Latest news with #FriedrichNietzsche
Business Times
23-05-2025
- Science
- Business Times
How to be a great thinker
MOST people are getting dumber. Largely because of the smartphone, we're in an era of declining attention spans, reading skills, numeracy and verbal reasoning. How to buck the trend? I've charted seven intellectual habits of the best thinkers. True, these people exist in a different league from the rest of us. To use an analogy from computing, their high processing power allows them to crunch vast amounts of data from multiple domains. In other words, they have intellectual overcapacity. Still, we can learn from their methods. These can sound obvious, but few people live by them. Read books. A book is still the best technology to convey the nuanced complexity of the world. That complexity is a check on pure ideology. People who want to simplify the world will prefer online conspiracy theories. Don't use screens much. That frees time for books and creates more interstitial moments when the mind is left unoccupied, has freedom to roam and makes new connections. Charles Darwin, Friedrich Nietzsche and Immanuel Kant experienced these moments on walks. The biochemist Jennifer Doudna says she gets insights when 'out weeding my tomato plants' or while asleep. Do your own work, not the world's. The best thinkers don't waste much time maximising their income or climbing hierarchies. Doudna left the University of California, Berkeley to lead discovery research at biotech company Genentech. She lasted two months there. Needing full scientific freedom, she returned to Berkeley, where she ended up winning the chemistry Nobel Prize for co-inventing the gene-editing tool Crispr. Be multidisciplinary. Pre-war Vienna produced thinkers including Sigmund Freud, Friedrich Hayek, Kurt Godel and the irreducible polymath John von Neumann. The structure of the city's university helped. Most subjects were taught within the faculties of either law or philosophy. That blurred boundaries between disciplines, writes Richard Cockett in Vienna: How the City of Ideas Created the Modern World. 'There were no arbitrary divisions between 'science' and 'humanities' – all was 'philosophy', in its purest sense, the study of fundamental questions.' BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up Hayek, for instance, 'trained at home as a botanist to a quasi-professional level; he then graduated in law, received a doctorate in political science from the university, but... spent most of his time there studying psychology, all before becoming a revered economist.' Breaking through silos goes against the set-up of modern academia. It also requires unprecedented processing power, given how much knowledge has accumulated in each field. But insights from one discipline can still revolutionise another. The psychologist Daniel Kahneman won the Nobel Prize for economics for his findings on human irrationality. Be an empiricist who values ideas. During World War II, Isaiah Berlin was first secretary at the British embassy in Washington. His weekly reports on the American political situation were brilliant empirical accounts of the world as it was. They mesmerised Winston Churchill, who was desperate to meet Berlin. (Due to a mix-up, Churchill invited Irving Berlin for lunch instead. The composer was baffled to be asked by Churchill himself: 'When do you think the European war will end?') In March 1944, Isaiah Berlin returned from Washington to London on a bomber plane. He had to wear an oxygen mask all flight, wasn't allowed to sleep for fear he would suffocate, and couldn't read as there was no light. 'One was therefore reduced to a most terrible thing,' he recalled, 'to having to think – and I had to think for about seven or eight hours in this bomber.' During this long interstitial moment, Berlin decided to become an historian of ideas. He ended up writing the classic essays The Hedgehog and the Fox and Two Concepts of Liberty. Always assume you might be wrong. Mediocre thinkers prefer to confirm their initial assumptions. This 'confirmation bias' stops them reaching new or deeper insights. By contrast, Darwin was always composing arguments against his own theories. Keep learning from everyone. Only mediocrities boast as adults about where they went to university aged 18. They imagine that intelligence is innate and static. In fact, people become more or less intelligent through life, depending on how hard they think. The best thinkers are always learning from others, no matter how young or low-status. I remember being at a dinner table where the two people who talked least and listened hardest were the two Nobel laureates. FINANCIAL TIMES
