Nelle regioni in cui in passato si usava l'aratro, oggi le donne partecipano meno alle attività sociali e lavorative esterne alla famiglia. Al contrario, dove si usava prevalentemente la zappa, il ruolo sociale delle donne è oggi più riconosciuto.
Un articolo di The Economist, 21 luglio 2011: The Plough and the Now.
Visualizzazione post con etichetta psicologia. Mostra tutti i post
Visualizzazione post con etichetta psicologia. Mostra tutti i post
04 agosto 2011
16 febbraio 2011
Come scrivere su un libro
Di Mortimer Adler (1902-2001), lo studioso che pubblicò l'elenco dei grandi libri, un'altra piccola perla: "How to Mark a Book" (1940).
L'inizio del saggio:
"You know you have to read "between the lines" to get the
most out of anything. I want to persuade you to do something
equally important in the course of your reading. I want to persuade
you to "write between the lines." Unless you do, you are not likely to
do the most efficient kind of reading.
I contend, quite bluntly, that marking up a book is not an act
of mutilation but of love.
You shouldn't mark up a book which isn't yours. Librarians
(or your friends) who lend you books expect you to keep them clean,
and you should. If you decide that I am right about the usefulness of
marking books, you will have to buy them. Most of the world's great
books are available today, in reprint editions, at less than a dollar.
There are two ways in which one can own a book. The first is
the property right you establish by paying for it, just as you pay for
clothes and furniture. But this act of purchase is only the prelude to
possession. Full ownership comes only when you have made it a part
of yourself, and the best way to make yourself a part of it is by
writing in it. An illustration may make the point clear. You buy a
beefsteak and transfer it from the butcher's icebox to your own. But
you do not own the beefsteak in the most important sense until you
consume it and get it into your bloodstream. I am arguing that books,
too, must be absorbed in your bloodstream to do you any good."
L'inizio del saggio:
"You know you have to read "between the lines" to get the
most out of anything. I want to persuade you to do something
equally important in the course of your reading. I want to persuade
you to "write between the lines." Unless you do, you are not likely to
do the most efficient kind of reading.
I contend, quite bluntly, that marking up a book is not an act
of mutilation but of love.
You shouldn't mark up a book which isn't yours. Librarians
(or your friends) who lend you books expect you to keep them clean,
and you should. If you decide that I am right about the usefulness of
marking books, you will have to buy them. Most of the world's great
books are available today, in reprint editions, at less than a dollar.
There are two ways in which one can own a book. The first is
the property right you establish by paying for it, just as you pay for
clothes and furniture. But this act of purchase is only the prelude to
possession. Full ownership comes only when you have made it a part
of yourself, and the best way to make yourself a part of it is by
writing in it. An illustration may make the point clear. You buy a
beefsteak and transfer it from the butcher's icebox to your own. But
you do not own the beefsteak in the most important sense until you
consume it and get it into your bloodstream. I am arguing that books,
too, must be absorbed in your bloodstream to do you any good."
14 dicembre 2010
25 settembre 2009
Non tutti i videogame rintronano
"A growing number of researchers - and an expanding body of evidence - indicate that joysticks can go a long way toward building smarter children with better reasoning skills.
Games such as Sim City, Civilization, Railroad Tycoon, and Age of Mythology extend beyond the flat earth of rote memorization and teach decision-making and analytical skills in immersive, virtual environments that resemble the real world."
Samuel Greengard, "Are We Losing Our Ability to Think Critically?", in Communications of the ACM, 07/2009.
Games such as Sim City, Civilization, Railroad Tycoon, and Age of Mythology extend beyond the flat earth of rote memorization and teach decision-making and analytical skills in immersive, virtual environments that resemble the real world."
Samuel Greengard, "Are We Losing Our Ability to Think Critically?", in Communications of the ACM, 07/2009.
04 febbraio 2009
Comunità di contenuti
Un articolo di Wojciech Cellary, universitario di Poznan, "Content Communities on the Internet", confronta le comunità territoriali (le relazioni che si stabiliscono nel luogo in cui si risiede) con le comunità che si formano su internet in merito ad uno specifico argomento (ad esempio gli appassionati della Fiat 500, o le persone interessate agli standard ISO9000).
L'analisi comparativa fa emergere alcuni aspetti interessanti, tra cui:
L'analisi comparativa fa emergere alcuni aspetti interessanti, tra cui:
- nelle comunità di contenuti, il fatto che le relazioni si stabiliscano su un unico argomento porta naturalmente ad una radicalizzazione delle posizioni
- affinché la comunità di contenuti si sviluppi in modo positivo, la partecipazione non deve essere anonima.
