Splitting: A Polarizing Phenomena in Psychology & Politics

Online

Interintellect Maybe Gray invites you to explore our tendency to see "Good" and "Bad" separately in ourselves, our relationships, and our political perspectives.   “The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either -- but right through every human heart -- and through all human hearts.…

Cheating on Dunbar: Maintaining our growing Social Networks

Online

In this salon, debut host Lukas Rosenstock and returning host Vajresh Balaji will discuss our growing social circles and the tools we use to manage them. Humans probably evolved in smaller tribes where everybody knew everyone else. Dunbar’s number says there are around 150 relationships we can retain in our heads. Modern life, on the…

Ted Chiang Part 3: Worlds and Beings Very Foreign to Us

Online

Étienne Fortier-Dubois  leads a series of thematic discussions on the work of science fiction author Ted Chiang. In Part 3, we discuss non-human beings and how their psychology and biology may differ from ours. Ted Chiang ranks among the best living authors of science fiction. Though he cannot be described as prolific — his entire…

The battles were so fierce because the stakes were so small: a Salon on René Girard

Online

Alex Danco joins fellow Interintellects for a Salon about the philosophy of René Girard, the (in)famous father of modern mimetic theory. We're going to get together and talk about René Girard, and his grand theory of mimetic behaviour. Sub-topics will likely include: -Scapegoating, cancel culture, and online mobs -How Silicon Valley works (founder as God-king-sacrifice;…

Spontaneous Order and the “Un-tragedy” of the commons : From the Scottish Enlightenment through Hayek to Jane Jacobs and Elinor Ostrom

“Unfortunately, many analysts – in academia, special-interest groups, governments, and the press – still presume that common-pool problems are all dilemmas in which the participants themselves cannot avoid producing suboptimal…