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Cynicism
- MIT Press Essential Knowledge Series
- Narrated by: Nigel Patterson
- Length: 5 hrs and 9 mins
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Publisher's summary
Everyone's a cynic, yet few will admit it. Today's cynics excuse themselves half-heartedly - "I hate to be a cynic, but...." - before making their pronouncements. Narrowly opportunistic, always on the take, contemporary cynicism has nothing positive to contribute. The Cynicism of the ancient Greeks, however, was very different. Bold and shameless, it was committed to transforming the values on which civilization depends. In this volume of the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, Ansgar Allen charts the long history of cynicism, from the "fearless speech" of Greek Cynics in the fourth century BCE to the contemporary cynic's lack of social and political convictions.
Allen describes ancient Cynicism as an improvised philosophy and a way of life disposed to scandalize contemporaries, subjecting their cultural commitments to derision. He chronicles the subsequent "purification" of Cynicism by the Stoics; Renaissance and Enlightenment appropriations of Cynicism; and the transition from Cynicism (the philosophy) to cynicism (the modern attitude), exploring contemporary cynicism from the perspectives of its leftist, liberal, and conservative critics. Finally, he considers the possibility of a radical cynicism that admits and affirms the danger it poses to contemporary society.
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- Narrated by: Liam Gerrard
- Length: 2 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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How to Say No is a delightful collection of brief ancient writings about Cynicism that captures all the outrageousness, wit, and wisdom of its remarkable cast of characters—from Diogenes in the fourth century BCE to the column-stander Symeon Stylites in late antiquity.
By: Diogenes, and others
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Critical Thinking
- MIT Press Essential Knowledge Series
- By: Jonathan Haber
- Narrated by: Joel Richards
- Length: 3 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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Critical thinking is regularly cited as an essential 21st century skill, the key to success in school and work. Given our propensity to believe fake news, draw incorrect conclusions, and make decisions based on emotion rather than reason, it might even be said that critical thinking is vital to the survival of a democratic society. But what, exactly, is critical thinking? Haber describes the term's origins in such disciplines as philosophy, psychology, and science.
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I decided not to finsh it.
- By Sterling on 08-04-20
By: Jonathan Haber
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Deep Learning
- MIT Press Essential Knowledge Series
- By: John D. Kelleher
- Narrated by: Joel Richards
- Length: 5 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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In this volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, computer scientist John Kelleher offers an accessible and concise but comprehensive introduction to the fundamental technology at the heart of the artificial intelligence revolution. Kelleher explains some of the basic concepts in deep learning, presents a history of advances in the field, and discusses the current state of the art.
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Yikes
- By Elliot Blanford on 10-27-19
By: John D. Kelleher
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Neuroplasticity
- The MIT Press Essential Knowledge Series
- By: Moheb Costandi
- Narrated by: Tim Andres Pabon
- Length: 3 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Fifty years ago, neuroscientists thought that a mature brain was fixed like a fly in amber, unable to change. Today, we know that our brains and nervous systems change throughout our lifetimes. This concept of neuroplasticity has captured the imagination of a public eager for self-improvement - and has inspired countless Internet entrepreneurs who peddle dubious "brain training" games and apps. In this book, Moheb Costandi offers a concise and engaging overview of neuroplasticity for the general listener.
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A great introductory read on the brain.
- By Brent Rossman on 06-15-17
By: Moheb Costandi
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Extremism
- By: J.M. Berger
- Narrated by: Matthew Josdal
- Length: 3 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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In this volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, J. M. Berger offers a nuanced introduction to extremist movements, explaining what extremism is, how extremist ideologies are constructed, and why extremism can escalate into violence.
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Good exploration of extremism
- By Sunshine on 08-02-24
By: J.M. Berger
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The Dangerous Life and Ideas of Diogenes the Cynic
- By: Jean-Manuel Roubineau, Malcolm DeBevoise - translator, Phillip Mitsis - editor
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 4 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Beyond the rehashed clichés, this book inspires us to rediscover Diogenes' philosophical legacy—whether it be the challenge to the established order, the detachment from materialism, the choice of a return to nature, or the formulation of a cosmopolitan ideal strongly rooted in the belief that virtue is better revealed in action than in theory.
