Vicki Xu

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on the atlas — 104

highlights — 137

Here’s the nuance that human beings get into because they handle complexity. And this is a complex moment: “I want to stay with this person because, despite what happened, there was a very good relationship, we have a beautiful life together, a tight family. I do not want to tell the people that are in my family because I don’t want them to dislike him, even though he’s the one who’s hurt me so much. I don’t want them to pity me for having decided to stay with him, because that’s not the place from which it’s coming.”
Opinion | Esther Perel on Why A.I. Intimacy Feels Safe but Isn’t Real - The New York Times
Because there is no love without the fear of loss. The moment you begin to love, you live in parallel with the possibility of losing it.
Opinion | Esther Perel on Why A.I. Intimacy Feels Safe but Isn’t Real - The New York Times
But it has a few things, actually, that A.I. offers. You are never rejected in porn. You never have to deal with competence and performance because the other person is always somehow enjoying it. And you never have to deal with the mystery of the truthful experience that the other person is feeling because all they say is, “Me too” or “More, more” or whatever version of that they say.
Opinion | Esther Perel on Why A.I. Intimacy Feels Safe but Isn’t Real - The New York Times
That desire is a function of knowing, of tolerating mystery in the other, that there has to be separation between yourself and the other to really feel eros and love.
Opinion | Esther Perel on Why A.I. Intimacy Feels Safe but Isn’t Real - The New York Times
I think that with secularization we experienced the rise of romantic love and we transported onto people the expectations that we had from the divine and from the community. And we now want that person — that one and only — to accept us. And we call that person a soul mate.
Opinion | Esther Perel on Why A.I. Intimacy Feels Safe but Isn’t Real - The New York Times
And then some person guesses because they are an extension of you and you hold them in your arms and they are 18 centimeters from your face and you have that eye-to-eye contact. That is the most profound experience of recognition. That is the embodied piece that we start to lose. After that, you become an adult and that means that the person here is not just there for you. They do have needs. They do have a history and memories and feelings and reactions and the relationship becomes this dialogue between two people — otherness and a bridge that you cross to go visit somebody on the other side.
Opinion | Esther Perel on Why A.I. Intimacy Feels Safe but Isn’t Real - The New York Times
I think it would be very interesting to actually have the experience of working with a couple that is challenging everything that defines a couple. I await. I think that it’s just a matter of time.
Opinion | Esther Perel on Why A.I. Intimacy Feels Safe but Isn’t Real - The New York Times
I think that if you make this machine speak with people in other parts of the world, you will begin to see how biased they are. It’s one thing we should really remember. This is a business product. When you say you have fallen in love with A.I., you have fallen in love with a business product. That business product is not here to just teach you how to fall in love and how to develop deeper feelings of love and then how to transmit them and transport them onto other people as a mediator, a transitional object.
Opinion | Esther Perel on Why A.I. Intimacy Feels Safe but Isn’t Real - The New York Times
Perel: For example, I heard this very interesting conversation about A.I. as a spiritual mediator of faith. We turn to A.I. with existential questions: Shall I try to prolong the life of my mother? Shall I stop the machines? What is the purpose of my life? How do I feel about death? This is extraordinary. We are no longer turning to faith healers, but we are turning to these machines for answers. But they have no moral culpability. They have no responsibility for their answer.
Opinion | Esther Perel on Why A.I. Intimacy Feels Safe but Isn’t Real - The New York Times
'Have patience about everything that is still unresolved in your heart; try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms, like books written in a truly foreign language. Don’t look for the answers now: they cannot be given to you yet because you cannot yet live them, and what matters is to live everything. For now, live the questions. If you do, then maybe, gradually, without your realizing it, some far-off day you will live your way into the answer.'"2
On Discovering One's Personal Myth | Psychology Today
The answers we gave you to questions you never asked may feel hollow and false. But it isn’t because we deceived you. It’s because you cannot live your life according to the stories given to you by your parents and teachers. As you go out into the world, each of you must find your personal myth, a central narrative unique to you that helps you engage life’s decisive questions: What are your values? What is your place in the universe? What is yearning to come into the world through you? And, to what is your life in service?
