Active vs. Passive Open-Mindedness

There are 2 kinds of open-mindedness: passive and active. Passive open-mindedness is what most people seem to be talking about when they talk about "keeping an open mind". It's a willingness to accept things as they're presented to you—a kind of flexibility of acceptance, if you will.

But there is a more robust kind of open-mindedness. It's one that, when practiced, can lead to much better conversations and a more diverse and stronger body of knowledge. I consider it a reliable pathway to wisdom. It requires a little more work, but it's definitely worth it.

Read about it here

Other Interesting Ideas

• Netflix's Culture Slide Deck Is Pretty Good

  I am a fan of companies that take culture seriously. Some (probably many) simply talk the talk, and leave it at that. Others, like apparently Netflix, actually use the writing and talk about their culture to reinforce it in practice. This slide deck is apparently the basis for Netflix's current recruiting and training literature.

• The Hype About Magic Mushrooms as Medicine

  A lot has been written recently about Psilocybin, the main active chemical in so-called "magic mushrooms". Several large clinical trials are underway to evaluate the drug as a serious psychiatric medicine—treating things like depression and severe anxiety. Perhaps the most interesting mode by which it's said to provide psychiatric benefit is by changing or nearly eliminating a person's sense of self. There is even talk of broader use of psilocybin to help reduce violent crime (which harkens back to Timothy Leary's Concord prison experiment.