06 gennaio 2009
Fare attenzione, sempre più difficile
Email, SMS, Facebook, ... se non si è disciplinati, gli stimoli che ci distraggono ci possono risucchiare.
La capacità di lavorare, di progredire, di ottenere risultati si basa sulla concentrazione, sul prestare attenzione. Ma ogni fonte informativa ed ogni canale di comunicazione si ripromettono di ottenere, sia pure per poco, la nostra attenzione. Di distrarci dal nostro focus.
Questo articolo di Mike Elgan lo spiega bene. Sei ore di lavoro concentrato ottengono ben di più di dodici ore di lavoro inframmezzato da email, telefonate, sms, navigazioni web, ecc.
La capacità di lavorare, di progredire, di ottenere risultati si basa sulla concentrazione, sul prestare attenzione. Ma ogni fonte informativa ed ogni canale di comunicazione si ripromettono di ottenere, sia pure per poco, la nostra attenzione. Di distrarci dal nostro focus.
Questo articolo di Mike Elgan lo spiega bene. Sei ore di lavoro concentrato ottengono ben di più di dodici ore di lavoro inframmezzato da email, telefonate, sms, navigazioni web, ecc.
28 aprile 2008
Being Your Own Boss
Watts Humprey è il padre del Software Engineering Institute e del Capability Maturity Model.
In una serie di cinque articoli, tratteggia l'atteggiamento mentale di sviluppatori e manager nei confronti dello sviluppo software.
1: The Ideal Job
2: The Autocratic manager
3: Knowledge Work
4: Being a Victim
5: Building Trust
In una serie di cinque articoli, tratteggia l'atteggiamento mentale di sviluppatori e manager nei confronti dello sviluppo software.
1: The Ideal Job
2: The Autocratic manager
3: Knowledge Work
4: Being a Victim
5: Building Trust
28 settembre 2007
18 settembre 2007
Tyler Cowen - How to work and play a little better
The Economist, September 8th 2007
Mr Cowen is a professor of economics at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virgina, and a co-owner of marginalrevolution.com, one of the best economics blogs on the internet.
“Discover Your Inner Economist” joins a recent school of books demystifying and popularising economics that began with Steven Landsburg's “Armchair Economist” in 1993, and conquered the bestseller lists in 2005 with “Freakonomics” by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. It stands apart from its predecessors by making its revelations not so much about the way the world works as about the way we ourselves work (and play) and how we can take practical steps to do both better.
Tyler Cowen: Discover Your Inner Economist: Use Incentives to Fall in Love, Survive Your Next Meeting, and Motivate Your Dentist - Dutton 2007
Mr Cowen is a professor of economics at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virgina, and a co-owner of marginalrevolution.com, one of the best economics blogs on the internet.
“Discover Your Inner Economist” joins a recent school of books demystifying and popularising economics that began with Steven Landsburg's “Armchair Economist” in 1993, and conquered the bestseller lists in 2005 with “Freakonomics” by Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner. It stands apart from its predecessors by making its revelations not so much about the way the world works as about the way we ourselves work (and play) and how we can take practical steps to do both better.
Tyler Cowen: Discover Your Inner Economist: Use Incentives to Fall in Love, Survive Your Next Meeting, and Motivate Your Dentist - Dutton 2007
14 febbraio 2007
Emozioni base e non
The Economist, December 23rd 2006, "Captain Kirk's Revenge"
Most neuroscientists now recognise six basic emotions: anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness and surprise. [...] From the 70s onwards, Dr Paul Ekman, a psychologist at the University of California, San Francisco, was responsible for the general agreement on the six basic emotions. He showed that the facial expressions associated with these emotions are universal, and therefore almost certainly plumbed in genetically. [...]
The list of higher emotions is not as well defined as that of the baser ones, but they include things such as guilt, embarrassment, shame and sympathy. What they have in common is that they depend not merely on what the person feeling them thinks about others, but on what the person feeling them thinks other are thinking about them. It is not the guilt or shame of the act itself, but the risk of being found out that provokes the emotion.
Most neuroscientists now recognise six basic emotions: anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness and surprise. [...] From the 70s onwards, Dr Paul Ekman, a psychologist at the University of California, San Francisco, was responsible for the general agreement on the six basic emotions. He showed that the facial expressions associated with these emotions are universal, and therefore almost certainly plumbed in genetically. [...]
The list of higher emotions is not as well defined as that of the baser ones, but they include things such as guilt, embarrassment, shame and sympathy. What they have in common is that they depend not merely on what the person feeling them thinks about others, but on what the person feeling them thinks other are thinking about them. It is not the guilt or shame of the act itself, but the risk of being found out that provokes the emotion.
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