On Discovering One's Personal Myth | Psychology Today
Art suspends our practical projects, releasing the prohibition against attending to the bad. Our ravenous consumption of badness in art reveals just how much we standardly deprive ourselves of it. We commonly praise some piece of art for its “realism”; we could fault life for its lack thereof.
Art Is for Seeing Evil | The Point Magazine
If the room belongs to someone about whom you would like to know more, what will jump out at you are those items—such as books—that offer up clues. What you see in the room is a function of what’s useful to you in that room, given the aims with which you walk into it.
Art Is for Seeing Evil | The Point Magazine
As our friend Kierkegaard would have said, it is only by making passionate commitments that a person builds herself into a self.
The People Who Will Thrive in the AI Age - The Atlantic
Linguists are in an excellent position to demonstrate the fallacies of the verbal-deprivation theory. All linguists agree that nonstandard dialects are highly structured systems; they do not see these dialects as accumulations of errors caused by the failure of their speakers to master standard English.
Academic Ignorance and Black Intelligence - 72.06
The experimentation on free recall that Jensen reports ignores such abilities, and defines intelligence as a particular way of answering a particular kind of question within a narrow cultural framework. Recent work of anthropologists in other cultures is beginning to make some headway in discovering how our tests bias the results so as to make normally intelligent people look stupid.
Academic Ignorance and Black Intelligence - 72.06
But it is hard to believe that any good can come from a program which begins with so many misconceptions about the input data. Bereiter and Engelmann believe that in teaching the child to say The squirrel is in the tree or This is a box and This is not a box, they are teaching him an entirely new language, whereas in fact they are only teaching him to produce slightly different forms of the language he already has.
Academic Ignorance and Black Intelligence - 72.06
Our work in the speech community makes it painfully obvious that in many ways working-class speakers are more effective narrators, reasoners, and debaters than many middle-class speakers, who temporize, qualify, and lose their argument in a mass of irrelevant detail. Many academic writers try to rid themselves of the part of middle-class style that is empty pretension, and keep the part necessary for precision. But the average middle-class speaker that we encounter makes no such effort; he is enmeshed in verbiage, the victim of sociolinguistic factors beyond his control.
Academic Ignorance and Black Intelligence - 72.06
The remainder are divided between a terrorised stratum of the, universally reviled, unemployed and a larger stratum who are basically paid to do nothing, in positions designed to make them identify with the perspectives and sensibilities of the ruling class (managers, administrators, etc.)—and particularly its financial avatars—but, at the same time, foster a simmering resentment against anyone whose work has clear and undeniable social value.
On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs: A Work Rant - David Graeber
You can see it when tabloids whip up resentment against tube workers for paralysing London during contract disputes: the very fact that tube workers can paralyse London shows that their work is actually necessary, but this seems to be precisely what annoys people.
On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs: A Work Rant - David Graeber
Hell is a collection of individuals who are spending the bulk of their time working on a task they don’t like and are not especially good at. Say they were hired because they were excellent cabinet-makers, and then discover they are expected to spend a great deal of their time frying fish. Neither does the task really need to be done—at least, there’s only a very limited number of fish that need to be fried. Yet somehow, they all become so obsessed with resentment at the thought that some of their co-workers might be spending more time making cabinets, and not doing their fair share of the fis…
On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs: A Work Rant - David Graeber
How can one even begin to speak of dignity in labour when one secretly feels one’s job should not exist? How can it not create a sense of deep rage and resentment. Yet it is the peculiar genius of our society that its rulers have figured out a way, as in the case of the fish-fryers, to ensure that rage is directed precisely against those who actually do get to do meaningful work.
On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs: A Work Rant - David Graeber
Understanding the long-term games worth playing.
