‘What if, to the contrary, positive thinking represents a biased grasp of reality? What if, when I was depressed, I learned something valuable, that I wouldn’t be able to learn at a lower cost? What if it was a collapse of illusions – the collapse of unrealistic thinking – and the glimpse of a reality that actually caused my anxiety? What if, when depressed, we actually perceive reality more accurately? What if both my need to be happy and the demand of psychotherapy to heal depression are based on the same illusion? What if the so-called gold standard of therapy is just a comforting pseudoscience itself’ Link
Care Technologies for Ageing Societies: An International Comparison
This Doctor Pioneered Counting Calories a Century Ago, and We’re Still Dealing With the Consequences
‘Technical reports often compare LLMs’ outputs with “human” performance on various tests. Here, we ask, “Which humans?”’ Link
‘[W]hat bothers me about this educational approach—the “problem” approach, the “STEAM” (STEM + arts) approach—is what it leaves out. It leaves out the humanities. It leaves out books. It leaves out literature and philosophy, history and art history and the history of religion. It leaves out any mode of inquiry—reflection, speculation, conversation with the past—that cannot be turned to immediate practical ends. Not everything in the world is a problem, and to see the world as a series of problems is to limit the potential of both world and self. What problem does a song address? What problem will reading Voltaire help you solve, in any predictable way? The “problem” approach—the “engagement” approach, the save-the-world approach—leaves out, finally, what I’d call learning’ Link
‘In studying inter-communal violence, there is a tendency to over-emphasize the ethnic and religious causes of conflict, while ignoring underlying social and economic factors’ Link
“The Union of the Soul and the Body”: Merleau-Ponty on Being in the World
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The broken link for #5 has been repaired now. Thanks for spotting it and letting me know, Yury.