Learning structures

https://medium.com/@michaeldsimmons/how-elon-musk-learns-faster-and-better-than-everyone-else-a010a4f586ef

• Learning across multiple fields provides an information advantage because it enables you to come up with new ideas and modes of thought
• Learning transfer: taking what you learn in one context and applying it to another
• Deconstruct knowledge into fundamental principles (underlying roots) - reconstruct them to create new solutions -- ask yourself: 'what does this remind me of? why does it remind me of this?' -- constantly make connections across different fields

“We are in an age that assumes that the narrowing trends of specialization to be logical, natural, and desirable… In the meantime, humanity has been deprived of comprehensive understanding. Specialization has bred feelings of isolation, futility, and confusion in individuals. It has also resulted in the individual’s leaving responsibility for thinking and social action to others.Specialization breeds biases that ultimately aggregate as international and ideological discord, which in turn leads to war.”

Borges

Borges, 'Of Exactitude in Science'

In that Empire, the craft of Cartography attained such Perfection that the Map of a Single province covered the space of an entire City, and the Map of the Empire itself an entire Province. In the course of Time, these Extensive maps were found somehow wanting, and so the College of Cartographers evolved a Map of the Empire that was of the same Scale as the Empire and coincided with it point for point. Less attentive to the Study of Cartography, succeeding Generations came to judge a map of such Magnitude cumbersome and, not without Irreverence, abandoned it to the Rigours of sun and Rain. In the western Deserts, tattered Fragments of the Map are still to be found, Sheltering an occasional Beast or beggar; in the whole Nation no other relic is left of the Discipline of Geography.

The idea that when the quest [for knowledge and creation] become greater than the subject itself, it becomes absurd and 'cumbersome'.

The Idiot

The Idiot is Dovstoyevsky's attempt to portray 'a perfectly beautiful man' - one who is truly honest and compassionate and therefore a ridiculous figure because those qualities require him to transcend social decorum. At the same time, there is the feeling of (self) deception which intensifies as the book progresses and the Prince's thoughts become increasingly confused and unreliable.

The parallels between The Idiot / The Prince and Christ are apparent, with the reference to Hans Holbein's portrait of Christ 'who has suffered inhuman torture, has been taken down from the cross and given over to corruption. His swollen face is covered with bloody wounds and he looks terrible...' The essential question of Christ and his resurrection, his role as saviour for mankind, is raised by Ippolit: 'how could they believe looking at such a corpse, that this sufferer would resurrect?' (p408).

Every chapter has a scene which reminds one of Christ and his disciples - the foul-mouth, lower class hoodlum gang that follows him. They serve as the voice (and perhaps, body) of 'Russia', raising questions about the state of the Russian person, but ironically, falling into those same categories questioned - the 'political man' over the 'practical man', the self-aggrandizing, self-indulgent liar and comic. Ippolit is perhaps the best embodiment for all of them - acting as the voice of 'morality', the consumptive critic who speaks the truth but at the same time, seeks love and attention and sympathy for his declarations. He stands in contrast to the Prince who speaks only to point out the unsaid truth. Yet the Prince is painfully aware of how ridiculous the truth sounds in public when spoken seriously without the need for a self-satisfying response. The Prince is the sacrificial lamb in social spaces. He is also the figure of redemption - characters flock to him in hope of saving themselves through their confessions. He is continuously attacked yet comforted by the people whom he loves and pities. The Prince absorbs the almost worthless, desperate sufferings of Russian society - that is the 'inhuman torture' that he endures. He can't 'save' them because they wouldn't let him; the need for self-destruction (and perhaps, therefore grandeur and history) is greater than anything else.

As mentioned in the Introduction, The Idiot is less descriptive, especially with regards to the external landscape, and much more of a banter, an ongoing dialogue among characters. A sense of dark, murky ambiguity is felt throughout the book. There is a sense of something being masked by the loud and noisy crowd and which never adequately emerges, even though the Prince acts as that voice of 'revelation'. Time and space are both condensed and open. Events either take place inside a closed room or during a walk (to Nastasya's house, the Prince's house etc). In Chapter 1, everything from the introduction of characters to the pivotal climax of Natasya's party takes place within a single day. Three months have gone by in Chapter 2; the story wanders along in a lost and vague manner before culminating in the sudden and unexpected attack on the Prince by Rogozhin. The Prince is then visited by the boorish crowd led by Ippolit, and a list of unclear, unsubstantiated accusations are hastily thrown upon the Prince.

