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☆ How to Live a Happy Life, From a Leading Atheist
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-27 | by ( David Marchese | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +4 min

“I want people to see what a meaningful, happy life I’ve had with these beliefs,” says Dennett, who is 81. They’ve got trillions of motor proteins, and motor proteins are not alive. Motor proteins aren’t alive. Life couldn’t exist without these little molecular machines — by the trillions — that are working in your body right now. Human life and human consciousness are made possible by these incredibly brilliant consortia of little robots.

Persons: Daniel C, Dennett, Christopher Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, “, ” Dennett, I’ve, ”, ” Daniel C, Beata Zawrzel, It’s, They’ve, She’s, That’s, Susan, David Marchese, Emma Chamberlain, Walter Mosley Organizations: Tufts University, Getty, Congregational Church, United Church of Christ, YouTube, Cal Newport Locations: Poland, what’s, America

☆ The ‘World’s Happiest Man’ Shares His Three Rules for Life
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-13 | by ( David Marchese | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +8 min

Talk The ‘World’s Happiest Man’ Shares His Three Rules for LifeMatthieu Ricard is an ordained Buddhist monk and an internationally best-selling author of books about altruism, animal rights, happiness and wisdom. These skills take time.”It’s not the best thing to say, but I can easily imagine wanting certain people to suffer. That’s compassion; that’s being impartial. Marilyn Silverstone/Shechen ArchivesFor a while now, people have been calling you the world’s happiest man. If we try humbly, with some happiness, to enhance our benevolence, that will be the best way to have a good life.

Persons: Matthieu Ricard, Dalai Lama’s, ”, Ricard, ” It’s, Vladimir Putin, Putin’s, Saddam Hussein, I, Putin, Bashar al, Assad, Donald Trump, Dilgo Khyentse, Marilyn Silverstone, It’s, it’s, Dalai Lama, Philippe Lopez, “, Raphaële, David Marchese, Emma Chamberlain, Walter Mosley Organizations: of Merit, University of Wisconsin, French Senate, Agence France, Presse, Getty Images, Apple, YouTube, Cal Newport Locations: Dalai Lama’s French, Dalai, Paro, Bhutan, French, America

☆ Alok Vaid-Menon Is ‘Fighting for Trans Ordinariness’
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-29 | by ( David Marchese | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +7 min

Talk Alok Vaid-Menon Is ‘Fighting for Trans Ordinariness’So much of the mainstream political discussion about transgender and gender-nonconforming identity is rooted in conflict. The activist, writer and comedian Alok Vaid-Menon acknowledges those fundamental, often violent clashes but comes at them from a place of peace and compassion. “I’m fighting for trans ordinariness,” Vaid-Menon says. When I was thinking about coming here this morning, I was like, I’m going to take the train because it’s delightful. In the past, it would be, People are going to stare at me; they’re going to gawk at me; I might get harassed.

Persons: Menon, Alok Vaid, “, ” Vaid, Vaid, They’re, Alok, Bryan Bedder, they’ve, Jonathan Van Ness, Samantha Burkardt, —, David Marchese, Emma Chamberlain, Walter Mosley Organizations: Rights, ”, GLAAD, Southwest, YouTube, Cal Newport Locations: polarities, New York City, May, Australia, Austin , Texas, South, America

☆ Joyce Carol Oates Figured Out the Secret to Immortality
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-16 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +8 min

Talk Joyce Carol Oates Figured Out the Secret to Immortality“I have,” Joyce Carol Oates says, “so many ideas.” That’s putting it mildly. “The one I’m doing now, the reader’s going to be surprised.”Joyce Carol Oates in 1970. I don’t think about it too much. I thought, Wow, it’s so funny and weird and wonderful, and I don’t think there’s almost any readership for that. There’s Emily Dickinson over here, there’s Faulkner, there’s Cormac McCarthy, and I feel I’m in that territory.

