Ahmad Hijazi : Website & BlogMore often than not, evil is not one great shocking act. Mundane evil is the most prevalent form.. and what we come to see as great evil sometimes [usually in retrospect], starts with small tasks, and accumulates simple additions as it goes.
Ironically, I think this summarizes “Oppenheimer” – the events, and the 2023 film.
“The greatest evils in the world will not be carried out by men with guns, but by men in suits sitting behind desks.”
C.S. Lewis
Ayn Rand and Approximate Thinking?
Many people complain about the simplistic (and sometimes infantile) nature of Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged”… Still, the book is only less successful (in terms of distribution) than the bible. What explains this? I argue that it is the conflation of identities and political ideologies with ideas and thought.
Ultimately, laziness and approximate thinking are what made John Galt great! This is really the secret behind Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged”.
The ‘broadest pattern in history’ is a pattern of diffusion of innovation (cultural and technological innovation). The outcomes of the flow of innovation in culture, political and economic organization, and technology, are what caused – eventually – a giant rift between the ‘old world’ and the new one, and between different political entities.
A discussion based on the book by J. Diamond (Link below).
Why is it that discussions on equal opportunities can easily get derailed into name-calling? What are the causes of success, and why are people so sensitive about them? Fuzzy thinking about work and politics, and an incomplete understanding can cause an unnecessary confusion.
“A fox knows many things, but a hedgehog knows one grand thing.” ( Archilochus)…
So it better (wiser) to focus and limit the scope of your work or should you try to diversify ?
This is a short review of the book “Philosophy of Technology” by V. Dusek and its main themes and ideas. I’ve selected some interesting ideas to talk about, and included some excerpts from the book in the end.
So, how can Thor, Odin, and the rest have been results of pillaging, rape, and raids? This post has some comments on Vikings (the series), culture, creativity, audiences, and cultural resources…
Well… the above sentence is highly reductionist, but there is some truth to it. While watching this captivating (mostly) series (Vikings), I frequently thought about culture and its components. I also thought about mobilizing the past (with some creativity and slight of hand) to support statements in contemporary public life.
Here are some of these thoughts, along with a few quotes from the show I really liked (hated).
Ursula LeGuin’s stories show how creativity can be used to explore culture and societies by constructing new universes, and offer great thought experiments. “The Left Hand of Darkness” is an adventure that does so on a very intriguing world with peculiar dwellers!
Below are some thoughts, comments, and quotes from the book.
Country Brands can be a useful socio-economic resource. They are hard to ‘control’, but certain aspects of them can be understood and used to support markets and innovation.
In general, short stories focus on a self-contained event or mood. They can be quite powerful (although some really aren’t worth the time). (Very) short stories are a further challenge for writers. Here are three excellent examples from the film “Manto”.