Thursday Things: History Happens Edition
29 April 2021. Vol 3 No 17 By Dan McGirt. #90
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Eye see you! Photo by Jaakko Kemppainen on Unsplash
Who enjoys small talk? Well, someone must, because there is so much of it. But if you’re interested in having more meaningful conversations, even with strangers, this article from one of my new favorite sites, Psyche, has you covered: How to have more meaningful conversations. The advice includes:
To have more meaningful conversations, it’s useful to see small talk as a warm-up, a necessary stepping-stone.
To move into better conversations more quickly, ask your partner open questions and follow-up questions, and really listen to their answers.
At the same time, dare to share more about yourself. It doesn’t have to be something really private – any level of self-disclosure can be a powerful way to feel closer to someone.
And much more at the link. Some people may approach conversations this way quite naturally. Others, and I’m not naming names, do not. But it’s a useful article either way, because we’ve all got to talk to people. Whether we like it or not.
The past keeps changing. 20 Amazing Historical Discoveries in the Last 20 Years: “Scientists and historians have made incredible finds—from the oldest human-made art to long-lost shipwrecks—in the 20 years since Mental Floss began. Let’s take a look at some key discoveries since 2001.”
Discoveries of the last two decades include the world’s oldest cheese, the bones of King Richard III interred under a parking lot, a hoard of Anglo-Saxon gold, an ancient Chinese beer recipe, and more. History never stops happening, which is part of what makes it so interesting. We think we know how things were, then someone digs up another cache of Egyptian mummies we didn’t know about and everything changes all over again.
And now, to the future! We’ve mentioned the late physicist and space colonization advocate Gerard K. O’Neill here before. I read his book 2081 in high school, and later his better known The High Frontier. He detailed his ideas for permanent orbiting space colonies, as well getting cheap, abundant energy on earth using solar power satellites that could beam power down as microwaves. Exciting stuff, and it made quite an impression on me.
Apparently O’Neill also made a strong impression on a guy named Jeff Bezos. Unlike me, Bezos is a gazillionaire with his own rocket company, Blue Origin. And it seems Jeff’s vision is to bring O’Neill’s vision to life. Jeff Bezos wants floating colonies in space with weather like Maui all year long — here's what he thinks they'll look like.
Our future home in space. Source: Blue Origin
It’s a shame we don’t have this already — we really could have started building these space colonies decades ago. But, better late than never! And now I feel like every purchase I make on Amazon helps bring our amazing space future one step closer. (Though it’s all fun and games until Alexa goes full HAL 9000 and won’t open the airlock for you.)
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