Persons: Joyce Carol Oates, ” Joyce Carol Oates, “, ”, Oates, you’ll, ” Oates, Bettmann, what’s, Philip Roth, Philip, Bernard Malamud, I’m, John Updike’s, John Updike, Barack Obama, Jim Watson, Stickum, doesn’t, Nabokov, Ana de Armas, Marilyn Monroe, Cormac McCarthy, It’s, you’re, Monet, Van Gogh, there’s Hieronymus Bosch, he’s, Crumb, there’s Picasso, Emily Dickinson, there’s Faulkner, there’s Cormac McCarthy, David Marchese, Emma Chamberlain, Walter Mosley Organizations: Oates, Agence France, Presse, Getty, The New York, Twitter, Netflix, YouTube, Cal Newport Locations: America

☆ Robert Downey Jr.’s Post-Marvel Balancing Act
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-09 | by ( David Marchese | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +11 min

So from where you’re sitting, do you feel as if you’re able to make sense of the business right now? Robert Downey Jr. in “Oppenheimer.” Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal PicturesIs it right that you’re remaking “Vertigo”? Downey on “Downey’s Dream Cars.” MaxDowney with his son Exton Elias and father, Robert Downey Sr., in “Sr.” (2022). I’m saying that doing the right thing for the right reasons gives you an advantage in spirit. You know, there’s part of me that thinks I should be a writer or an entrepreneur or I could blah, blah, blah.

Persons: Robert Downey Jr, ” Robert Downey Jr, “, Oppenheimer, ”, Christopher Nolan, Nolan —, Downey, Lewis Strauss, J, Robert Oppenheimer, Cillian Murphy, —, Tony Stark, “ Oppenheimer, “ Perry Mason, ” Melinda Sue Gordon, ” Max Downey, Exton Elias, Robert Downey Sr, there’s, Chris Nolan, I’m, I’ve, he’s, Strauss, Oprah, Taylor, we’re, ” Downey, Holly Hunter, Mariana Trench, don’t, you’ve, Marisa Tomei, “ Chaplin ”, Jami Gertz, Andrew McCarthy, Sherlock Holmes, David Marchese, Emma Chamberlain, Walter Mosley Organizations: Marvel, Atomic Energy Commission, Universal, Netflix, Paramount, Everett, Little League, Carolco, Getty, Century Fox, U.S, Marshals, YouTube, Cal Newport Locations: Thunderdome, “, “ Sr, what’s, America

☆ Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Great ‘Indiana Jones’ Adventure
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-02 | by ( David Marchese | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +8 min

Talk Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s Great ‘Indiana Jones’ AdventureThere’s a photo of Phoebe Waller-Bridge, taken at an Emmys afterparty in 2019, that captures, better than any other contemporary celebrity photo I’ve seen, the enduring allure and glamour of Hollywood success. Phoebe Waller-Bridge with Harrison Ford in “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.” Jonathan Olley/Lucasfilm Ltd. Christ, I don’t know the answer. Now people could be like, “I’ve got a show,” but you don’t know where it’s going to go out, you don’t know how many people are going to see it. Whereas before you’re like, no one cares, no one’s watching, no one’s going to give you anything, but you’re going to do it anyway, now you’re like, they’re going to give you everything!

Persons: Phoebe Waller, Indiana, “, Waller, Indiana Jones, James Bond, ”, ’, I’ve, I’m, Harrison Ford, “ Indiana Jones, ” Jonathan Olley, —, I’ll, We’re, you’ve, it’s, “ I’ve, ” Waller, ” Luke Varley, he’s, Josh Cole, Phoebe, they’d, I’d, what’s, David Marchese, Emma Chamberlain, Walter Mosley Organizations: Indiana Jones, Amazon Studios, Lucasfilm, “, BBC, YouTube, Cal Newport Locations: British, Waller, “, America

☆ Samantha Irby Says It’s OK to Hate Your Body
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-18 | by ( David Marchese | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +7 min

Talk Samantha Irby Says It’s OK to Hate Your BodyAs far as descriptions of writers go, “humorist” has an old-fashioned, almost quaint ring to it, the literary equivalent of haberdasher or lamplighter. Maybe I was born too early to get on the “I don’t give a [expletive] if you see my legs” thing. I don’t know if this is controversial, but I don’t miss my parents. But I don’t know. I think I’m off the hook a little because my main target is myself, but the joke sensitivity is wild to me.

