(no subject)

Reminds me of adjunction in Category Theory.



quote from The Hero with a Thousand Faces, by Joseph Campbell.

TIL: panic

It turns out that the word "panic" can be traced back to Pan.

The Arcadian god Pan is the best known Classical example of this dangerous presence dwelling just beyond the protected zone of the village boundary.

The emotion that he instilled in human beings who by accident adventured into his domain was "panic" fear, a sudden, groundless fright. Any trifling cause then—the break of a twig, the flutter of a leaf—would flood the mind with imagined danger, and in the frantic effort to escape from his own aroused unconscious the victim expired in a flight of dread.

--- quoted from The Hero with a Thousand Faces.

Note, how the ancients externalized imagination. Similarly, all Odysseus' creative ideas were whispered to him by the gods.

Hero vs Merchant

The hero ventures into a different world, obtains a valuable object and bestows its benefits on the entire humanity. People love him for that and make him the king.

The merchant ventures into a different world, obtains a valuable object and sells it to the few who can afford to buy. People hate him for that and tax his unfair profits.

upd. the nature of the goods obtained is different wrt their rival and excludable properties.

Прогресс

Еще каких-то сто лет назад, в обществе шли дебаты, нужно ли учить девочек читать и писать. А сейчас уже идут дебаты, нужно ли девочек учить математике и программированию. Наверное, это к лучшему.

И еще, в традиционном исламском обществе до сих пор еще не решили, учить ли девочек читать и писать. Так что мы лучше, чем исламисты.

Speaking of cognitive abilities

Age is probably a more important factor than gender. Moreover, lab vs life discrepancy appears to be a big issue in cognitive abilities research.

Abstract: Adult age differences in a variety of cognitive abilities are well documented, and many of those abilities have been found to be related to success in the workplace and in everyday life. However, increased age is seldom associated with lower levels of real-world functioning, and the reasons for this lab-life discrepancy are not well understood.

Source: doi: 10.1146/annurev-psych-120710-100328

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3632788/

(no subject)

Watch on YouTube

(no subject)

I've just realized that I think about China like Jon Snow thinks about Whitewalkers: the threat is imminent and we need as many allies as we can muster. In the meantime, the red clown in the White House makes us look unhinged and incapable of meaningful leadership. Pence isn't much of a presidential material either. What a waste.