A Brief History of Emergence
Spiral galaxies, hydrothermal systems, animals, ecosystems, oceanic currents and tides, hurricanes, civilizations, political systems, economies, and war are some of the many examples of emergent phenomena, in which low-level rules give rise to higher-level complexity.
Book of Earth
Ochre and earth pigment are situated at the nexus of huge elemental cycles, a gazillion years of outer space galaxy creation, a few billion years of geological and biological growth on (and of) Earth, and several hundred thousand recent years of human evolution.
The Quiet Dr. Einstein and the Forgotten Moral Heroes of World War I
Contrasted with the daring actions of Adler and Nicolai, Einstein’s early pacifism seems very appealing because it is similar to the low-level pacifist behaviors that many of us exhibit.
Picturing a Phenomenon
In terms of taste, Allan was the anti-Castelli. He loved what I call zaftig painting: lush, textured, juicy surfaces.
Four Sour and Stringent Proposals for the Novel
Valuing novels for the social information they contribute, as many literary prizes do, is like judging dogs for fetching.
Three Ballades by Christine de Pizan
Christine de Pizan (1364 – c. 1430) was the first woman in France, and possibly in Europe, known to have supported herself and her family by means of her writing.
In the Land of Dreams
Whereas Dave Chappelle, in the eyes of some, appeared to make light of the Holocaust and seemed to lack an understanding of the ways in which many American Jews are still scarred by what our families endured in Europe in the 20th century, Armageddon Time conveys some of the gravity of the Jewish situation in early 20th century.
How the Musical Mind “Sees”
James Joyce held an interest for many composers during the middle to late 20th century, due to his frequent use of words for their musical or sonic nature rather than for their meaning.
The Thin Crust of Civilization
The ability to see patterns is predictive of a strong belief in them, which can easily become a faith in the unseen workings of power.
The Future of the Humanities and the Specter of Antisemitism
According to the sages, God begins with one and not two, so that no one can say to another, “My side of the family is better than your side of the family”: there is only one side of the human family, with all the ethical obligations that come to bear in being part of the human family.
The Subjunctive Grammar of Hope
Not only may past and future be discovered within the present, but that our only access to future, or to past, is within the fleeting moment of the present.
Joel Barlow’s Eccentric American Vision
Barlow believed that “Science and republican progress, coupled with religion and the growing humanity of man, portended the millennium, which he believed would take place on earth before the second coming of God.”
Techno-Wizardry and the De-extinction of Celia the Ibex
On a cold and misty January 6, 2000, a fir tree in the Ordesa valley of the Spanish Pyrenees fell to the forest floor, crushing the last known individual of Capra pyrenaica pyrenaica—an ibex species that had been endemic the mountain range between Spain and France since the late Pleistocene.
Mark and Dot
While their careers took vastly differing paths—Tworkov had the mark and Kusama had the dot—their philosophical and gestural strategies ran in parallel, sharing a skepticism of prevailing aesthetic orthodoxies.
Transcending Barriers
Rare Earth pairs works of Chinese art from the Crow Museum’s permanent collection with connoisseur-level samples of raw minerals from China.
On the Multipart Works of John Wilcox
An artwork became another object in Wilcox’s world—like a fossil picked up on a walk, a phrase clipped from a newspaper, or the shape of a radio or transmission tower—whose meaning could be made and remade through ever-shifting relations with other objects to form a new whole.
“My Side of the Line”
By this definition, heroic and inspirational characters such as Batman and Spider-Man, among many others, are all vigilantes, but, on the other hand, so are the vigilantes who comprised the mob that stormed the Capitol, and the Punisher seems closer in his methodology to these real-life vigilantes.