The final chapter floods the reader with a series of quick, unexpected turn and twist of events. The Prince finds himself in a position to praise (or ironically critique) high society, which leads to a disastrous and symbolic moment when he breaks the vase by accident. The denouncement of Catholicism seems to be more of an ironic comment on the hypocrisy of the Russian Christian believers, than on the Roman Catholics. '(Catholicism) has proclaimed that Christ cannot reign without an earthly Kingdom...They have manipulated the people's honest, most just, most pure, most ardent feelings...usurping the lost moral authority of religion to save humanity, not through Christ but by force...' The 'Russian body', the force of the people and society, overcomes and overwhelms any sense or inclination towards faith and goodness. The more the Prince tries to unveil the instinctive 'good' of the people, the more he is mocked at. The book ends with a kind of failed trinity: the Prince, Rogozhin and Nastasya. The death of Nastasya - The arrest of Rogozhin, the Prince's 'double' - The complete mental breakdown of the Prince - embody the convulsions of the times, the illnesses of society, the nihilistic tendencies of the people in contrast to the desires for redemption.

Outline of History (IV)

-Common name of Greek tribes: Hellenes
-Ancient Greek speech variations: Ionic, AEolic, Doric
-'Ancient' Greece (7th B.C): Athens, Sparta, Corinth, Thebes, Samos, Miletus
-Tradition of unity between all Greeks, based on a common language and script, epics, continuous intercourse between the states, religious bonds, the Olympic games

Greek Citizen and the State

-3 forms of government:

• an Oligarchy mode of government of which the nouveaux riches became members of the ruling class 
• the tyrant was recognized as a monarch
• Democracy: 'government by the commonalty...it was government by the whole body of the citizens' -- but the concept of 'citizen' was exclusive: the slave, the freedman, the stranger / migrant were excluded

- the patriotism of the 'privileged people', the class of citizens, took an intense form

- Athenian Empire - other Greek city states retained their own governments, but the institution of an 'international' law / Athenian law, meant that justice could be administered between citizens of different states 

Poetry, art and philosophy

- 'Hellenism' - simplicity of life, sobriety of thought, abolition of torture, emancipation of the individual 

- the founding of overseas settlements familiarized men with the idea that a community could be constructed

- Plato and the Republic

- Aristotle -- born during the Macedonian monarchy under Alexander -- the events of the times drove men back towards the desire for stability and unification. Monarchy 'was a conceivable government for millions'

- Limitations of the Greek mind:

•  the idea of the city as the Ultimate city state, in which empire follows empire, each greater than its predecessor  --> the need for unification against outside forces was disregarded
• domestic slavery --> slavery shuts off one's sympathy and puts the slave-owner into an 'elect tribe', a class above others 
• a lack of knowledge -- of history, of geography beyond known lands, astronomy, science 

Alexander's Empire

- Ptolemy set up a Museum in Alexandria -- a 'secular intellectual process' to research and document information, set up a standard of professional knowledge, set up a Library 

- 3 types of mind: 'the clear-headed criticism of the Aryan Greek, the moral fervour and monotheism of the Semitic Jew, and the deep Mediterranean tradition of mysteries and sacrifices'

- fusing of the Gods (theocrasia) -- worship of a trinity of gods: god Serapis + goddess Isis + child-god Horus

- the idea of immortality became a central idea

Buddhism

- Siddhata Gautama: 3 forms of 'evil' human cravings: 1) the desire to gratify the sense 2) the desire for personal immortality 3) the desire for prosperity -- Nirvana (the serenity of the soul) is reached when one renounces these personal aims

- the Indian mind was shaped by the idea of cyclic recurrence 

- Gautama's teachings were reinterpreted into the idea of 'renouncing active life' -- instead of a personal salvation, it became the salvation from misfortunes and sufferings, and Buddha was represented as the saviour 

- early Buddhist sculptures interwoven with figures of Serapis, Isis and Horus -- Isis resembled / interchanged with Hariti, Kuan Yin, Kwannon (Japan) 