Persons: Samantha Irby, ”, “, operatically, vivacity, Irby, ” Irby, I’ve, they’re, she’s, Cynthia Nixon, Kevin Yatarola, don’t, Nicole Ari Parker, Sarah Jessica Parker, Kristin Davis, Karen Pittman, ” Craig Blankenhorn, Max, Brown, Paul Mooney, Richard Pryor, I’m, David, David Marchese, Emma Chamberlain, Walter Mosley Organizations: ”, YouTube, Cal Newport Locations: ”, New York, America

☆ Emily Morse Wants You to Think Seriously About an Open Relationship
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-11 | by ( David Marchese | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +10 min

Talk Emily Morse Wants You to Think Seriously About an Open RelationshipFor nearly 20 years, Emily Morse has been publicly talking with people about sex. The people in successful ethical nonmonogamous relationships have a very healthy relationship to their own sex life and their own intimacy, their own desires. Screen grab from YouTubeWhat about couples who stay together because their sex life is great but the rest of their relationship is bad? There’s so many of them, and every day I get hundreds of questions from people who you would think would know better. But if you have a better sex life, you have a better life.

Persons: Emily Morse, Emily ”, they’re, Morse, “, ”, Couples, Gwyneth Paltrow, anyone’s, David, Don’t, don’t, you’re, —, didn’t, I’ve, David Marchese, Emma Chamberlain, Walter Mosley Organizations: Macworld, YouTube, Cal Newport Locations: kinkiest, San Francisco, California, America

☆ What If Instead of Trying to Manage Your Time, You Set It Free?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-15 | by ( David Marchese | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +11 min

Mamadi Doumbouya for The New York Times Talk What If Instead of Trying to Manage Your Time, You Set It Free? I’m curious to know what you think we do actually owe our jobs, as far as time goes. There’s a distinction between signing up to do a job and signing up to have every second micromanaged. I remember there was a Reddit post of someone who was talking about trying to outsource everything in their life and making it superefficient. He recently interviewed Emma Chamberlain about leaving YouTube, Walter Mosley about a dumber America and Cal Newport about a new way to work.

☆ How Do We Ensure an A.I. Future That Allows for Human Thriving?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-02 | by ( David Marchese | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +16 min

Some of us would like to slow this down because we are seeing more costs every day, but I don’t think that means that there are no benefits. We may someday have a technology that revolutionizes science and technology, but I don’t think GPT-5 is the ticket for that. Combine that human overattribution with the reality that these systems don’t know what they’re talking about and are error-prone, and you have a problem. I don’t think we should go after an individual who posts a silly story on Facebook that wasn’t true. I don’t think, however, that the technology we have right now is very good for that — systems that can’t even reliably do math problems.

☆ The Queen of Twitch Wonders What Turns Teenage Fans Into Trolls
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-24 | by ( David Marchese | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +11 min

Mamadi Doumbouya for The New York Times Talk The Queen of Twitch Wonders What Turns Teenage Fans Into TrollsImane Anys has experienced a turbocharged version of the ostensibly good and indisputably awful that can come with being a star in the world of online content creators. Honestly, there are people in the streaming industry who don’t find misogyny deplorable, who don’t think it’s a big deal, who don’t think deepfaking should be punishable in any way. For me, it’s been invaluable to have fellow female streamers who know what I’ve gone through, who can validate my feelings. If I have a particular interest in pottery, let me showcase that instead of just focusing on gaming and streaming. Being able to connect with other people who are interested in the same things as you is so validating.

