Culture

Is there an antidote for the Crippling Fear of Inadequacy with which all creatives, contrarians, and sportspeople are familiar? When are qualifications...

That nothing is free is a physical law, and one that extends to being a truly unique human.  We invest an awful lot...

Though painted as the enemy, anti-social, anti-human, blinding, bias paradise, and beaten out of our kids at school, obsession is not bad....

Why does the Potter drink from the broken pot? Why does the chef prefer hotpot to horse bresaola? Why isn’t France the...

Or why Stephen Hawkings was wrong, Ronaldo is necessarily arrogant, and reaching for stars means you might reach them. In the previous piece...

...and chocolates, but we already know that. It’s probably been three or four years since I first conceived of the idea to write...

We should never be satisfied with our leaders - Low expectations are antithetical to progress - Stasis is an illusion.   Picture a leader...

What good is information without an elucidating explanation? Why hasn't our immense information wealth translated into solutions to the Great Problems? If...

...we’re taught at school to follow steps, that This Way is The Way to learn, protocols based on strict obedience, and all that, we develop a fear of doing anything outside of what is known, or which generates slight discomfort, or which is against the norm. We develop a fear of exactly the kind of thinking that creativity requires. And without creativity, we can’t learn anything; progress is made by creative engagement with problems: we have a problem...

Does mindfulness help you get things done? Is it not just another flavour of 'balanced living'? Was Einstein a mindful man? It could be an...

There was a time where you could finish a newspaper or book and be out of options until the next day. The time in-between could be used for a billion different things, but consciously or not, it would also allow for the information consumed to marinate in the brain. Most of use are familiar with shower-conceived epiphanies...

Feathers in the ferocious hurricane Nature or creators of our own destiny? Are humans no more than typical scum on a...

Who's lived the most interesting life? Following on from Tyler Cowen's recent post I thought I'd share a few names of my own. These are...

And what makes you believe we should we believe you? Because of its apparent prevalence, my answer will seem strange. Surely the truth is important,...

Disparaging emotion in yourself or in others is a perilous game From an empirical standpoint, emotion—more specifically, emotional investment—is crucial for the development of a...

Ignoramus intelligentsia and the consequences of enforced equality My brother, one of the most athletic students in his year group, hasn't been selected to represent...

Critical thinking is the product of two interdependent elements. First is the ability to criticise ideas, opinions, actions, trends, and so on. Underdeveloped critical...

The secret weapon of the charlatan is the one they display the most: head-turning, hypnotising, inspiring, attention-grabbing, confidence covers up conniving motive. Hence, we...