USA Today
19-05-2025
- USA Today
What is nihilistic? FBI says fertility clinic bomb suspect had 'nihilistic ideations'
What is nihilistic? FBI says fertility clinic bomb suspect had 'nihilistic ideations' Show Caption Hide Caption Explosion near Palm Springs fertility clinic rattles area First responders were on the scene after an explosion near a reproductive center in Palm Springs, CA. Officials investigating a fatal weekend explosion at a desert California fertility clinic that killed one and injured several others said the suspect "had nihilistic ideations" and believed it was better to die than to live. The FBI reported Guy Edward Bartkus, 25, detonated an explosive device in his car the morning of May 18 outside the American Reproductive Centers clinic in Palm Springs. The city is more than 100 miles southeast of Los Angeles. The incident was initially reported as a car explosion near the facility on North Indian Canyon Drive in the Coachella Valley of Riverside County. The late morning blast rattled homes and startled the desert city just before 11 local time, The Desert Sun, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported. One person was killed and at least four were injured in the blast. The FBI called the bombing a targeted attack on the IVF facility, an "intentional act of terrorism" and said the suspect "had nihilistic ideations" and anti-natalist views. What does nihilistic mean? What is does anti-natalist mean? Here's what to know about the terms. Live: FBI says Palm Springs bombing suspect had 'pro-mortalist' and anti-natalist views What does nihilistic mean? Nihilism is defined in Webster's Dictionary as a "viewpoint that traditional values and beliefs are unfounded and that "existence is senseless and useless." The view rejects religious and moral principles in the belief that life is meaningless. According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, the late German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche is among a group of late modern thinkers including Karl Marx associated with nihilistic believes. "Crime and Punishment" author Fyodor Dostoevsky, a Russian novelist, has also been linked to nihilism. FBI on California blast: Palm Springs fertility clinic bombing suspect had 'nihilistic' ideas What is anti-natalism? Anti-natalism is defined in Webster as a philosophical view deeming procreation to be "unethical or unjustifiable." Based on various reasons, including environmental concerns or the belief that life itself is inherently suffering, those with the belief disapprove of human population growth. 'Strongest in the broken places': Biden thanks supporters after cancer diagnosis Fertility clinic suspect believed to have died in blast Akil Davis, assistant director of the Los Angeles FBI field office, described as "one of the largest bombing investigations we've had in Southern California." Davis said the FBI believes Bartkus died in the blast, and had tried to livestream the attack. A body presumed to be his was discovered near the vehicle - a 2010 silver Ford Fusion. Through an autopsy, a coroner will identity the body and determine the person's cause and manner of death. The blast damaged several nearby buildings, officials said but the fertility clinic reported on social media its staff were safe, and no eggs or embryos were damaged. According to the fertility clinic's Facebook page, it is open from 7-11 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Officials said embryos stored inside the clinic were not damaged by the blast. Investigators raided a home allegedly belonging to Bartkus in Twentynine Palms and, according to Reuters, a website contained messages apparently linked to the suspect, in which "he laid out a loose argument against human life." According to the FBI, officials are tracking "a possible manifesto" in the investigation. "Basically, I'm a pro-mortalist," part of the message reads, the Los Angeles Times reported. Contributing: Jonathan Limehouse, Reuters and Jennifer Cortez, Christopher Damien, and Paul Albani-Burg, USA TODAY. Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@ and follow her on X @nataliealund.
USA Today
19-05-2025
- USA Today
FBI says fertility clinic bomb suspect had 'nihilistic ideations.' What does that mean?