- Buddhism spread through Central Asia and intermingled with doctrines of Confucianism and Lao Tse = Three Teachings: 'a Way, a Path, a Nobility' --> personal philosophy of life and not doctrines of a church or a general rule

- differences between Buddhism and Judaism: the intolerance of the Jewish mind kept its faith clear and clean. 'The idea of a Promise...made Judaism historical and dramatic' -- it presented a clear direction and aim; Buddhism stagnated and corrupted for the lack of that directive idea 

--- it's easier to believe in, and rely on an external being than to completely renounce the self based on one's own efforts 

The Outline of History (III)

Aegean Civilization (around the Aegean sea)

- Phoenicians and their colony of Carthage became the greatest martime power then
- Carthage - land trading with Central Africa
- reflected a sense of quality and quantity in marketable goods -- barter trade, iron became the first currency

China

- Chinese writing 'created a special reading class..the ruling and official class. Their necessary concentration upon words and classical forms, rather than upon ideas and realities, seems...to have greatly hampered the social and economic development of China...' --> too laborious and inflexible to meet the modern need for simple and lucid communication

Temples & the move from priestly to secular governments

- 'the desire to propitiate unknown forces, the primitive desire for cleansing and the primitive craving for power and knowledge'
- shrine and entrance faced the same direction, often east, facing the sunrise on Mar 21 & Sept 21, the equinoxes
- the earliest governments were essentially priestly governments -- but the 'incapacity for efficient military leadership and their inevitable jealousy of all other religious cults' led to the rise of secular kingship
- the court became a centre of writing and records
- the conquest of any city included the subordination of its god in the temple of the conquerer's
- Cyrus set up the Persian Empire in Babylon with the blessing of Bel-Marduk 539 B.C
- In Egypt, the Pharaoh is treated as a god, with power and importance exceeding that of any priest
- Egypt - the great god Ammon Ra

Social and political developments of emerging civilizations

The social and political development of Babylonian and Egyptian civilizations:

1) Priesthood and the temple
2) Court system
3) 'tillers of the soil' : free peasants, serfs, farmers
4) Artisan class
5) Herdsmen
6) Merchants - shipowners, traders
7) Retailers
8) Independent property owners
9) Domestic servants
10) Gang workers - prisoners of war, debt slaves
11) Mercenary soldiers
12) Seamen

The social and political development of Indian civilizations:

1) Royal and aristocratic class                  
2) Mercantile class
3) Artisans
4) Farmers
5) Herdsmen

Caste system:

1) Brahmins: teachers and priests
2) Kshatriyas: warriors
3) Vaisyas: herdsmen, merchants, land-owners
4) Sudras
5) Pariahs: outcasts

The social and political development of Chinese civilization:

1) Literary class
2) Farmers
3) Artisans
4) Mercantile class

-- difference would be the landowners as land and possessions are divided among his sons

Old Testament

- sacred literature of the Jews who had returned to their city Jerusalem after being recently deported to Babylon
- position of Judea and Jerusalem is between the Mediterranean (west) and the desert beyong Jordan (east) ; through it lies the road between Hittites, Syria, Assyria, Babylon (north), Egypt (south) --commentary on the history of the people around it
- first 5 books, Pentateuch, begins with the Creation of the world and mankind
- what is Palestine today was at the time the land of Canaan, inhabited by the Canaanites
- when the Hebrews under Joshua pursued their subjugation of the land, they came against the Philistines in the south, the Canaanites and Phoenicians in the north -- the Hebrews are not victorious and desert the worship of their god Jehovah -- they mix their races with the Philistines
- book of Kings begins with King Solomon (960 B.C) - Solomon builds a palace for himself, a temple for Jehovah where the Ark of Covenant abode, and appointed priests to guard the ark --> created a central sacred abode
- for the Jews who returned, it was 'an age of historical inquiry and learning in Babylonia'
- they developed leading ideas that:

1) 'all the people were pure-blooded children of Abraham'
2) a promise made by Jehovah to Abraham that he would exalt the Jewish race above all others
3) Jehovah was the greatest and most powerful of tribal  gods, and the 'only true god'
4) the Jews, as a people, were the chosen people of the one God of all the earth
5) the coming of a saviour who would realize the promises the Jehovah

The Outline of History (II)

