When we conjure up ancient philosophers the image that springs to mind might be a bald Socrates discoursing with beautiful young men in the sun, or a scholarly Aristotle lecturing among cool columns.
But what about Aspasia, the foreign mistress of the foremost politician in Athens who gave both political and erotic advice? Or Sosipatra, mystic, mother, and Neoplatonist who was a more popular teacher than her husband, Eustathius?
Women also shaped the development of philosophy. Although their writings, by and large, do not survive, their verbal teaching made a significant impact on their contemporaries, and their voices echo through the ages.
More than two millennia later, intelligent, verbal women still struggle to have their own voices heard. So here are six ancient female philosophers you should know about.
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Michel Corneille the Younger: Aspasia surrounded by Greek philosophers. Photo by Wikimedia Commons
The “language police” have a point: words matter. There are plenty of verbal habits or throwaway phrases that can undermine our credibility and ability to communicate.
Conversely, there are also words that throw open the doors to better communication. Few people know this better than Alexandra Carter, negotiation trainer for the United Nations and director of the Mediation Clinic at Columbia University Law School, and author of Ask for More: 10 Questions to Negotiate Anything. Carter started using the phrase “tell me” when she was trained as a mediator in the early 2000s, and she was astonished at the information it revealed.
Wanting to understand how Einstein learned physics may, at first, seem as pointless as trying to fly by watching birds and flapping your arms really hard. How do you emulate someone who is synonymous with genius?
However, I think the investigation can still bear fruits, even if you or I might not have the intellectual gifts to revolutionize physics. Whatever Einstein did to learn, he clearly did something right, so there’s merit in trying to figure out what that was.
How Smart Was Einstein? (Did He Really Fail Elementary Mathematics?)
One of the most common stories about Einstein is that he failed grade school math. I think this is one of those ideas that sounds so good it has to get repeated, regardless of whether it is true or not.
Unfortunately, it’s not true. Einstein was a strong math student from a very young age. He himself admits:
“I never failed in mathematics. Before I was fifteen I had mastered differential and integral calculus.”
Four years ago, organizers created the international AI City Challenge to spur the development of artificial intelligence for real-world scenarios like counting cars traveling through intersections or spotting accidents on freeways.
In the first years, teams representing American companies or universities took top spots in the competition. Last year, Chinese companies won three out of four competitions.
Last week, Chinese tech giants Alibaba and Baidu swept the AI City Challenge, beating competitors from nearly 40 nations. Chinese companies or universities took first and second place in all five categories. TikTok creator ByteDance took second place in a competition to identify car accidents or stalled vehicles from freeway video feeds.
The results reflect years of investment by the Chinese government in smart cities. Hundreds of Chinese cities have pilot programs, and by some estimates, China has half of the world’s smart cities. The spread of edge computing, cameras, and sensors using 5G wireless connections is expected to accelerate use of smart-city and surveillance technology.
During last weekend’s deadly heatwave, some roads in the Pacific Northwest buckled. Workers ventured out in blistering conditions to put cracked concrete and asphalt byways back together. Steel drawbridges were doused with water to make sure they wouldn’t swell shut under the oppressive heat.
The heat dome that sat over the region provided a brutal stress test of its roadways, some of which couldn’t withstand multiple days of record-breaking temperatures. It’s something that’s happened before, in Washington, Wisconsin, South Dakota, and anywhere else experiencing extreme heat waves.
“You can design something to work in a very hot temperature or not. That’s not the problem.” Steve Muench, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Washington says. The problem is that the current heat defies engineering expectations. Fixing that bigger problem will take engineering, planning, and a whole lot of public willpower.
Why can’t these roads handle the heat?
Different kinds of roads behave very differently under heat. In the US, roads are typically made of one of two materials — asphalt or concrete.
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A road that buckled in the recent heat.Washington State Department of Transportation North via Twitter
When I think of walking for cardio, I picture Jane Fonda-vibes outfits (hello, brightly-colored, high-cut Spandex and sweatbands), wrist and ankle weights, and wildly pumping arms. And then I shrug it off. I mean, cardio has to be high-exertion and super sweaty, right? Or is walking cardio after all?
First, let me clarify: Cardio—short for “cardiorespiratory” activity—refers to physical activity that relies on your circulatory and respiratory systems to supply oxygen to your working muscles, explains Steve Stonehouse, CPT, director of education for the running studio STRIDE. (You’ve also heard it referred to as “aerobic exercise.”)
Any low- to moderate-intensity exercise is considered aerobic, which means you don’t have to go all-out to get a good cardio workout. In fact, you can reap the benefits without maxing out your muscles at all.
Withdrawing my hands reluctantly from the slowly spinning bowl, I watched its uneven sides slowly come to a stop, wishing I could straighten them out just a little more. I was in the ancient pottery town of Hagi in rural Yamaguchi, Japan, and while I trusted the potter who convinced me to let it be, I can’t say I understood his motives.
Smiling, he announced, “it has wabi-sabi” – and whisked the bowl away for firing. I sat, contemplating the lack of symmetry and wondering what on Earth he meant.
As it turns out, failing to understand this phrase is not unusual. A key part of the Japanese Aesthetic – the ancient ideals that still govern the norms on taste and beauty in Japan – wabi-sabi is not only untranslatable but also considered undefinable in Japanese culture. Often muttered in moments of profound appreciation, and almost always followed by the word muri! (impossible!) when asked to expand, the phrase offers an unusual way to view the world.
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The appreciation of transient beauty is at the heart of some of Japan’s most simple pleasures, such as the annual celebration of cherry blossoms. Credit: Alex Ramsay/Alamy.
Film and Writing Festival for Comedy. Showcasing best of comedy short films at the FEEDBACK Film Festival. Plus, showcasing best of comedy novels, short stories, poems, screenplays (TV, short, feature) at the festival performed by professional actors.
Einstein
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James' World 2 