FBI says fertility clinic bomb suspect had 'nihilistic ideations.' What does that mean? Show Caption Hide Caption Explosion near Palm Springs fertility clinic rattles area First responders were on the scene after an explosion near a reproductive center in Palm Springs, CA. Officials investigating a fatal weekend explosion at a desert California fertility clinic that killed one and injured several others said the suspect "had nihilistic ideations" and believed it was better to die than to live. The FBI reported Guy Edward Bartkus, 25, detonated an explosive device in his car the morning of May 18 outside the American Reproductive Centers clinic in Palm Springs. The city is more than 100 miles southeast of Los Angeles. The incident was initially reported as a car explosion near the facility on North Indian Canyon Drive in the Coachella Valley of Riverside County. The late morning blast rattled homes and startled the desert city just before 11 local time, The Desert Sun, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported. One person was killed and at least four were injured in the blast. The FBI called the May 18 bombing a targeted attack on the IVF facility, an "intentional act of terrorism" and said the suspect "had nihilistic ideations" and anti-natalist views. What does nihilistic mean? What is does anti-natalist mean? Here's what to know about the terms. Live: FBI says Palm Springs bombing suspect had 'pro-mortalist' and anti-natalist views What does nihilistic mean? Nihilism is defined in Webster's Dictionary as a "viewpoint that traditional values and beliefs are unfounded and that "existence is senseless and useless." The view rejects religious and moral principles in the belief that life is meaningless. According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, the late German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche is among a group of late modern thinkers including Karl Marx associated with nihilistic believes. "Crime and Punishment" author Fyodor Dostoevsky, a Russian novelist, has also been linked to nihilism. FBI on California blast: Palm Springs fertility clinic bombing suspect had 'nihilistic' ideas What is anti-natalism? Anti-natalism is defined in Webster as a philosophical view deeming procreation to be "unethical or unjustifiable." Based on various reasons, including environmental concerns or the belief that life itself is inherently suffering, those with the belief disapprove of human population growth. 'Strongest in the broken places': Biden thanks supporters after cancer diagnosis Fertility clinic suspect believed to have died in blast Akil Davis, assistant director of the Los Angeles FBI field office, described as "one of the largest bombing investigations we've had in Southern California." Davis said the FBI believes Bartkus died in the blast, and had tried to livestream the attack. A body presumed to be his was discovered near the vehicle - a 2010 silver Ford Fusion. Through an autopsy, a coroner will identity the body and determine the person's cause and manner of death. The blast damaged several nearby buildings, officials said but the fertility clinic reported on social media its staff were safe, and no eggs or embryos were damaged. According to the fertility clinic's Facebook page, it is open from 7-11 a.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Officials said embryos stored inside the clinic were not damaged by the blast. Investigators raided a home allegedly belonging to Bartkus in Twentynine Palms and, according to Reuters, a website contained messages apparently linked to the suspect, in which "he laid out a loose argument against human life." According to the FBI, officials are tracking "a possible manifesto" in the investigation. "Basically, I'm a pro-mortalist," part of the message reads, the Los Angeles Times reported. Contributing: Jonathan Limehouse, Reuters and Jennifer Cortez, Christopher Damien, and Paul Albani-Burg, USA TODAY. Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@ and follow her on X @nataliealund.
New Indian Express
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New Indian Express
Why Gen Z is turning to wisdom on Instagram
Philosophy — the greatest form of liberal art. It is difficult to understand, and as they say, 'One who chases philosophy ends up losing everything.' In a world where almost everyone, right from children to the elderly, is glued to 15-20 second reels, a quiet but curious shift is unfolding on Instagram. Between beach photos and dance challenges, there's a new genre flourishing — the one of philosophy quotes, existential musings, and reflections on Friedrich Nietzsche, Albert Camus, and Marcus Aurelius. For many young people, especially Gen Z, philosophy is no longer confined to the university classroom. It's become a way to make sense of a world full of questions. 'Philosophy has become a necessary refuge for this generation,' says Debadrita Chakraborty, assistant professor in the Department of English and Other Languages at GITAM University, Hyderabad. 'We are living in a time where political and regional fundamentalism is peaking, yet young people are choosing to question it. They are thinkers, asking the right questions,' she notes. This isn't the dusty, academic philosophy in heavy old textbooks. Instead, it's bite-sized and beautifully designed, and shared by influencers on Instagram and Threads, where Nietzsche's 'God is dead' meets pastel sunsets and serif fonts. But does that make the content superficial? 