11yo: I need a bandaid for my cut
me: but why? it’s not bleeding
11yo: to make it stop hurting
me: the bandaid won’t do that
11yo: yes it will, because of the placebo effect
Agnes Callard
33.2K posts
Agnes Callard
@AgnesCallard
Philosopher, UChicago
New book: is.gd/7CVIi6
Point is.gd/WHyOeh
NYT is.gd/UonlHb
podcast mindsalmostmeeting.com
- 8yo has become obsessed with something he calls “countryballs”; he says “these people are members of our family now,” and refuses to explain further.
- As academia became more competitive, high-achiever types flocked to it & outperformed the weirdos who used to populate it; the result is widespread unhappiness, bc academia is more suited to ppl who obsess over Aristotle's theory of sleep than ppl who want to change the world.
- LLMs made me realize that my whole life, I had been asking A LOT fewer questions than I wanted to be asking.
- My trip to NZ has included: an emergency dental visit ($45) a course of antibiotics ($12) a visit to the ER ($0) another course of antibiotics ($9) (prices in USD) In the US this would add up to one (1) million dollars I'd like to PUBLICLY THANK the New Zealand healthcare system
- If we were designed to think solo, monologue would be easier than dialogue. Dialogue involves INCREDIBLY complex acts of prediction, coordination, task-switching and mind-reading--yet we find it MUCH easier than monologue. Why? Maybe thinking is a bicycle built for 2.
- Husband is sad that he broke a nice glass me: it was very fragile we were going to break it eventually 12yo: This is like that part in the Iliad where Zeus is upset about Sarpedon dying and Hera says "you knew it was going to happen eventually, mortals are fated to die."
- 9yo: mama you DIDN'T throw out the halloween candy?!--- [background: we have a halloween tradition where after the kids go to bed, I throw all their candy in the garbage. The next morning, they are filled with rage.] ---thank you SO much!!! [hugs & kisses] Reader, I forgot.
- Replying to @AgnesCallardppl who are morally outraged on behalf of my children: don't come crying to me when your children write boring memoirs called My Parents Were Always Nice
- Scott Alexander argues that advice is disproportionately written by defective people, so maybe...
It continues to amaze me how large a % of internet writing is advice of some form - Just realized: Socrates never says the examined life is worth living.