☆ A Psychedelics Pioneer Takes the Ultimate Trip
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-03 | by ( David Marchese | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +15 min

Mamadi Doumbouya for The New York Times Talk A Psychedelics Pioneer Takes the Ultimate TripAs the founding director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Psychedelic and Consciousness Research, Dr. Roland Griffiths has been a pioneer in investigating the ways in which psychedelics can help treat depression, addiction and, in patients with a life-threatening cancer diagnosis, psychological distress. He has also looked at how the use of psychedelics can produce transformative and long-lasting feelings of human interconnectedness and unity. “So I believe that in principle we shouldn’t need this Stage 4 cancer diagnosis to awaken. Is your perspective maybe one that a 40-year-old, say, with a terminal cancer diagnosis would be able to inhabit so profoundly? If I had a regret, it’s that I didn’t wake up as much as I have without a cancer diagnosis.

☆ Can the U.S. See the Truth About China?
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-27 | by ( David Marchese | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +14 min

Photo illustration by Bráulio Amado Talk Can the U.S. See the Truth About China? To see China solely as trying to displace the United States is only going to stoke more fears. The Chinese people believe that a substantially weakened Russia might not be in the interest of China, because if there were the sense that the United States needed to seek out an opponent, China would be next. And then also, the United States thinks that China wants to displace it. The industrial espionage stems from a lack of appreciation from the start of intellectual property, and the United States, by pushing China to do more intellectual-property protection, is actually good for China.

☆ Your Data Is Diminishing Your Freedom
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( David Marchese | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +13 min

What inequalities are baked into these data systems? Oregon State UniversityBut it’s almost impossible to function in the world without participating in these data systems that we’re told are mandatory. Which is a concern with, How are these data systems proscribing my freedoms? This is the question of equality and the implications of these data systems’ being obligatory. You get these data systems that load people in, but it’s clear there wasn’t sufficient care taken for the unequal effects of this datafication.

☆ Paul Ryan Says Even MAGA Diehards Believe Trump Can’t Win in 2024
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-06 | by ( David Marchese | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +23 min

Photo illustration by Bráulio Amado Talk Paul Ryan Says Even MAGA Diehards Believe Trump Can’t Win in 2024For a good long time during the George W. Bush and Obama presidencies, Paul Ryan was considered one of the intellectual leaders and shining stars of the Republican Party. Get out of this race.” But I don’t think Trump is going to get the nomination. I don’t think we want the lack of liberty that comes with government-made equality. Where I part company with the left is I don’t believe in socialism. I don’t believe in equality of outcomes.

☆ Woody Harrelson Can Play Anyone. It’s Being Himself That’s Hard.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( David Marchese | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +17 min

“I’m an A personality and a B facade,” says Woody Harrelson, and that’s as good an explanation for his charm and success as you’re likely to find. I don’t know. I could go hang off one of those big mountaintop-remover coal things, but that’s not going to stop it. I meet with the director, and I’m going to do it — they’re making it for like $500,000 — then the guy just goes with someone else! I have a gluttonous side, and I know that’s not going to help me be a spiritually better person.

☆ YouTube Made Emma Chamberlain a Star. Now She’s Leaving it Behind.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-20 | by ( David Marchese | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +16 min

Mamadi Doumbouya for The New York Times Talk YouTube Made Emma Chamberlain a Star. When it comes to YouTube videos or videos that are not podcasts, I don’t think I’ll ever be done with that. Has it become harder over time to move the cultural needle with a YouTube video? I don’t focus too heavily on the future for the reason you just explained: We don’t know what is next. I don’t know.

☆ Walter Mosley Thinks America Is Getting Dumber
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( David Marchese | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +17 min

Mamadi Doumbouya for The New York Times Talk Walter Mosley Thinks America Is Getting DumberWalter Mosley is best known as one of contemporary literature’s pre-eminent crime novelists, but he’s actually four or five different writers rolled into one. You have to tell stories about real people experiencing it and not real people with a Ph.D. People who are not stupid but ignorant, who don’t know things about the world. There are people who don’t know how to spell, they don’t know how to think. You have these people coming out into the world, and they don’t know what to do. That’s going to happen.

