
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To take Nassim Nicholas Taleb seriously one first needs to unsubscribe from his Twitter feed, then un-like him on Facebook and then read his books, especially Antifragile and Black Swan: his daily output is somewhat erratic, whereas his books are quite profound.
My man AC Grayling says, “To read is to fly.” I think that’s wonderful but I also think that to read (if done properly) is to continually run up against how much you should read, or reread. So in fact: to read more is to know less.
I heard it again the other day. At a barbeque a friend added weight to a factoid he was giving me by adding the phrase “It’s been scientifically proven that …”. I’ve had it. I’m ready to happily add this to Jamie’s category of phrases that “makes you sound smart to dumb people but dumb to smart people”.
I had a great conversation with my friend Maryam (@ahm026) a few weeks ago. Despite it being (or perhaps because it was) way too late at night we stumbled onto questioning the very definition of a career. My starting point was that a career is a thoroughly selfish act, and does not necessarily map to…
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