'On the surface, it might seem aesthetic-driven,' Debadrita says. 'But it works because there's an audience genuinely engaging with it. People don't just stop at the visuals; many go deeper. They resonate with the thought behind the quote, and that opens the door for more reading, more questioning,' she adds. She points out that forums — digital or otherwise — that make philosophy accessible are crucial to note. 'These platforms simplify philosophy, making it less intimidating for beginners,' she states. At the English and Foreign Languages University in Hyderabad, professor Jibu Mathew George sees this shift as part of a broader cultural moment. He says, 'Philosophy today includes more than traditional academic discourse. The semantic field has expanded. What we once thought of as mere 'life thoughts or reflections' are now often included under the umbrella of philosophy.' According to him, this expansion has been shaped by two academic tendencies: analytic philosophy, which leans toward logic and precision, and continental philosophy, which engages with existential questions like class, ideology, identity. 'Today's readers are co-creators of meaning. They read Nietzsche and Camus in new ways, shaped by 21st-century contexts,' he explains. The democratisation of knowledge, particularly through the internet, has played a key role. 'Social media has created platforms where philosophy is no longer locked in academia,' he notes, adding, 'Students now access lectures, documentaries, and conversations that were previously unavailable. This is a positive shift, but with a caveat.' That caveat is interpretation. 'When you quote Karl Marx or Freud on Instagram, there's a real risk of misinterpretation. Freud never even used the word 'subconscious', but it gets thrown around all the time. These thinkers are often misunderstood when reduced to hashtags,' Jibu states. Still, both professors agree that platforms like Bookstagram are helping build a culture of reading, even if it starts with snippets. 'Social media is reshaping what it means to be 'well-read',' says Debadrita, adding, 'But the real question is: will people go beyond the quote and read the whole book?' She points out that the line between philosophy and self-reflection is becoming fluid, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. 'Gen Z can't keep a supercilious mask for long. Whatever they pick up, even unintentionally, often leads to introspection. There's a deeper need at play here,' notes Debadrita. Jibu, too, acknowledges this, saying, 'The academic and experiential are starting to cross-fertilise. What we once thought of as 'high-funda' theory is becoming part of everyday experience. But we have to ask: are these simplified versions reductive? Or are they gateways?' In a world of overstimulation and broken attention, it may just be that philosophy offers something different: stillness, structure, and a space to wonder. And for a generation trying to make meaning out of chaos, that might be exactly what they need.
India Today
30-04-2025
- Politics
- India Today
Kaluchak, 2002: When India came close to hitting Pakistan
(NOTE: This article was originally published in the India Today issue dated May 27, 2002)If you gaze long into an abyss, Friedrich Nietzsche once observed, the abyss will gaze back at you. In its relations with Pakistan in the past year, India has stood long at the abyss of war. After the audacious attack on Parliament on December 13, 2001, by terrorists backed by Pakistan, India threatened to retaliate by mounting the largest ever build-up of its military forces on the appeared to take heed. On January 12, President General Pervez Musharraf in a landmark speech promised to make his nation into a kinder, less fundamentalist country. But he flattered only to week, Pakistan seemed to be back in the business of sending merchants of terror across the border. Early on the morning of May 14, three men dressed in crisp army uniforms with regiment badges and name tags waited at a bus station on the Pathankot-Jammu highway. With their freshly shaved faces and crew cuts, they looked like any of the hundreds of Indian jawans on their way to join duty in the state. One was dressed as a junior commissioned officer with "Maninder Singh" written on his name 6.10 a.m. they flagged down a Jammu-bound 42-seater Himachal Pradesh Road Transport bus carrying 33 sleepy passengers from Manali. The conductor, Harish Kumar, noticed nothing unusual in their behaviour. They paid for their tickets and asked to be dropped at Kaluchak, one of the oldest cantonments in India, just 19 km an hour later, the militants stopped the bus at gunpoint and ordered the passengers to get to the middle of the bus. As the passengers huddled together, the terrorists opened fire from their AK-56 machine guns, killing murderous trio were not done. They then stormed the residential quarters of armymen, indiscriminately spraying bullets that felled 24 people, mainly women and children, apart from injuring 43 others. Among the dead were Kuldeep Kaur and her newly born daughter who was to be named only after her father