The novice with only a hammer thinks everything looks like a nail. The expert sets about turning everything into a nail.
Jan 112024
Thinking
Operations of thought are like cavalry charges in a battle — they are strictly limited in number, require fresh horses, and must only be made at decisive moments.
—Whitehead
Dec 282023
More tears are shed over world-views than worlds.
Dec 252023
The mind has no immune system, and can be cured of a virus only by another virus, or by a stronger dose of what infected it in the first place.
Nov 232023
To be a danger to oneself is a contradiction, for ethical hedonists, or a tautology, for everyone else.
Nov 172023
The proponent of an idea must be more ruthless than the Mongols. No conquest is permanent; every mind-territory is forever up for grabs.
Nov 152023
Induce, and the world induces with you; deduce and you deduce alone.
Nov 142023
The specialist reviews the generalist: “A thorough and knowledgeable overview… regrettably full of errors on my particular subject.”
Nov 092023
We infer the future from the past because the past is all we have: our generalizations, like our generals, are always fighting the last war.
Nov 072023
Never philosophize with a hammer when you can use a scalpel.
Nov 022023
Everyone has a favorite explanatory tool, which he will use, if it is all he has, to explain everything. One hopes at best to add an implement or two to the box, to spot, in the vast sea of nails, an occasional rivet or screw.