By: Jean-Manuel Roubineau, and others
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Lives of the Eminent Philosophers
- By: Diogenes Laertius, Pamela Mensch - translator, James Miller - editor
- Narrated by: Jennifer M. Dixon
- Length: 28 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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This anthology is a miscellany of maxims and anecdotes that generations of Western readers have consulted for edification as well as entertainment ever since Lives of the Eminent Philosophers, first compiled in the AD third century, came to prominence in Renaissance Italy. To this day, it remains a crucial source for much of what we know about the origins and practice of philosophy in ancient Greece.
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Could be worse ....
- By Mohad Cheridi on 01-31-19
By: Diogenes Laertius, and others
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AI Ethics
- MIT Press Essential Knowledge Series
- By: Mark Coeckelbergh
- Narrated by: Liam Gerrard
- Length: 4 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Artificial intelligence powers Google's search engine, enables Facebook to target advertising, and allows Alexa and Siri to do their jobs. AI is also behind self-driving cars, predictive policing, and autonomous weapons that can kill without human intervention. These and other AI applications raise complex ethical issues that are the subject of ongoing debate. This volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series offers an accessible synthesis of these issues.
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Great book, not for beginners.
- By Santiago on 05-12-23
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Data Science
- By: John D. Kelleher, Brendan Tierney
- Narrated by: Chris Sorensen
- Length: 5 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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It has never been easier for organizations to gather, store, and process data. Use of data science is driven by the rise of big data and social media, the development of high-performance computing, and the emergence of such powerful methods for data analysis and modeling as deep learning. Data science encompasses a set of principles, problem definitions, algorithms, and processes for extracting non-obvious and useful patterns from large datasets.
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performance is borderline unlistenable
- By jlouviere on 01-14-19
By: John D. Kelleher, and others
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How to Win an Election
- An Ancient Guide for Modern Politicians
- By: Quintus Tullius Cicero, Philip Freeman - translator
- Narrated by: Doug Kaye
- Length: 1 hr and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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How to Win an Election is an ancient Roman guide for campaigning that is as up-to-date as tomorrow's headlines. In 64 BC when idealist Marcus Cicero, Rome's greatest orator, ran for consul (the highest office in the Republic), his practical brother Quintus decided he needed some no-nonsense advice on running a successful campaign.
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How to be a politician ...
- By Benedict on 07-31-13
By: Quintus Tullius Cicero, and others
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World's First Punk
- The Hardcore life of Diogenes the Cynic
- By: L. M. Patrick
- Narrated by: Virtual Voice
- Length: 3 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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Peeing, pooping, and wanking in public, insulting the powerful and sleeping in the street: Such was the life of the ancient Greek philosopher Diogenes of Sinope, a real man who was a contemporary of the immortal Plato. But unlike Plato who ran a famous school and behaved with austere grace, Diogenes lived like a wild animal among the marble colonnades of his adoptive city of Athens. He and the school of Cynic philosophers who followed him were renowned for their "dog-like" behavior, and they are history's first clear example of the urban primitive. In modernity we have seen the same ethos ...
By: L. M. Patrick
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Synesthesia
- By: Richard E. Cytowic MD
- Narrated by: Keith Sellon-Wright
- Length: 5 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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A neurological trait that creates vividly felt cross-sensory couplings, synesthesia is examined in this illuminating audiobook by pioneering researcher Richard Cytowic who reminds us that each individual's perspective on the world is thoroughly subjective.
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Interesting read, well written & well narrated.
- By R W on 05-19-18
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The Conscious Mind
- By: Zoltan Torey
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 3 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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How did the human mind emerge from the collection of neurons that makes up the brain? How did the brain acquire self-awareness, functional autonomy, language, and the ability to think, to understand itself and the world? In this volume in the Essential Knowledge series, Zoltan Torey offers an accessible and concise description of the evolutionary breakthrough that created the human mind.
