On Ambition
Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art In the early 17th century, a Baroque printmaker by the name of Jacques Callot composed a series of etchings entitled The Seven Deadly Sins. In this series, Callot characterized each Deadly Sin in human form. One of the seven depicts a gaunt and disheveled woman clutching a venomous snake. It’s titled “Invidia,”meaning “Envy.” Four centuries later, the world’s most successful semiconductors company was founded, with a market capitalizati
9 hours ago3 min read
Materialism, Philosophy Zombies, and Logic: Don't Try Teleportation!
Traveling from New York to London by clicking a button sounds pretty great, right? No crowded airplanes needed, you’re just there in under a second. This is teleportation, the conception of instantaneous travel. Disappear in one place … and reappear in another. Often, people consider the possibility of a reconstruction-deconstruction teleporter machine: a system of two devices (one on the origin side and one on the destination side). The origin teleporter would scan a person
4 days ago4 min read
Self Studying a Classical Education for the Future
Cicero denounces Catiline before the Roman Senate Novus homo, Latin for “new man,” fittingly describes the famous Marcus Tullius Cicero. Once a boy too weak and frail to even be considered for military service, the traditional route to Roman prestige, Cicero devoted himself to becoming dangerously intelligent in the pursuit of goodness. He immersed himself in a Classical education, studying philosophies such as Platonism, Stoicism, and Epicureanism. He studied rhetoric, maste
Jul 73 min read
René Girard's Mimetic Theory & Peter Thiel on Innovation
Lately, I've been fascinated by René Girard's Theory of Mimetic Desire. From my anecdotal observation, the names of Greek and German philosophy-titans (e.g. Socrates, Plato, Kant, Hegel) are always first responses to the question, "name a philosopher," and modern thinkers often come second, that is if they're even known. René Girard is one worth studying. Rather than explain Mimetic Desire, I think it's better to show it, as it's a decently relatable idea once you get it. Sta
Jul 23 min read
