Media Sampler 3 - Active rest and small worlds
“Media Sampler” is a series of posts, where I make a selection of articles, videos and podcasts that I recently came across in the Internets and found interesting!
Articles
-
How the Physics of Resonance Shapes Reality by Ben Brubaker
This is a nice short introduction about resonances for non-experts. I liked how the concept was put in a historical context, from Euler to the quantum revolution and eventually the discovery of the Higgs boson. It is a well written article with some nice connections to everyday life.
Blast the vacuum of empty space hard enough at the right frequency, and out will pop a bunch of particles.
-
Your Brain on Computers by Matt Richtel
As a millenial, I have a special interest in the effect of modern computers to our brains and society in general. This is an old piece from the NYT which describes a trip by a group of scientists in the wild to help them understand how the new technologies are affecting their mind and how a retreat to nature can change it. The storytelling is on point and it is very interesting to see that there is no hint about the potential of using these attention-grabbing technologies to make a profit (essentially how big tech became big in the 2010s). I also found a TED talk regarding the article from one of the researchers mentioned in the article.
Attention is the holy grail. Everything that you’re conscious of, everything you let in, everything you remember and you forget, depends on it.”
-David Strayer
-
How to rest well by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang
In this article Dr. Pang gives some general advice about how to rest well so that we can enjoy a more creative and sustainable life. The article is based on his earlier work called “Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less “ that I read last year (during a vacation!) and definitely recommend. Some of the key points are the following:
- Rest should be active and not passive (I know that some of you would rather sit on the couch and watch TV all day). Neuroscience research has shown that the most restorative rest is the active kind.
- Practice “deep play”, which is a demanding and serious hobby that provides the same rewards as work, without the challenges.
- Give a try to naps and don’t neglect sleep.
- Schedule your rest. Especially for the weekend, don’t wait for Saturday morning to plan what to do for the next couple of days.
Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under the trees on a summers day, listening to the murmur of water, or watching the clouds float across the blue sky, is by no means a waste of time.
-John Lubbock