“Why is This Important to You?”
Socrates believed “the unexamined life is not worth living.” He may not have coined the phrase “know thyself,” but he’s famous for traipsing the streets of Athens examining lives by nagging prominent people until he proved they did not “know thineselfs.”
So effective was he the good city-state of democracy voted to put him to death. Socrates, despite his friends’ wishes, readily agreed to drink the hemlock and thus first came into usage the phrase “good career move.”
But before he died, Socrates perfected a method that would become his lasting legacy. Used today anywhere from the courtroom, to the classroom, to the psychologist’s couch, we call it the “Socratic Method” (which just shows you how terribly dull and unimaginative philosophers can be at times).
In a nutshell, here’s how it works. Come up with a question or hypothesis and keep asking annoying questions (often the same one or of the same form) until you’ve eliminated all Continue Reading “How to Live the Good Life with No Regrets”
The Black List Listless Series Finale Disappoints
If an image of a smart looking older man just dripping of Mexican aristocracy blossoms in your head, then you’ve been influenced by the same advertising campaigns as I have. No, in case you’re wondering, this column is not a Dos Equis beer commercial. But it is about the most interesting man in the world.
Or at least the television world.
Before I leave the advertising realm, chances are the image you conjured was that of a well-tanned but weathered gentleman with graying hair and an even grayer beard. He looks like a modern-day Don Quixote. It’s an allure that’s hard to turn away from.
Incidentally, the actor Jonathan Goldsmith portrayed this character from 2006 through 2016. In his final ad, Dos Equis launched “the most interesting man in the world” on a one-way trip to another world—Mars. His final epitaph was the fitting, “His only regret is not Continue Reading “The Black List Listless Series Finale Disappoints”