Search: robotwisdom

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As part of my ongoing media diet, I recently pared down my RSS feeds to under 300 subscriptions (most of them in my Archived folder on Google Reader).

Then I decided to clean up my list of sites that do not have RSS feeds . It was a fruitful exercise because I was reintroduced to some of my favorite sites, and I have decided to share them here. I may add to this list as I clear out more old favorites in the coming weeks.

Today’s list of sites are all either one man super-sites or old school wikis. I hope you like them as mush as I do.

Jorn Barger’s RobotWisdom

Jorn Barger was the inventor of blogging. His RobotWisdom website is an absolute delight.

The original RobotWisdom site is currently having technical issues, but you can see the archive copy of it here .

Don’t miss the wonderful “Solace: a textbook of romantic psychology” .

Also see “Jorn’s 50 favorite authors” , his Edward Gibbon one page portal and hundreds of other similar gems, best accessed via the site map.

After disappearing for a while in protest (I think) at the Iraq war, he is now back in various places:

http://robotwisdom.tumblr.com – RobotWisdom on Tumblr

http://robotwisdom2.blogspot.com – New linkblog

http://www.flickr.com/photos/rwfaves/favorites/ – Flickr faves

http://www.google.com/reader/shared/user/14569541748422553908/label/public – Google Reader shared items.

(also at http://canon2.blogspot.com )

Jan Geerinck’s Arts and Popular Culture Wiki- http://www.artandpopularculture.com/Main_Page

Jan started off with the magnificent Jahsonic.com , but then moved on tothe Art and Popular Culture wiki.

Please do yourselves a favour and check them both out. They are both stuffed with delights.

Howard Bloom’s Homepage – http://www.howardbloom.net

Howard Bloom is one of my absolute favorite public intellectuals. As I wrote in a previous post “Howard Bloom is a genius. I rate him as one of the most interesting living intellectuals. He is an intellectual idol of mine, king of the The Omnologists, polymath, gentleman and scholar.”

His site is an unsexy chaotic hodgepodge, but this is one of the worlds great thinkers. take the time to explore and you will be stunned by the brilliance of what you find.

Dont miss:

Reinventing Capitalism – putting soul in the machine: A radical reperception of Western Civilisation

Wrestling with Mother Nature: Osama, Michael Jackson, and the Bungle In Iraq By Howard Bloom

INSTANT EVOLUTION The Influence of the City on Human Genes

The Omnologist Manifesto

Richard Drake’s Why 2K – http://clublet.com/why

Coming across this bizarrely brilliant wiki was akin to finding an abandoned city of a former civilization full of wisdom written in your own language.

It appears that this was, of all things, a Christian offshoot of the ward Cunningham’s ur-Wiki.

I discovered it whilst researching of my favorite books of all time, Neville Shute’s “Round the Bend“. A good indication of the sort discussion they had is one about “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” .

The discussion ranges from Philosophy to Software Design, includes brilliant insights and contributions from none other than Kevin Kelly, another of my favorite intellectuals.

Check out a few landing pages like “Tainted By Tribalism“, “Frozen Accidents“, “Original Orwellian Nightmare“, “Many Original Thinkers Exaggerate”

From “Make It Did’nt Happen”

“The desire to recreate some lost happiness often destroys the potential for present happiness. Yet when faced with horrible events we inevitably wish to Make It Didn’t Happen.”

Here is a gem from the CS Lewis Atrocity Test:

“In Mere Christianity CS Lewis suggests that a key indicator of whether we are on the side of the angels is on hearing reports of atrocities committed by our “enemies”. If later we hear reliable reports that the atrocities were not in fact as bad as originally described, Lewis asks, what is our reaction? If it is one of disappointment, we are in big trouble. If it is of virtuous relief that human suffering is in fact less that we supposed, no medals but we can at least move on to the next stage. “

You can find out more about Richard Drake here.

Edward Tufte’s Works – http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/

Edward Tufte is one of the worlds great masters if Visual Thinking and Information Design. His site hosts one of the best discussions boards I know.

See some example threads on topics like “Grand truths about human behaviour ” and “Advice for effective analytical reasoning” for a taste of the brilliance you can expect throughout.

Think2 – http://www.2think.org/

“For a person to become what they are–rather than what society makes them out to be–individual responsibility and courage are required. To become what you really are, you can’t just go along with the flow and do what seems to be the most popular. Certainly, good ideas and such should be borrowed and incorporated into one’s personal philosophy. To find those good ideas, however, requires a willingness to think, a willingness to change, and courage to explore.

So what’s it going to be? Are you going to take my (or someone else’s) word for it, or are you going to live your own thoughtful existence based on a solid methodology?”

Dave Straker’s Changing Minds, Quality Tools and Creating Minds

It is hard to believe one man could have put together these brilliant websites alone. It is a testament to patiently building your website to the highest standards. You can get lost in these sites, they are wonderful.

(see also http://www.innovationtools.com/ )

Anthony Judge’s Laetus in Praesens

It is impossible to summarize this site, its author and the superb essays on find on it. Just take a look at the Themes page for an idea of the sort of topics covered.

Mark Humphrys’ Writings on Politics and Religion – http://www.markhumphrys.com

Irishman Mark Humphrys’ has assembled some of the best political websites I have ever seen. Its not Web 2.0 with and fancy menus and smooth fonts, but if you want exhaustive resources, insightful commentary and all round fine thinking on politics, then this site is a must see.

Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s Opacity – http://www.fooledbyrandomness.com/notebook.htm

Delightful series of short notes, observations and ideas that will not make it into NNT’s next book. If these are the rejects, I can only wonder how brilliant his next book will be.

Alan Chapman’s Business Balls – http://www.businessballs.com

One of the most comprehensive sets of business tools, templates, techniques and how-to’s.

There is now a thriving community at http://space.businessballs.com.

(For a similar site, but commercial, see http://www.mindtools.com )

MeatBall Wiki – http://www.usemod.com/cgi-bin/mb.pl

“Meatball is a community of active practitioners striving to teach each other how to organize people using online tools.”

Don’t be fooled by this dry description, Meatball is teeming with brilliant contributers and ideas. This is not just for community builders, but is a fascinating repository of practical wisdom related to human nature, communication, psychology, communities, conflicts, cooperation and collaboration.

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