Welcome to this week's 5BF: the Barnum effect, Spinoza the heretic, a labored love, and more...
1 - what I read
Three Years by Antov Chekhov - from the master teller of short stories, this novella follows the frustrated couple Laptev and Yulia and their unhappy marriage. While Laptev seeks happiness by marrying his love Yulia, the post-marriage story turns out to be the opposite. The only consolation for the unhappy couple, after three years of regretful marriage, is to forge a labored love for each other.
2 - this week's articles
The Barnum effect and personality tests by @nesslabs - no wonder we love reading about our zodiac signs, since they are specifically tailored to appeal to each of us individually, argues Le Cunff. Using the Barnum effect, these tests win relevance and interest of mass people by appealing to them all.
Why Spinoza still matters @aeon - at age 23, Spinoza was exiled for being a heretic, rejecting the Abrahamic God. Centuries later, his name and his philosophy still lives on and is read and celebrated my many scholars and lay people alike. Why? Because his philosophy is a timeless meditation of God, nature, morality, and rationale.
The psychedelic revolution is coming @nytimes - psychedelic drugs like MDMA and psilocybin have long been controversially famed for their unmatched effects on people's mental health, either as a cure or as a expansion of one's consciousness. After being banned for their misleading uses for decades, this article beacons how the approval of these drugs are underway and a whole new way of tackling mental health is on its way.
3 - conversation in taxi: a project in making
One of our friends is a YouTuber with a passion of becoming a filmmaker later down the road. With him as the director, few other of our friends came up with an idea of making an episodes long video series based on scripted conversations in taxi, borrowing its roots from the brilliant Irani movie 'Taxi'. In it, we'd highlight few of the urgent and relevant topics and put forward our thoughts on them. This past week, this project got underway and in the coming weeks if everything works out, we shall see its first episodes, hopefully.
4 - song I am constantly listening to
'Teri Deewani' by Kailash kher. Just sooo good!
A new lifetime favorite song from my new favorite singer.
5 - this week's quote
'Hum mehz apney khiyalaat ka nateeja hai'.
We are merely the product of our thoughts.
- Quratul ain Haider