Study of the races

- Northern European: blond and dolichocephalic (long skull)
- Mediterranean, Iberian (Spain, Portugal): Dark-haired and dolichocephalic (larger skull)
- Alpine (central Europe): brachycephalic (relative short, broad skull)

Development of the Neolithic culture, also called the 'heliolithic culture' (sun worship) included: 1) circumcision 2) couvade 3) massage 4) mummification 5) monuments 6) artificial deformation of the heads of the young 7) tattoos 8) religious association of the sun and the serpent 9) use of the swastika as a symbol of good luck

Language groups marked by differences in root words, ideas of relationships, grammar

1. Indo-European / Aryan (Germanic, Danube, South Russia)
2. Semitic (Hebrew, Arabic)
3. Hamitic (ancient Egyptian, Berber languages of North Africa, Ethiopic group in East Africa e.g. Gallas, Somalis)
4. Turanian / Ural-altaic group (Siberia, Finland, Turkey, Mongolia)
5. Chinese
6. American-Indian
7. Dravidian (South India)
8. Malay-Polynesia
9. Basque (Pyrenees / Northen Iberian)

Spreading of Aryan Speakers:

-to the West and South, it encountered the Basque language and various Hamitic languages
-to the East, Aryan-speaking tribes used a distinctive dialect Slavonian, leading to Russian, Serbian, Polish, Bulgarian
-other variations over Asia Minor and Persia came to be Armenian and Indo-Iranian (Sanskrit and Persian)

Early Aryan Writings

-earliest written record of the Greek Iliad 700/600BC - later attributed to Homer, the bard (sliepac = blind man)
-Greek Epics reveal that early Greeks had no knowledge of iron, without writings, and they conquerers of a land that had been held by a darker people, a 'Mediterranean' people allied to Iberians

-Primitive neolithic life developed along 2 directions (4000 B.C):

1. Nomadism: Central Europe and Central Asia
2. Civilization: Mesopotamia and Egypt
-- consider Civilization as 'the settlement of men upon an area continuously cultivated and possessed, who live in buildings continuously inhabited with a common rule and a common city'

Sumerians 

- one of the earliest civilizations in southern Mesopotamia (Southern Iraq)
- conquered by nomadic Semitic tribes called Akkadians -- but Sumerian writing and language prevailed
- conquered by Semitic Amorites that set up Babylon
- conquered by Semitic Assyrians, who captured the capital Ninevah, and Babylon
- conquered by Semitic Arameans, whose chief city was Damascus (capital of Syria)

Egypt

- divided into a succession of Dynasties
- internal conflicts between competing capitals, religions, before ultimately being conquered by the Persians, and Alexandra the Great 332 B.C


*Cephalic: related to the head
*Bering Strait: strait between Alaska and Russia

The Politics of Empathy

'The Baby in the Well', http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2013/05/20/the-baby-in-the-well

'Why do people respond to [certain] misfortunes and not to others?' Take the case of Baby Jessica who fell into the a well and triggered a huge rescue operation that captivated the entire nation. In comparison, glaring problems such as starvation of children in Africa, or homicide in the US, are regarded as background noise. Going further into what has been called 'the identifiable victim effect', when subjects are asked to donate to develop a drug to save a child's life, versus being shown a picture and information of the child itself, the donations instantly increased in the latter. When one reads about 2000 people who have died in an earthquake in a remote country, we recognize the numbers as significant due to Reason, not Empathy.

Empathy can be problematic when it comes to policy-making as people often see or want to see only the immediate outcomes, rather than the lasting effects of their actions. Statistics matter less than the 'victims who have names and stories'. [We see the negative consequences of 'Empathy' in the 2016 U.S elections when the media kept emphasizing on the 'real, hardworking American white working class' and their personal stories of struggle. Not to say that one should not empathize with them, but rather than focus on issues such as the decline and relevance of their industry,  or even look at how overall employment rates have increased, or at the working conditions of other ethnic groups, these stories tend to mislead, enlarge and overlook the core issues that should affect the election results]

'Moral judgment entails more than putting oneself in another's shoes...A reasoned, even counter-empathetic analysis of moral obligation and likely consequences is a better guide to planning for the future than the gut wrench of empathy.' Appreciate the fact that 'even if we don't empathize with distant strangers, their lives have the same value as the lives of those we love'.