“The notion that a society could be regulated entirely by market forces is a utopian fantasy: an impossible dream generated by imagining what the world would be like if everyone's behavior was utterly consistent with some abstract moral ideal-in this case, economic theories that assume all human action is based on calculating, systematic, (but scrupulously law-abiding), greed.” IfsWorldHumansDreamWould BeActionLawForceMoralCasesFantasyImpossibleEconomicTheoryBehaviorIdealsAssumingNotionGreedLibertarianAbstractConsistentAbidingSystematicUtopianCalculatingHuman ActionsEconomic TheoryImpossible Dream Author:David Graeber
“A meme (rhymes with dream) is a unit of information (a catchphrase, a concept, a tune, a notion of fashion, philosophy or politics) that leaps from brain to brain. Memes compete with one another for replication, and are passed down through a population much the same way genes pass through a species. Potent memes can change minds, alter behavior, catalyze collective mindshifts and transform cultures. Which is why meme warfare has become the geopolitical battle of our information age. Whoever has the memes has the power.” WayMindPhilosophyDreamAgeCultureBrainFashionInformationBattleBehaviorConceptsSpeciesNotionPopulationTunesCollectivesLeapGenesWarfareUnitsRhymeInformation AgeWhy MeMemesGeopoliticalReplication Author:Kalle Lasn
“Karma is often wrongly confused with the notion of a fixed destiny. It is more like an accumulation of tendencies that can lock us into particular behavior patterns, which themselves result in further accumulations of tendencies of a similar nature... But is is not necessary to be a prisoner of old karma.” ResultsDestinyParticularBehaviorNotionPatternsKarmaTendenciesFixedConfusedPrisonerLocksAccumulationBehavior Patterns Author:Jon Kabat-Zinn
“People are very good [at] thinking about agents. The mind is set really beautifully to think about agents. Agents have traits. Agents have behaviors. We understand agents. We form global impression of their personalities. We are really not very good at remembering sentences where the subject of the sentence is an abstract notion.” PeopleThinkingMindRememberFormSubjectsPersonalityBehaviorNotionVery GoodSentencesImpressionAgentsAbstractTraitsReally Beautiful Author:Daniel Kahneman
“Is it possible to put an end to a form of human behavior which has existed throughout history by means of photography?” HumansMeanIdeasEndsSeemsFormBalanceBehaviorPhotographyNotionProportionMotivatedHuman Behavior Author:James Nachtwey
“The notion of "humanity" as a form of transcendence derives, I think, from the conviction that intellectuality possesses an absolute power, from the demand that our best behavior depends on our ability to think abstractly, in terms of a universal rule, about something called humanity, that we need to understand humanity abstractly so that we can act responsibly towards those who represent it.” ThinkingNeedsFormHumanityTermAbilityDependsDemandBehaviorUniversalAbsolutesNotionConvictionTranscendenceAbsolute Power Author:Talal Asad
“...the very notion that a candidate should openly solicit votes violated the principled presumption that such behavior itself represented a confession of unworthiness for national office.” ShouldOfficeBehaviorVoteNotionCandidatesConfessionPresumptionPrincipled Book:Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation Source: Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation
“The scarcity trap captures this notion we see again and again in many domains. When people have very little, they undertake behaviors that maintain or reinforce their future disadvantage. If you have very little, you often behave in such a way so that youll have little in the future.” PeopleIfsWayLittlesBehaviorNotionBehaveCaptureAgain And AgainTrapsDomainDisadvantagesScarcity Author:Sendhil Mullainathan
“I did a lot of work with early 20th century attitudes, the kind of superficial notions and behavior that prompt people who don't know history very well to think that "people were different back then" - but beneath all that are characters who react in ways that we can all recognize, and will always be able to recognize.” PeopleThinkingKnowsWayWellsKindDifferentCharacterAbleAttitudeCenturyBehaviorNotionSuperficial20th CenturyPrompts Author:James Vance
“the intensity, glory, and absolute assuredness if my mind's flight made it very difficult for me to believe once i was better, that the illness was one i should willingly give up....moods are such an essential part of the substance of life, of one's notion of oneself, that even psychotic extremes in mood and behavior somehow can be seen as temporary, even understandable reactions to what life has dealt....even though the depressions that inevitably followed nearly cost me my life.” IfsGivingShouldMindBelieveMadeDifficultCostEssentialsDepressionGiving UpBehaviorGloryAbsolutesNotionOneselfIllnessExtremesMoodReactionsFlightMade ItSubstanceTemporaryIntensityPsychotic Author:Kay Redfield Jamison
“Indeed, what is startling about the notion of a victimless crime is that even when the behavior in question is genuinely victimless, its criminality is still affirmed by those who are eager to punish it. It is in such cases that the true genius lurking behind many of our laws stands revealed. The idea of a victimless crime is nothing more than a judicial reprise of the Christian notion of sin.” StillsIdeasChristianLawSinBehindsCasesCrimeGeniusBehaviorNotionJudicialLurkingCriminalityTrue Genius Book:The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason Source: The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason
“Moods are such an essential part of the substance of life, of one's notion of oneself, that even psychotic extremes in mood and behavior somehow can be seen as temporary, even understandable, reactions to what life has dealt.” EssentialsBehaviorNotionOneselfExtremesMoodReactionsSubstanceTemporaryPsychotic Author:Kay Redfield Jamison