Math Makes Life Beautiful.
Math has long been the language of science, engineering, and finance, but can math help you feel calm on a turbulent flight? Get a date? Make better decisions? Here are some heroic ways math shows up …
Physics
Inertia: The Force That Holds the Universe Together
Inertia is the force that holds the universe together. Literally. Without it, things would fall apart. It’s also what keeps us locked in destructive habits, and resistant to change. * “If it were …
Understanding Speed and Velocity: Saying “NO” to the Non-Essential
It’s tempting to think that in order to be a valuable team player, you should say “yes” to every request and task that is asked of you. People who say yes to everything have a lot of …
Friction: The Hidden Force Holding You Back
How is it that two people delivering the same value to organizational outcomes, in the same role at the same pay, can have a massively different value to the organization itself? *** Here’s a …
Frozen Accidents: Why the Future Is So Unpredictable
“Each of us human beings, for example, is the product of an enormously long sequence of accidents, any of which could have turned out differently.” — Murray Gell-Mann *** What parts of …
The Need for Biological Thinking to Solve Complex Problems
“Biological thinking and physics thinking are distinct, and often complementary, approaches to the world, and ones that are appropriate for different kinds of systems.” *** How should we …
The Boundaries Between Science and Religion: Alan Lightman on Different Kinds of Knowledge
“The physical universe is subject to rational analysis and the methods of science. The spiritual universe is not. All of us have had experiences that are not subject to rational analysis. …
The Accidental Universe
* “Be not deceived,” Epictetus writes in The Discourses, “every animal is attached to nothing so much as to its own interest.” Few things are more in our nature than our …
Stephen Hawking Explains The Origin of the Universe
The Origin of the Universe, a lecture, by Stephen Hawking According to the Boshongo people of central Africa, in the beginning, there was only darkness, water, and the great god Bumba. One day Bumba, …
Elon Musk: A Framework for Thinking
In this brief video, Elon Musk, who previously brought us how to build knowledge and 12 book recommendations, talks about a framework for thinking. I do think there is a good framework for thinking. …
Richard Feynman: The Difference Between Knowing the Name of Something and Knowing Something
Richard Feynman (1918-1988) was no ordinary genius. He believed that “the world is much more interesting than any one discipline.” His explanations — on why questions, why trains stay on the tracks as …
Charlie Munger: Adding Mental Tools to Your Toolbox
In The Art of War, Sun Tzu said: “The general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought.” Those ‘calculations’ are the tools we have available to …
The Simple Problem Einstein Couldn’t Solve … At First
Albert Einstein and Max Wertheimer were close friends. Both found themselves in exile in the United States after fleeing the Nazis in the early 1930s, Einstein at Princeton and Wertheimer in New York. …
Richard Feynman: The Universe in a Glass of Wine
A poet once said, “The whole universe is in a glass of wine.” We will probably never know in what sense he meant that, for poets do not write to be understood. But it is true that if we look at a …
Richard Feynman Explains How Rubber Bands Work
Richard Feynman has a gift for taking something that seems pretty simple and turning it into something beautifully complex. Watch as he explains how something as simple as rubber bands work.
The Feynman Lectures on Physics
“The whole thing was basically an experiment,” Richard Feynman said late in his career, looking back on the origins of his lectures. The experiment turned out to be hugely successful, …