Writing Worth Reading
Writing Worth Reading
Ted Kaczynski killed three and injured 23 with mailbombs. He was crazy. But he wasn't stupid. He did a lot of deep thinking about the philosophy of technology. Should we take his ideas seriously, despite his crimes?
Main topic: Losing faith in Obama. He overpromised, underdelivered. “It’s like a novelist being obsessed with Tolstoy or Proust, and then he ends up writing short stories that can barely get into some middlebrow magazine." Ouch
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Philosopher Eric Olson talks animalism, identity. "If we copied your mental states to ten human beings at once, at most one of the ten resulting people could be you. The other nine would be deluded. Why wouldn’t all ten be deluded?"
Revisiting Jean Jaurès, figurehead of the French political left. Brilliant philosopher whose dogged determination, "physical politics" and powerful rhetoric made him the intellectual champion of socialism in early 20th century
Full transcript, just published, of Cowen's conversation with Singer from 2009. Two fine thinkers, in fields of economics and philosophy respectively, tackle charity, development, immigration and morality. Fascinating
The answer is Swami Vivekananda, the man who introduced America to "yoga". Simplified Vedantic thought to a few catchy teachings that the West found irresistible. Even Tolstoy was awed, praising him as "the most brilliant wise man"
Fine essay examines our modern capitalist society through the lens of Marx. "If you look at a large picture of the world, much of what he predicted has come true." But there are some key areas where his thinking went awry
"Russell’s work has had a lasting significance for logic, mathematics, set theory, computational science (theory of types), the philosophy of language, epistemology, and metaphysics." This is the story of his life and work
"He was a stout man with a fluffy white beard that sat atop his vest like a platter of cotton balls." Henry Steel Olcott looked part Sufi, part Santa in his white pajamas. This is how the American Presbyterian became a Buddhist icon
Starts off slowly, picks up speed. Manages to convey that the esteemed conservative thinker is a lush, a braggart and a bore without saying as much. Gives him space to get that message across for himself. Nicely done
Not a full obituary, more a precis of Wilson's thinking on why government bureaucracies don't and can't work like private enterprises. He was a conservative who cherished limited government, but also effective government
"For Tony, ideas were a kind of emotion, something he felt and cared about in the way that most people do about feelings like sadness or love." One of the finest thinkers of recent times remembered by his wife in a touching essay
Image by Mark Fischer on Flickr
