The Past is a Brutally Foreign Place

If the past is a foreign country, it is a shockingly violent one. It is easy to forget how dangerous life used to be, how deeply brutality was once woven into the fabric of daily existence. Cultural memory pacifies the past, leaving us with pale souvenirs whose bloody origins have been bleached away. A woman donning a cross seldom reflects that this instrument of torture was a common punishment in the ancient world; nor does a person who speaks of a whipping boy ponder the old practice of flo...

 Phased Retirement

We should establish a new concept of retirement: phased retirement or part-time retirement. This would permit those persons who want to work and are able to do so to phase into total retirement over a period of years. Working part time or part year and “retired” part of the time, they could engage in new learning ventures in an educational environment, or in travel and group discussions. Educational institutions should take the leadership in fashioning different kinds of programs for...

 Understanding Awe

It can be hard to generalize what people consider jaw-dropping, but Vohs says research demonstrates what consistently creates an awesome experience. Travel ranks high. So does gazing at the cosmos on a clear night or watching a sensational film, as well as anytime we encounter massive quantities: colorful tulips in bloom, a bustling market in India, or a stunning school of fish. Novelty and perceptual vastness forces us into the present moment. The study underscores the importance of cultiva...

 Why Traveling at the Speed of Light Slows Down Time

the precise time difference between stationary and moving clocks depends on how much farther the sliding clock's photon must travel to complete each round-trip journey This in turn depends on how quickly the sliding clock is moving—from the viewpoint of a stationary observer, the faster the clock is sliding, the farther the photon must travel to the right. We conclude that in comparison to a stationary clock, the rate of ticking of the sliding clock becomes slower and slower as it moves fas...

 Why Travel to the Antarctic?

But why, it has been asked, did you go there [the Antarctic]? Of what use to civilization can this lifeless continent be? ... [Earlier] expeditions contributed something to the accumulating knowledge of the Antarctic ... that helps us thrust back further the physical and spiritual shadows enfolding our terrestrial existence. Is it not true that one of the strongest and most continuously sustained impulses working in civilization is that which leads to discovery? As long as any part of the wor...