School of Athens. Raphael. At the centre of this famous fresco are Plato (in red, point up) and Aristotle (in blue, pointing forward). Hard to think of a more famous mentor-mentee combination (aside from Socrates and Plato, or Aristotle and Alexander the Great).
In 1962, Bobby Dylan recorded his first original song. Simpler than his later work, A Song to Woody remains an intricate and heartfelt tribute to one Dylan’s greatest heroes.
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The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons. J.M.W Turner. My obsessive tendencies regarding the stove related to a fear of everything burning down.
I have suffered from obsessive tendencies. How does one begin to reverse their own need for perfection and begin to accept the uncertainty inherent in life?
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Benjamin Franklin drawing electricity from the sky. Painting by Benjamin West
Is there a meaningful between white-collar and blue-collar jobs? Perhaps not. Scientists and trade workers share many important attributes.
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Female bust the big ear. (1907). Painting by Picasso. As we grow older, our ears and nose sag and appear larger due to a loss of elasticity. Perhaps biological immortality will require we all grow less self-conscious about our facial features (or otherwise turn to plastic surgery en masse).
Many biological scientists have made it their life’s mission to extend the biological limitations on line span. What I had once derided as escapist to the core, I now admit that efforts to extend life span do not differ greatly from treatments designed to prevent premature death.
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Cholera plague, Quebec. Painting by Joseph Légaré. Not too many benefits from having cholera in the 19th century.
Disease is an inherently subjective term. What follows is an effort to highlight subjective classifications of disease and reveal the true nature of disease — an incongruence between person and environment.
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