Career Advice That Doesn’t Suck
Writing on the internet to sharpen my thinking and increase the surface area of serendipity. I write across a variety of topics and personas which allows me to have edges and peer groups at the frontiers of different subject areas. Take the initiative to meet people in person and learn about their production functions.
Career Advice That Doesn’t Suck
Two super intense deep work days per week where I go zero to one with no distractions. This is usually Sunday and Tuesday, where I work with the aim of having the highest output day possible. The other days are spent largely editing the work product from these days or otherwise lighter work modes.
Career Advice That Doesn’t Suck
Chinese people are deeply involved in local politics, a fact that overturns the stereotypical image of Chinese communities abroad, the idea that they are turned in upon themselves and remain indifferent to the political life of the host countries.
The New Chinese Immigration to Japan
Nationality and identity are increasingly becoming separate things, as W (a 35 year-old woman) puts it: “We don’t attach much importance to nationality, and anyway we’re thinking of changing ours, because Chinese nationality isn’t practical. Perhaps we’ll take Japanese nationality or, preferably, Canadian or American. This certainly doesn’t mean that our cultural identity isn’t important, we will be Chinese whatever happens. Nationality (guoji) and attachment to one’s country (aiguo) are two separate things”
The New Chinese Immigration to Japan
The interviews we conducted in Tokyo have led us to conclude that, in most cases, naturalisation is clearly seen as a pragmatic step, rather than a search for identity. While the closed nature of Japanese society and historical differences are what still impel many Chinese people to ask for naturalisation, there are many others who do it with the sole purpose of enjoying greater international mobility.
The New Chinese Immigration to Japan
It is not uncommon these days to hear of Chinese people living abroad now choosing to return home, because China offers more in the way of professional opportunities and social mobility, to some, than do their countries of residence.
The New Chinese Immigration to Japan
The community of the newcomers is mainly composed of Chinese students who have arrived since the 1980s. The choice of coming to Japan with a student visa may be analysed in terms of migratory strategy. Those who arrived in the 1980s often had a stable situation in China and reasonably skilled employment. The principal motivation for choosing to leave as a student was the desire to see beyond the frontiers, to seize new opportunities for training and professional experience.
The New Chinese Immigration to Japan
Some venture capitalists have invested deeply in crypto projects that are worthless unless future economies run on their crypto tokens, he says. They are therefore incentivised to promote network states
Tech elites are starting their own for-profit cities
experimental cities that achieve some — but not full — autonomy from the local government, particularly in the civil and commercial realm. Soon venture capital and crypto money started flowing into these city initiatives, despite being a high-risk investment with no expectation of quick — or perhaps any — returns.
Tech elites are starting their own for-profit cities
To descriptive set theorists, this is unsatisfying. And so they want to figure out a way to color the graph in a continuous way — a way that doesn’t use the axiom of choice, and that gives them measurable sets.
A New Bridge Links the Strange Math of Infinity to Computer Science | Quanta Magazine
And through technology we’re becoming more known to everyone but ourselves. What’s that phrase about certain writers being what the culture needs? Most writers just write about what the culture recognizes.
Paris Review - The Art of Fiction No. 223, Joy Williams
poke of the holiness of minute particulars. That is the way as well, to give voice to those particulars. Seek and praise, fear and seek. Don’t be vapid.
Paris Review - The Art of Fiction No. 223, Joy Williams
The Bible is constantly making use of image beyond words. A parable pro- vides the imagery by means of words. The meaning, however, does not lie in the words but in the imagery. What is conjured, as it were, transcends words completely and speaks in another language.
Paris Review - The Art of Fiction No. 223, Joy Williams
I like old things. I almost never buy anything new.
Paris Review - The Art of Fiction No. 223, Joy Williams
real avant-garde writing today would frame and reflect our misuse of the world, our destruction of its beauties and wonders.
Paris Review - The Art of Fiction No. 223, Joy Williams
Look what we did to the Earth when it was green and provident. We’ll suck it to the bone with limitation’s necessities.
