A Buddhist vs. a Materialist on Consciousness
This is a hypothetical conversation between a Materialist (who believes that consciousness arises from the physical world), and a Buddhist (who believes that everyone shares one consciousness). Buddhist: How many consciousnesses does one person have? Materialist: One. Buddhist: What part of the body is responsible for the consciousness? Materialist: The brain. Buddhist: If someone’s brain […]
Read more from the Philosophy of Mind category. If you would like to leave a comment, click here: Comment. or stay up to date with this post via RSS from your site.
Why is it so hard to find good investments lately?
Usually if some asset class is overvalued, other asset classes will be undervalued because there is only so much money to go around. For example, in 1999 tech stocks were highly overvalued while bonds and gold were very cheap. But now it seems like all asset classes are expensive. We are in an asset price […]
Read more from the Economics category. If you would like to leave a comment, click here: Comment. or stay up to date with this post via RSS from your site.
The Sea-Wolf
Although this book was a little slower and didn’t grab my attention as much as other great books typically do, it was definitely a really interesting book. The story follows a bookish man whose ferry sinks in San Francisco bay. He gets rescued by a sailing ship that is on its way across the Pacific […]
Read more from the Philosophical Novel category. If you would like to leave a comment, click here: Comment. or stay up to date with this post via RSS from your site.
Bigger Leaner Stronger
This book is a really good summary of the latest science on bodybuilding. It doesn’t discuss the scientific studies at all; it just gives the conclusions. I would have liked to hear more about the science, but at least all of the conclusions in the book seem to be consistent with the scientific studies that […]
Read more from the Health category. If you would like to leave a comment, click here: Comment. or stay up to date with this post via RSS from your site.
Freedom
This book had some really interesting themes, but overall it just wasn’t that entertaining. It had a great theme of self-sufficient community building and the corruption of government and power elites. But the bulk of the story was about a network of individuals who all wore augmented reality glasses that plugged them into a real-world […]
Read more from the Science Fiction category. If you would like to leave a comment, click here: Comment. or stay up to date with this post via RSS from your site.
The Willpower Instinct
This book discusses a variety of findings in psychology relevant to willpower. One of the main points was that mindfulness is very helpful. For example, instead of trying to suppress your urges, you should “surf your emotions”, feeling them without necessarily giving in to them. It also discusses a lot of pitfalls like how being […]
Read more from the Psychology category. If you would like to leave a comment, click here: Comment. or stay up to date with this post via RSS from your site.
Artificial Intelligence: The Basics
This book just didn’t have enough depth to provide any real educational benefit. It covered a lot of topics, but there was hardly any technical explanation.
Read more from the Computers and Technology category. If you would like to leave a comment, click here: Comment. or stay up to date with this post via RSS from your site.
The Mindbody Prescription
Even though this book is not that fun or exciting, I still think it is a very important book to read because the main idea is so potentially important. The book argues that many chronic pain problems are “psychogenic” i.e. they are caused by mental processes. I decided to read this book after hearing about […]
Read more from the Psychology category. If you would like to leave a comment, click here: Comment. or stay up to date with this post via RSS from your site.
Disruptive Possibilities
This book gave some perspective on the importance of big data in large institutions. It emphasized how big data requires experts that are well-versed in a wide range of areas, unlike the typical silo structure that most organizations currently use. There were a few interesting points that gave insight into how these institutions work, but […]
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Valuing a Human Life
Can you put a price on a human life? This is a question that a lot of people have trouble answering honestly. They say “no”, but their actions say “yes”. In this video, Nobel Prize winning economist Milton Friedman explains how people put a price on their own lives when buying cars. (It’s important to […]