Kadir

“The meaning of each democratic election is promise of the next one. If we anticipate that another meaningful election will take place, we know that the next time around we can correct our mistakes, which in the meantime we blame upon the people whom we elect. In this way, democracy transforms human fallibility into political predictability, and helps us to experience time as movement forward into a future over which we have some influence. If we come to believe that elections are simply a repetitive ritual of support, democracy loses its meaning.”
― Timothy Snyder, The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America

“In 1976, Stephen King published a short story, “I Know What You Need,” about the courting of a young woman. Her suitor was a young man who could read her mind but did not tell her so. He simply appeared with what she wanted at the moment, beginning with strawberry ice cream for a study break. Step by step he changed her life, making her dependent upon him by giving her what she thought she wanted at a certain moment, before she herself had a chance to reflect. Her best friend realized that something disconcerting was happening, investigated, and learned the truth: “That is not love,” she warned. “That’s rape.” The internet is a bit like this. It knows much about us, but interacts with us without revealing that this is so. It makes us unfree by arousing our worst tribal impulses and placing them at the service of unseen others.”
― Timothy Snyder, The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America

“This progression is a manifestation of synaptic pruning. When our brains are growing, we make more neurons than we need. As we navigate our lives, solving problems and adapting to different environments, we use certain networks of neurons more than others. These commonly used networks become more numerous and better able to compute information; then they streamline their connections and become more efficient. By the time we are adults, our brain networks are stripped down and specialized. We lose plasticity, but our cognition becomes better at solving the problems we are most likely to face.”
― Brian Hare, Survival of the Friendliest: Understanding Our Origins and Rediscovering Our Common Humanity

“Demoralized by their inability to change their station in life, they must accept that the meaning of politics lies not in institutional reform but in daily emotion. They must stop thinking about a better future for themselves, their friends, and their families, and prefer the constant invocation of a proud past. At the top and throughout society, material inequality creates the experiences and the sentiments that can be transformed into a politics of eternity.”
― Timothy Snyder, The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America