Words of Wisdom — February 13, 2014

John McEnroe on Aging

“The older I get, the better I used to be.” – John McEnroe (born on this date in 1959)

bigthinkeditor

The most surprising and impactful new stories delivered to your inbox every week, for free.

“The older I get, the better I used to be.” – John McEnroe (born on this date in 1959)

The most surprising and impactful new stories delivered to your inbox every week, for free.

A person lies in bed reading a book, wearing a white blouse, in a painting with soft, muted colors.

High Culture

ChatGPT is great at summarizing books. But will AI ever write a true work of literature?

With the right prompts, large language models can produce quality writing — and make us question the limits of human creativity.

A deep space image showing numerous galaxies of different shapes and sizes scattered across a dark background, with many stars and cosmic objects, including the ancient Methuselah star, also visible throughout.

Starts With A Bang

Is the “Methuselah star” really older than the Universe?

The Universe is precisely dated at 13.8 billion years old, but astronomers claim the Methuselah star is 14.5 billion years old. What gives?

The head of a man and a woman are shown side by side in a research study focused on ketamine and depression.

Neuropsych

A vaccine for depression

Ketamine’s remarkable effect bolsters a new theory of mental illness.

The Past

How the ancient Greeks viewed pederasty and homosexuality

In many city-states, it was perfectly acceptable for older men to have sexual relationships with young boys.

Neuropsych

Baby names: why we all choose the same ones

You want your baby’s name to be unique, but so does everyone else.

Up Next

Words of Wisdom

Frederick Douglass on Learning

“A little learning, indeed, may be a dangerous thing, but the want of learning is a calamity to any people.” – Frederick Douglass (born on this date in 1818)