Most people think of conflict as something to be avoided, but there's another way to view it -- as creative and generative. In his book "The Art of Rivalry," Boston Globe art critic Sebastian Smee explores how intense conflicts, broken friendships and personal reconciliations fueled some of the most dramatic breakthroughs in Modern Art. He tells Steve Paulson that the rivalry between Picasso and Matisse contributed, in part, to cubism.
Intelligent. Optimistic. Curious.
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Megabyte, terabyte, gigabyte... web-watcher David Siegel says the web's just too data heavy. The answer is to stop duplicating and make all that data - particularly our personal data - more meaningful.
Acrassicauda means Black Scorpion and is the name of an Iraqi heavy metal band.
Dan Janzen is one of the world’s leading tropical biologists. He’s discovered some 9,000 species of caterpillars in Costa Rica.
"Gifts make slaves like whips make dogs" is an anthropologist's tale of inter-cultural difference in gift exchanges.
David Graeber takes us on a tour of gift giving, and gift economies. He also takes a swing at the question of whether it's possible to give a truly selfless gift.
Charles de Lint has pioneered a new contemporary mythic fiction. His new novel is "Widdershins."
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Pir Zubair Shah risked his life to report from Waziristan -- a Taliban stronghold in northwest Pakistan -- where he was detained by both the Taliban and government forces. He spoke to Jim Fleming about the dangers of reporting from that region of Pakistan.
Philosopher Daniel Dennett tells Steve Paulson why he finds ignorance of evolutionary biology so appalling.
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