By: Zoltan Torey
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Understanding Beliefs
- By: Nils J. Nilsson
- Narrated by: Don Hagen
- Length: 2 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Our beliefs constitute a large part of our knowledge of the world. We have beliefs about objects, about culture, about the past, and about the future. We have beliefs about other people, and we believe that they have beliefs as well. We use beliefs to predict, to explain, to create, to console, to entertain. Some of our beliefs we call theories, and we are extraordinarily creative at constructing them. Theories of quantum mechanics, evolution, and relativity are examples.
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it's okay
- By Question Asker on 10-11-23
By: Nils J. Nilsson
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The Mind-Body Problem
- The MIT Press Essential Knowledge Series
- By: Jonathan Westphal
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 5 hrs
- Unabridged
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In this book the philosopher Jonathan Westphal examines the mind-body problem in detail, laying out the reasoning behind the solutions that have been offered in the past and presenting his own proposal. The sharp focus on the mind-body problem, a problem that is not about the self or consciousness or the soul or anything other than the mind and the body, helps clarify both problem and solutions. Westphal outlines the history of the mind-body problem, beginning with Descartes.
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Multiple chapters without a point
- By J. A. Schroeder on 07-01-17
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Computational Thinking
- By: Peter J. Denning, Matti Tedre
- Narrated by: Steven Jay Cohen
- Length: 5 hrs and 56 mins
- Unabridged
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A few decades into the digital era, scientists discovered that thinking in terms of computation made possible an entirely new way of organizing scientific investigation; eventually, every field had a computational branch: computational physics, computational biology, computational sociology. More recently, "computational thinking" has become part of the K-12 curriculum. But what is computational thinking? This volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series offers an accessible overview.
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Too slow, repetitive for professional programmers
- By Kindle Customer on 04-06-21
By: Peter J. Denning, and others
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Extraterrestrials
- MIT Press Essential Knowledge Series
- By: Wade Roush
- Narrated by: Rick Adamson
- Length: 4 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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Everything we know about how planets form and how life arises suggests that human civilization on Earth should not be unique. We ought to see abundant evidence of extraterrestrial activity - but we don't. Where is everybody? In this volume in the MIT Press Essential Knowledge series, science and technology writer Wade Roush examines one of the great unsolved problems in science: Is there life, intelligent or otherwise, on other planets?
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A much needed nonfiction discourse on ET
- By hammi on 07-21-23
By: Wade Roush
What listeners say about Cynicism
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- John Rothermel
- 11-27-21
Enjoyable
A very enjoyable and illuminating study.
However...
Once the author gets to the 21st century, he has a hard time parsing classical Cynicism with the spectatorial "common sense" cynical reflexive posing used by bourgeoisie and their middle class transmission-belts in electoral politics, editorial pages, and education factories.
Contemporary cynical poses are never held for long by those employing the mode: the dictatorship of capital has space and patience for most methods of blowing-off steam, until a method finds a mass echo in the working class; then the funtimes must be carefully walked-back.
An example: "The Daily Show" for years heaped ridicule on Bush-Cheney. But when they needed to shift gears to celebrate the "genius of the system" that we should all truly be grateful for, they could always roll out Senator McCain.
JR
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- Johnson
- 06-01-23
Entertaining
An interesting discussion of ancient Cynicism and modern small c cynicism and what the ancient concept of Cynicism might look like if practiced today
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- Anonymous User
- 06-18-22
revival of classical cycism
this book could turn into a movement if the classical Greek cynics exercises and principles are taken to heart. I know they won me over
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- John Goldsworthy
- 09-01-23
So good until it gets to the 20th and 21st ce
The writer conveniently glosses over the 20th and 21st ce global and social/cultural events that have exponentially increased apathy. Context is important in understanding contemporary mutations of ‘cynicism.’
Has the author seen the logical end point of the enlightenment? Rousseau was right
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- Aarin Joseph King
- 04-18-24
astounding circumstances
historical and insightful for the attuned listener. No less that permissible to an educated shelf.
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- Christopher Hayler
- 07-09-24
good narrator, wide ranging content
interesting story of the development of cynicism over history, exploring many of the places in modern life that have some form of cynicism, not riveting but very thought provoking
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