Subedar Manjit Singh, deployed at the border, returned in a week's time. After a three-hour gunbattle, army officers at Kaluchak shot dead the three timing and the nature of the attack pointed to a new dastardly game plan being unfurled by Pakistan to bring Kashmir back into world focus. Pakistan seemed intent on disrupting the Jammu and Kashmir legislative elections to be held in September. For India, conducting the Kashmir elections peacefully and with a modicum of fairness is now possibly national priority No. 1. It would give India international credibility and be a major step in consolidating its hold on the strife-torn a development is obviously anathema to Musharraf. After having conceded Pakistan's Afghanistan card, he could ill-afford to appear weak on the Kashmir issue to his domestic constituency, especially the religious right. Also, with the US forces engaged in joint operations in Pakistan's tribal areas to flush out Al-Qaida terrorists, Musharraf calculates Washington would dissuade India from contemplating military is signalling to his country and the world that keeping the Kashmir issue on the boil is now his biggest compulsion," says Lt-General (retd) V.R. Raghavan, director, Delhi Policy Group. Emboldened by last month's rigged referendum that gave his dictatorial rule a fig leaf of legitimacy, Musharraf is now determined to play his Kashmir hand to the full."The Jammu strike is also a clear indication that Musharraf is telling India: 'I dare you.' It is a brazen challenge," points out K. Santhanam, director, Indian Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses. So will Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee take up the dare? In October 2001, when terrorists attacked the Jammu and Kashmir Legislative Assembly in Srinagar, the prime minister, in a tough letter to US President George W. Bush, wrote, "Pakistan must understand that there is a limit to the patience of the people of India." The US had requested India not to take military action as it would jeopardise its Afghanistan the December 13 attack, India's patience was clearly running out. It positioned a million troops along the border and seemed poised to strike. The US stampeded Musharraf into delivering his January 12 speech eschewing terrorism. Four months later, India remains unconvinced about the general's intentions of checking terrorists groups operating in Kashmir. India is also peeved with the US for not taking tougher action against Musharraf on this are indications that India may have been preparing for some sort of military action even before the Kaluchak incident. US satellites had picked up the "repositioning and regrouping" of Indian strike corps during routine exercises on the border in the last week of April which indicated a new offensive factor that raised US and Pakistani concerns was the induction of forty T-90 missile firing battle tanks, recently imported from Russia, into the western sector. Coupled with the formation of a new artillery division by the army, it gave India an edge in a tank battle. Lt-General Ehsan-ul-Haq, director-general of the ISI, is supposed to have sought US intervention by saying that a "high-risk conflict" between India and Pakistan was imminent in the coming of the reason why the US sent Christina Rocca, its assistant secretary of state, scurrying to the subcontinent last week was to call for restraint. But Rocca's mission was blown to pieces with the attack in Jammu. She may have sensed the hardened Indian position even before the massacre as she was politely denied meetings with Defence Minister George Fernandes and National Security Adviser Brajesh by India's coolness towards America, President Bush called up Vajpayee to express his distress over the "terrible and outrageous" attack. For once, he did not advocate restraint. Vajpayee thanked him, but added that "India will take appropriate action". Fernandes, who visited the scene of the massacre, also warned that "the perpetrators will not go unpunished".Vajpayee's colleagues did all the tough talking. Among senior leaders, including Home Minister L.K. Advani, there was growing chorus that the Government should not be seen as impotent to the "grave provocation". There also seemed to be political consensus in Parliament on taking tougher action that matched the groundswell of public sentiment that "enough is enough". Though Congress President Sonia Gandhi said the ruling coalition lacked the will to act, the party said it would back any counter-terrorism was pressure too from the Indian military establishment to retaliate as it feels that its credibility will be badly dented. Lt-General Vijay Oberoi, former vice-chief of army staff and a strike corps commander, says, "India should at least take limited action to ensure that infiltration in the vulnerable areas of Jammu and Kashmir does not take place. Otherwise, what are we sitting at the border for these past five months?"Last week, Vajpayee and key ministers toyed with the idea of taking tougher action, including air strikes on terrorist camps across the border. A senior government official stated, "We will not act under jingoistic or populist pressure. There will be no knee-jerk reactions. Ours would be a measured response to ensure that every action we took is in consonance with our key