23 MAY 2015 by ideonexus

 Write With Style

Newspaper reporters and technical writers are trained to reveal almost nothing about themselves in their writings. This makes them freaks in the world of writers, since almost all of the other ink-stained wretches in that world reveal a lot about themselves to readers. We call these revelations, accidental and intentional, elements of style. These revelations tell us as readers what sort of person it is with whom we are spending time. Does the writer sound ignorant or informed, stupid or bri...
Folksonomies: writing style
Folksonomies: writing style
  1  notes
 
24 DEC 2013 by ideonexus

 Humans are the Giraffes of Altruism

Humans are the giraffes of altruism. We’re freaks of nature, able (at our best) to achieve antlike levels of service to the group. We readily join together to create superorganisms, but unlike the eusocial insects we do it with blatant disregard for kinship and we do it temporarily and contingent upon special circumstances (particularly intergroup conflict, as is found in war, sports, and business). [...] Having the term “contingent superorganism” in our cognitive toolkit may help peo...
Folksonomies: humanism altruism
Folksonomies: humanism altruism
  1  notes

Jonathan Haidt explains our our proclivity to help one another makes us a kind of "superorganism."