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"Pessimism"
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We’re in the Age of American Pessimism
America is in its pessimism era, and Trump is playing on it, argues the columnist David Brooks in this episode of The Conversation.
Streaming Video
Good news, bad news
While on a picnic, Bunny and Mouse see everything that happens to them from opposite points of view--Bunny sees only the good, while Mouse sees only the bad.
Book
Terrific
Nothing seems to go right for Eugene, even when he wins a free trip to Bermuda, but while he is stranded on a tiny, deserted island after being shipwrecked, a broken-winged parrot tells him how to build a boat so that they can both be rescued.
Book
Digging deeper
Exploring the potential uses of AI in healthcare, why people are intrigued by its uses and how we can safely integrate it into our workplaces.
Journal Article
Response
The aim of this response is to comment not so much on individual contributions, from all of which I have learned much, or indeed on individual examples of polymaths but rather on the practice of polymathy: on what the examples chosen by the authors of these essays tell us about the structures underlying, enabling, or blocking this practice and the ways in which it has changed over the centuries. It will reflect on the deceptively simple questions of What? Who? How? Where? When? With What Effects?
Journal Article
Techno-optimism: an Analysis, an Evaluation and a Modest Defence
What is techno-optimism and how can it be defended? Although techno-optimist views are widely espoused and critiqued, there have been few attempts to systematically analyse what it means to be a techno-optimist and how one might defend this view. This paper attempts to address this oversight by providing a comprehensive analysis and evaluation of techno-optimism. It is argued that techno-optimism is a pluralistic stance that comes in weak and strong forms. These vary along a number of key dimensions but each shares the view that technology plays a key role in ensuring that the good prevails over the bad. Whatever its strength, to defend this stance, one must flesh out an argument with four key premises. Each of these premises is highly controversial and can be subjected to a number of critiques. The paper discusses five such critiques in detail (the values critique, the treadmill critique, the sustainability critique, the irrationality critique and the insufficiency critique). The paper also considers possible responses from the techno-optimist. Finally, it is concluded that although strong forms of techno-optimism are not intellectually defensible, a modest, agency-based version of techno-optimism may be defensible.
Journal Article
A Comparative Study of Rumi and Schopenhauer's Thoughts on Blissfulness
Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) is one of the great philosophers in the world. He is a pessimistic philosopher who has his own special view toward life and the pleasures and pains of life. He is known as the philosopher of pessimism, as he articulated a worldview that challenges the value of existence. On the other hand, in the mystical and intellectual world of Islam, Mawlana Jalal al-Din, known as Rumi, (604-672 AH) stands. Unlike Schopenhauer, he is a ‘happy’ (optimistic) mystic. The importance of \"blissfulness\" and the ways to achieve it in life made us examine this issue comparatively in the thoughts of Rumi and Schopenhauer. With this aim, library resources were studied and necessary data were collected. The research method was descriptive-analytical. The results of the study showed that, unlike Schopenhauer, Rumi is a religious person and believes in God. This issue has created a significant difference in their definition of blissfulness and their hypotheses about the ways to achieve a blissful life. However, issues such as \"who we are\", \"what we have\", and \"what we show\" which Schopenhauer stated have an effect on the creation of happiness, and are similar to parts of Molavi's ideas. The interesting part is that, according to these two thinkers, the mental treatment of human beings with phenomena has an effect on feeling satisfied with life. ‘Who we are’ is a rich source of happiness. Rumi's and Schopenhauer's recommendations are still applicable to humans today since we are trapped in the machine and industrial world and are struggling with great sorrows.
Journal Article