How did Christinaity become so widespread?

Book Review: The Rise Of Christianity is a fascinating essay and historical overview of Ancient Rome that debunks a lot of my believes about that time. Somehow, in high school (where I come from at least) we are taught that Ancient Greece and Rome were advanced societies, and then they collapsed and …

The actual three-body problem and chaos theory

Since the excellent The Three-Body Problem book trilogy and the similarly great Netflix adaptation, I have been wondering why exactly is the name-giving physics/mathematics problem called the three-body problem considered unsolvable. Frustratingly, searching on Google didn’t let me find any …

Book review: How the War Was Won

I don’t normally read or enjoy World War 2-analysis, but Your Book Review: How the War Was Won was an interesting read. The book in question challenges traditional narratives about what exactly allowed the Allies to win WW2, and offers its own less glamorous and heroic explanations that ring …

Religious psychology in Dune

Have you seen Dune: Part 2 yet? I think it’s well worth watching in the cinema, it’s an extraordinarily good adaptation of Frank Herbert’s book. If you have seen it, you have probably rolled your eyes on the Freemen’s extreme religiosity and felt empathy for Chani as she …

Coordination problems vs the Techno-Optimist Manifesto

I’ve come across The Techno-Optimist Manifesto and, well, I have thoughts. (I know, it was bound to happen eventually.) I agree with a lot of the points, perhaps even with most of them, but the rest strikes me as plainly naive: As techno-optimists, we believe that we must, and we will, create …

Who is Afraid of Charles Darwin? (Homo Deus)

I’m continuing to read Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow, which, by the way, is everything but brief at 496 pages. I’m currently at page 180 though, so making steady progress. Yuval Noah Harari, the author, continues to present interesting ideas and narratives. One interesting thing …

Liking What You See: disabling our perception of beauty?

Beauty is the promise of happiness. (Stendhal) I’ve been reading Ted Chiang’s short story collection Stories of Your Life and Others and I have to say that I can really recommend it. I’m rarely in the mood for short stories, but every single story here presents a unique and …

Progress without brakes, for good or ill (Homo Deus)

I’ve been reading Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow. In the first chapter The new human agenda, the author gives his interpretation of history and how humanity has ended up as it is today due to scientific and technological development – roughly as follows: humans seeking comfort …

Modern movies on human bodies: everyone is beautiful and no one is horny

An interesting, thought-provoking, and well-written article: Everyone is beautiful and no one is horny Modern action and superhero films fetishize the body, even as they desexualize it. See also the discussion on Hacker News. Of course there’s sex in a movie. Isn’t there always? The answer, of …

The Three Body Problem

I’m very excited for the upcoming The Three Body Problem series! I’ve read and thoroughly enjoyed the book trilogy, and it looks like they are sticking decently close to the source material. This must be a challenging story to put on screen! The book’s cover text: Set against the …