objectives." Currently that is being defined as preventing cross-border terrorism from escalating and ensuring that the Kashmir elections are fair and peaceful with all factions judge Pakistan's sincerity, India had said that there should be a marked drop in the level of infiltration of militants, especially during the summer months when the snow melts in the mountains and the passes open. However, to India's consternation, in March and April there were close to 300 intrusions and over 600 people were killed in terrorist attacks. India believes that intrusions of such magnitude were possible only because of the backing of the Pakistan Army or May 14 attack seems to be part of the overall plan to show that Kashmir was not a settled issue. Even though Musharraf banned the two major terrorist groups - the Jaish-e-Mohammed and the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) - India complained that they were regrouping under different names in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir (PoK). The three militants belonging to the Al Mansooran, a splinter of the LeT, are believed to have crossed over from Pakistan at the Samba was also rattled by the splitting up of a key militant group, the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, and an indication by its breakaway leader, Majid Dar, that he might join the Indian peace process. Pakistan's message to militants: the armed struggle will continue, with or without the the next few weeks will see firmer steps on the diplomatic and economic fronts. One of them is to ask Pakistan to recall its high commissioner to India, Ashraf Jehangir Qazi. Internally, there would be a beefing up of forces in Jammu and Kashmir to build what an expert called a "cordon sanitaire" to prevent infiltration and crux lies in a graduated military response. A full-scale war is not contemplated because of the risk of such a conflict escalating into a devastating nuclear confrontation. So the current talk is of a "limited" military option that ranges from conducting air strikes on terrorist camps across the LoC to hot pursuit of militants by special forces even if it means crossing the border is even talk of occupying territory in PoK to pressure Pakistan into giving up its support to militancy. It is a doctrinal reversal as earlier India always preferred to make its offensive in the western desert and plain while Pakistan concentrated on Jammu and Kashmir. But the problem of India taking territory in PoK is that it may now be in Pakistan's interest to expand the war to other fronts and bring in international intervention the heart of Pakistan's calculus is the assessment that the US needs Pakistan - and its military - in its campaign in Afghanistan. In particular, a reaction is also dictated by the US perception that Musharraf is its best bet in Pakistan currently. There have been tensions within this relationship recently, primarily over the hunt for Al Qaida and Taliban members believed to be hiding in significant numbers in Pakistan's northwestern tribal areas bordering corollary to Pakistan's belief in its strategic importance to the US is the assessment that the US will prevent any outbreak of hostilities by India. Any such outbreak - including limited strikes within PoK as advocated by some in Delhi - would almost surely put the US military campaign at risk by focusing Pakistan's military strategy on its eastern border. The assessment is that the US wants India to hold its horses till its anti-terrorists operations in Pakistan's tribal areas are completed and a transitional government is installed at Kabul after the Loya Jirga (grand council meeting) this India showing signs of restlessness, the US has realised that the crunch may be just round the corner. The last thing it wants is a subcontinental war that would unravel its Afghanistan game plan and could lead to tensions across the entire region. Says a senior US official: "We are looking at this jam now. There was a gigantic diversion in the Middle East. But we are getting focused on the subcontinent. It is in our vested interests to ensure that it does not go out of control."The US is now likely to adopt a tough posture towards Pakistan and tell Musharraf "to shape up or we will pull the plug". It is planning to deliver the same kind of ultimatum it gave him after September 11. US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage's visit to the subcontinent next week is part of the plan to upgrade the US's diplomatic stance in the India, the key is its larger interest of ensuring a free election in Jammu and Kashmir. All its actions in the coming weeks would be determined by its assessment of whether that objective could be fulfilled or is under threat. It can choose to go for a limited military strike if more such terrorist acts follow. It would then have international sympathy and backing his Arthashastra, Kautilya had advised rulers about when to launch military action. He said the answer lay in three key factors: desa (meaning state of the state), kala (time or timing, including the season of the year), and varthamana (the prevailing environment). Centuries later, his dictum still holds good.—With Hasan Zaidi in Karachi, Ramesh Vinayak in Kaluchak, Izhar Wani in Srinagar and Rajeev Deshpande in DelhiSubscribe to India Today Magazine