Paris Review - The Art of Fiction No. 223, Joy Williams
Curiosity by the nonhuman is not honored in this life. For many people, when confronted with the mysterious, the other, the instinct is to kill it. Then it can be examined.
Paris Review - The Art of Fiction No. 223, Joy Williams
Which is somewhat contrary to my belief that what the short story, as a form, excels in is the depiction of solitude and isolation. Perhaps writing essays made my fictional characters more garrulous, desperate even, desperate to convey.
Paris Review - The Art of Fiction No. 223, Joy Williams
Nobody! I’d limp into these bed-and-breakfasts and people would snarl at me and not want to talk. I mean, honestly, it was terrible and I had no idea what I was doing. And it wasn’t edited, nobody edited it. Have you seen the afterword, the final edition, when I didn’t want to update it anymore? Here I am, worn out and saying how shitty everything in the Keys has become, and Random House just went ahead and put the afterword in there.
Paris Review - The Art of Fiction No. 223, Joy Williams
There’s a word in German, Sehnsucht. No English equivalent, which is often the case. It means the longing for some- thing that cannot be expressed, or inconsolable longing. There’s a word in Welsh, hwyl, for which we also have no match. Again, it is longing, a longing of the spirit. I just think many of my figures seek something that cannot be found.
Paris Review - The Art of Fiction No. 223, Joy Williams
He did not resort to the loaded handgun he kept in a drawer of his bedside table—and it is somewhat of a shock to think of Jung armed—but he deciphered the dream to the voice within’s satisfaction, discovering the divine irrationality of the unconscious and his life’s work in the process. The message is work, seek, understand, or you will immolate the true self.
Paris Review - The Art of Fiction No. 223, Joy Williams
During the time of Field Marshal Plaek Phibunsongkhram (1897–1964), gender-based naming was introduced. Names ending in "-sak", "-chai", and "-yot" were for male babies, "-porn" or "-sri" for females. In the 21st century, assigning nicknames still relies heavily on astrological beliefs, but also in keeping up with current naming fashions. Observers have noted such modern nicknames as "Porsche", "Mercedes", "Benz", "Man U", "Big Mac", "Internet", and "Google", among others.
Thai name - Wikipedia
Here is a sampling of answers from people in and close to dysfunctional groups: “We spent all our time talking about philosophy and psychology and human social dynamics, often within the group.” “Really tense ten-hour conversations about whether, when you ate the last chip, that was a signal that you were intending to let down your comrades in selfish ways in the future.” “Like somebody's going through a real bad breakup and you need to, like, hold their hair out of the toilet over text, tell them that it's going to be okay and help them put their life back together, except for years.”
Why Are There So Many Rationalist Cults?—Asterisk
n 2009, Kyaing Kyaing donated and placed the diamond and jewel encrusted hti, the seinbudaw (diamond orb), and the hngetmyatnadaw (pennant-shaped vane), atop the uppermost part of the 2,300-year-old Danok Pagoda.[14] Many people believed that the ceremony was a yadaya and seeking divine blessings for her husband's glory.[15] However, the pagoda collapsed, killing at least 20 people and injuring about 150
Kyaing Kyaing - Wikipedia
In 2007, during the Saffron Revolution, mass demonstrations led by Buddhist monks were suppressed by security forces, resulting in casualties and detentions.[73] Persistent rumors circulated that thousands of monks and others being rounded up and summarily executed, with their bodies reportedly dumped in the jungle
Than Shwe - Wikipedia
Resistance by the Shan State can be traced back to the pre-colonial period, when the Shan kingdoms, once largely independent,[1] fell under the power of a Burmese conqueror, Bayinnaung in 1555.
Shan State Army - Wikipedia
The SSA recruited and trained thousands of local Shan people to join their ranks. Although their initial purpose was to fight for autonomy in Shan State, their battle had extended to fighting against the Communist Party of Burma (CPB), Kuomintang soldiers sponsored by the CIA in Myanmar, and opium smugglers in Shan State.
Shan State Army - Wikipedia