What I’ve Been Reading
The Act of Creation, Arthur Koestler
I discovered this book by reading an article on creativity. It is a great summary of Arthur Koestler’s work. I enjoyed the article so much I decided to dive into the full book, which is available for free online here. This tome is definitely not casual reading, I find myself having to read it in small chunks in order to absorb it. The work itself is divided into two books, one for the general audience, and the second for a more scientific audience. But even the first book can be quite dense.
At the beginning he lays out three categories of creativity: humor, discovery, and art. These can be represented by the archetypes of Jester, Sage, and Artist. The first section of the book goes into detail about humor and its role in creativity, while the following two sections explore discover and art. This comment on the importance of humor stood out to me:
“Humor is the only domain of creative activity where a stimulus on a high level of activity produces a massive and and sharply defined response on the level of physiological reflexes.”
There are universal signs of humor on a physical level. Everyone reacts the same way, from a fleeting smile to a rolling laughter. This is a physical response to a purely mental stimulation. How is it that when we perceive something to be funny, we do this weird thing call laughing?
So far I am only about 35 pages into the book, deep in the analysis of humor. The article linked above (and here again) seems to be a good summary of this section.
Amish Healthcare System, Slate Star Codex (Scott Alexander)
This blog post explores how the Amish make healthcare work outside the current system that the rest of us experience. It is part of a larger question about how our health system became so flawed, and what we can we do about it.
“I’m fascinated by how many of today’s biggest economic problems just mysteriously failed to exist in the past. Our grandparents easily paid for college with summer jobs, raised three or four kids on a single income, and bought houses in their 20s or 30s and never worried about rent or eviction again. And yes, they got medical care without health insurance, and avoided the kind of medical bankruptcies we see too frequently today. How did this work so well? Are there ways to make it work today? The Amish are an extreme example of people who try to make traditional systems work in the modern world, which makes them a natural laboratory for this kind of question.”
While the author generally concludes that the Amish system is not realistic to consider on a larger scale, he does bring some up some interesting theories and suggestions about the whole mess. He ends up focusing on the question of why healthcare costs have risen so much. This seems to be the core problem, as there would be far more possibilities for funding healthcare if it were not so astronomically expensive. He posits the question of causality: did health insurance develop to pay for rising costs of healthcare, or did the invention of health insurance cause costs to increase?
There is no neat answer to this, of course, but many factors worth exploring. Overall I appreciated his rational approach to a topic which tends to be highly emotional.
How to Use a Musician’s Work Ethic for Writing Success, Li Charmaine Anne
Last week I made a comment about how learning how to play the piano seems to have some useful overlaps with other arts, such as writing. And then I saw this article in my Medium feed. It thoroughly explains the parallels between learning an instrument and learning how to write.
What I’ve Been Listening To
Calm, Volume 3 by Somniscape
This is an album from Eric Owyoung, of the band Future of Forestry. Somniscape is a series of ambient music for meditation, sleeping, or general relaxation. The third volume was just released, a much-needed soundtrack of peace during this stressful time.
What I’ve Been Watching
Pine Gap, Netflix
I am a sucker for anything about international relations and espionage. While Pine Gap didn’t make it to the top of my list, it was a pretty decent show. The show is centered around a satellite spy base in Alice Springs, Australia, jointly controlled by the United States and Australia. Being an Australian show gave it a unique perspective that was a refreshing contrast from American shows. While not the best plot or character development, I liked how different it was from the typical American style. I appreciated the frank discussions about America’s foreign policy and how our country might be perceived by other people. Overall, the biggest problem is how the plot seemed too forced, like they were just trying too hard to find enough conflict to throw into the series. It could be greatly improved by greater focus on authentic character development and allowing the conflict to emerge more naturally. But if you are quarantined at home and looking for something to watch, Pine Gap wouldn’t be a bad choice.
What I’ve Been Thinking About
In light of Earth Day this week, I’ve been wondering why Christians have such a bad reputation for promoting environmentalism. Is this a problem inherent in orthodox theology? Is it more of a cultural issue? I can imagine that conservative Christians instinctively dismissed any ideas raised by liberal secularists, rather than considering the validity of their concerns. For people who believe that this is God’s creation, a marvel of His magnificence, why are they so ambivalent about taking care of it? It just seems so counter-intuitive to me, I’m curious to better understand the factors at play.