☆ You Don’t Have to Be Complicit in Our Culture of Destruction
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-30 | by ( David Marchese | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +12 min

Photo illustration by Bráulio Amado Talk You Don’t Have to Be Complicit in Our Culture of Destruction“People feel a kind of longing for a belonging to the natural world,” says the author and scientist Robin Wall Kimmerer. I am deeply aware of the fact that my view of the natural world is colored by my home place. But I don’t think that’s the same as romanticizing nature. Of course the natural world is full of forces that are so-called destructive. The story that we have to illuminate is that we don’t have to be complicit with destruction.

☆ The Digital Workplace Is Designed to Bring You Down
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-23 | by ( David Marchese | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +15 min

Mamadi Doumbouya for The New York Times Talk The Digital Workplace Is Designed to Bring You DownWe’ve been given no shortage of digital tools that should, in theory, help us work better, with more focus and efficiency, and connect us more easily with our colleagues. Your brain can’t have your inbox open next to the memo you’re writing while you’re also on the phone. The only way to get out of that suboptimal equilibrium is to completely change the way the organization collaborates. You can’t have a small number of executives figure out the right way to do the work and then dispense it. But zoom out to John McPhee’s career, and you’re like, you’re one of the most productive and impactful writers of all time.

☆ Draymond Green Sets Us Straight on the Real N.B.A.
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-09 | by ( David Marchese | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +20 min

Mamadi Doumbouya for The New York Times Talk Draymond Green Sets Us Straight on the Real N.B.A. Celtics have a die-hard fan base that’s going to root hard for the Celtics. But when I’ve listened to it, it’s not as if you’re saying things that are all that far away from what pundits or analysts are saying. I don’t think it affected who I was, who I am, because my mom never allowed it to. So when I say what he said is irrelevant, I’m saying that from the standpoint of, Let me not deflect.

☆ Iggy Pop Isn’t About to Whitewash His Past
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-02 | by ( David Marchese | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +18 min

Mamadi Doumbouya for The New York Times Talk Iggy Pop Isn’t About to Whitewash His PastIggy Pop’s life and work constitute one of music’s most remarkable survival stories. Iggy and the Stooges around 1969 — from left, Scott Asheton, Ron Asheton, Dave Alexander and Iggy Pop. But if you quietly say it to some sepulchral music, that’s a different thing, because you’re facing darkness once you hit 50. I don’t think that I was really thinking about anything. My doctor tells me I have a strong immune system, but I don’t think that’ll do it for you.

☆ An A.I. Pioneer on What We Should Really Fear
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-26 | by ( David Marchese | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +13 min

Pioneer on What We Should Really FearArtificial intelligence stirs our highest ambitions and deepest fears like few other technologies. Can you explain what “common sense” means in the context of teaching it to A.I.? A way of describing it is that common sense is the dark matter of intelligence. I don’t know what “solving” should look like, but what I mean to say for the purpose of this conversation is that A.I. It’s common sense not to kill all the plants in order to preserve human lives; it’s common sense not to go with extreme, degenerative solutions.

☆ Do Humans Owe Animals Equal Rights? Martha Nussbaum Thinks So.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-05 | by ( David Marchese | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +15 min

Photo illustration by Bráulio Amado Talk Do Humans Owe Animals Equal Rights? But does it then follow that we think of animals’ lives as being equal in value to humans’? That would lead to redoubling our efforts to make sure animals don’t perish in the future. Just think: Women are often raped, and that has been so all throughout human history. Now, as an incrementalist I want to be cautious here because I don’t think that predatory animals are doing anything wrong.

☆ Tom Stoppard Fears the Virus of Antisemitism Has Been Reactivated
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( David Marchese | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +19 min

I don’t think that it’s an equal participant in some kind of debate. I don’t think so. If you’re sitting there enjoying the structure, then I don’t think that’s entirely good news for the writer. I don’t know that I would actually pursue the subject as a playwright. You know, I’m told there is such a thing as the long view.

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