Author: manwithoutqualities

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Jane Austen

Pride and Profit: The Intersection of Jane Austen and Adam Smith

Coming soon . . . Pride and Profit explores the ways in which Austen’s novels reflect Smith’s ideas. More than this, they provide colorful illustrations of Smith’s ideas on self-command, prudence, benevolence, justice, and impartiality as well as vanity, pride, and greed. A freely available symposium on Jack Russell Weinstein’s Adam Smith’s Pluralism: Rationality, Education…

music

Maggot Brain

George Clinton famously told Hazel to play “like your momma had just died,” and the resulting evocation of melancholy and sorrow doesn’t merely rival Jimi Hendrix’s work, but arguably bests a lot of it.  Accompanied by another softer guitar figure providing gentle rhythm for the piece, the end result is simply fantastic, an emotional apocalypse…

the chap

Theology + Geometry: A Gentleman’s Worldview 3

“The Semiotics of Footwear” by Gustav Temple and Vic Darkwood in The Chap Almanac. The Oxford: As eloquent as a letter of recommendation from the Marquis de Sade, the Oxford singles a man out as a fellow worth serious consideration. A foot clad in well-polished and immaculately-crafted leather acts as a passport to the realms…

consciousness

Touching a Nerve: The Self as Brain

Patricia Churchland talking at the very excellent Santa Fe Institute. brain scienceCognitive neurosciencecomplexityconsciousnessdarwinEvolutionary PsychologyMaterialismMoral psychologyNeurophilosophyPatricia ChurchlandPhilosophy of mindsanta fe institutesituated cognitionSpontaneous order

emergence

Army ants ‘mind the gap’ efficiently

BBC popular write up of Simon Garnier’s co-authored Army ants dynamically adjust living bridges in response to a cost–benefit trade-off. antscollective behaviorcomplexitydistributed cognitionoptimizationroboticsself-assemblySelf-organizationSimon GarnierSpontaneous orderStigmergySwarm intelligence

walker percy

Walker Percy Wednesday 60

When I was in the open ward and working on staff, he was very good to me. He immediately saw what I was getting at and helped me wire up my first lapsometer, read my article and refused to take credit as coauthor. “Too metaphysical for me,” he said politely, knocking out his briar. “I’ll…

mishima

Is Japan Finally Coming to Terms With Mishima?

Mishima once famously told his wife that “even if I am not immediately understood, it’s OK because I’ll be understood by the Japan of 50 or 100 years time.” The short answer according to the very excellent Mishima scholar Damian Flanagan is “no”. Today marks the 45th anniversary of Mishima’s death. Speaking of which see Yourcenar’s thoughts…