Summary: This week, Wisereads features Voltaire’s “Candide,” a satirical novella that critiques blind optimism. The edition also highlights an interview with Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir Technologies, exploring his influence in modern warfare. Additionally, readers can discover insights on Aristotle’s teachings about living a good life and the ingenious design of the Gameboy.
I’ve always done a lot of thinking around free will and whether it exists… And I’m quite concerned that I’m doing what I was programmed to do when I was 8 years old. (View Highlight)
So for us to live a good life means to have an excellent soul. And this excellence reveals itself in a clear intellect and a noble character… Excellence is not something you are, but something you do! (View Highlight)
“He’s not a household name, and yet Mr. Karp is at the vanguard of what Mark Milley, the retired general and former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has called ‘the most significant fundamental change in the character of war ever recorded in history.’” (View Highlight)
[O]verlearning provided noticeable gains at one week, but these gains were almost undetectable after four weeks… (View Highlight)
“And there’s the rub: knowledge, insofar as it continues to exist as something separate from information, is not inherently good, and the application of it is a moral activity. Many workers are neutered then, unable to develop knowledge or goodness, restricted in their movements by the confines of a technocratic system developed with a religious belief in rationality that leaves no room for personal moral or intellectual development.” (View Highlight)