"It would be illegitimate to complain that the argument neglects variables the critic happens to regard as important: physical environment, ideology, military technology, or something else. The missing-variable criticism only becomes legitimate when the critic shows that neglect of the variable causes a false reading of relationships among variables that do appear in the argument. The point is not to give a "complete" account (whatever that may be), but to get the main connections right."

-- Charles Tilly, Coercion, Capital, and European States, AD 990-1990

Jaipur, India

"It has long been thought that a theorist is considered great because his theories are true, but this is false. A theorist is great, not because his theories are true, but because they are interesting. Those who carefully and exhaustively verify trivial theories are soon forgotten; whereas those who cursorily and expediently verify interesting theories are long remembered. In fact, the truth of a theory has very little to do with its impact, for a theory can continue to be found interesting even though its truth is disputed -- even refuted!"

-- Murray S. Davis, "That's Interesting!: Towards a Phenomenology of Sociology and a Sociology of Phenomenology", Philosophy of Social Science, 1

"I watch students come to the realization that there’s an internal contradiction in their lives. They both want to be famous and they want to be authentic, and yet there’s something in their striving to archive their lives that’s inauthentic."

-- Michael Wesch, in "Will You Marry Me? Say Cheese!", The New York Times

"Reason is and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them."

-- David Hume, A Treatise of Human Nature

"The cultural consequence is that judging intelligence is less like measuring horsepower in an engine and more like watching ballet. Speed and strength are part of intelligence, and these things can be measured numerically, but the essence of the activity is found in the rhythm and grace and personality — traits that are the products of an idiosyncratic blend of emotions, experiences, motivations and inheritances.

"Recent brain research, rather than reducing everything to electrical impulses and quantifiable pulses, actually enhances our appreciation of human complexity and richness. While psychometrics offered the false allure of objective fact, the new science brings us back into contact with literature, history and the humanities, and, ultimately, to the uniqueness of the individual."

-- David Brooks, "The Waning of I.Q.", The New York Times

Chicago, U.S.A.

"When people are given the opportunity to create a fantasy world, they can and do defy the laws of gravity (you can fly in Second Life), but not of economics or human nature. Players in this digital, global game don’t have to work, but many do. They don’t need to change clothes, fix their hair, or buy and furnish a home, but many do. They don’t need to have drinks in their hands at the virtual bar, but they buy cocktails anyway, just to look right, to feel comfortable."

-- Shira Boss, "Even in a Virtual World, ‘Stuff’ Matters", The New York Times

"Now that we’ve become accustomed to the idea that buying a house means buying into a market as well as a neighborhood, it’s unnerving to see things unwind. There aren’t many upsides to what’s happened over the past few months, with some lenders going bankrupt and many borrowers who assumed too much risk or debt facing a difficult future. Still, one of the more depressing aspects of the housing run-up was the widespread conflation of a house’s price and its value. If there is a possible benefit to the slump, it may be that we’ll emerge with a different understanding of the value of our homes, regarding them less as investments (perhaps burying the presumption, at least until the next boom, that they’re as reliable as stocks and bonds) and more as something all too ordinary. That is, as places to live."

-- Jon Gertner, "Appreciating Depreciation", The New York Times

"In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule."

-- Friedrich Nietzsche