Archive
A Rational Explanation for Apple’s Irrational behavior
Fear is directly proportional to the size of the coward.
— Xenocrates
Are you frightened by crawling creatures? Does the sudden sight of a scurrying mouse startle you? Does the wayward flight of a random cockroach make you duck? Would the sight of a black spider resting on the wall across the room fill you with terror just after you turn on the light in your bedroom? If so, have you ever asked yourself why? Why would you, a human, the most fearsome animal on the planet be terrified of such tiny crawling creatures? Curiously, the same behavior exists in giants of religion (Christianity fears Atheism) politics (GOP vs. Democrats) and even technology (Apple Inc. vs Samsung et al). Why do giants fear dwarves? This post explores the psychology of giants like Apple Inc. Apple fan boys won’t be amused.
■ Special Thanks to Stewart Panton (Twitter: @Stewpert) and Alex Albert Sim (Twitter: @bertzzie) for contributions to this article.
■ E-mail: accordingtoxen[at]gmail[dot]com
The Imminent Death of the BlackBerry
Simple minds are amused by simple things.
— Xenocrates
Umm… aren’t these all basically the same device?
While I always understood the appeal of having a smart phone, I never understood the appeal of having a BlackBerry when smarter smartphones exist. While I totally understood why RIM’s BlackBerry devices got so popular, I never quite got why RIM’s BlackBerry devices stayed so popular for so long. It should come as no surprise that the most overrated things are enjoyed by the most underwhelming people. Yet, now that RIM’s demise is imminent, I can’t help but be genuinely surprised that anyone is actually surprised RIM is about to tank.
No, really; you didn’t see that coming?
■ E-mail: accordingtoxen[at]gmail[dot]com
How to Ruin your life with Facebook
The key difference between fools and sages is restraint – not intellect.
– Xenocrates
Do you have a Facebook account? Well congratulations. You’re one step closer to being a public asset. Facebook is the single most popular social networking online portal in the world. Now with over 500 million subscribers, it has probably enumerated the large majority of the world’s computer literate population — and that is precisely why it is so incredibly dangerous.
■ E-mail: accordingtoxen[at]gmail[dot]com
Epiphanies Volume 3: Civilization
Civilisation is a social façade designed to control mankind’s innate animalistic propensites.
– Xenocrates
I got a lot of offline commentary on the first two volumes of my abridged epiphanies. To all of those people who insist on giving me feedback in person, I encourage you to do it here. It’ll make things a lot more interesting. Additionally, I want to dedicate this particular entry to those of you responded with commentary that would suggest that I have no faith in humanity. Well congratulations: I don’t. If you take away our cellphones, our 911, our internet, our cars, our televisions, our networks, our skyscrapers, highways, transit sytems and our electricity, we would plunge right back into the brutality of the dark ages (both literally and figuratively). Humanity would be returned to the wild animals that we really are as 6.1 billion people turn on themselves. Lawlessness and anarchy would rule the world. The strong would prey on the weak, and mankind would return to the madness from which it took over 10,000 years to evolve in just 72 hours. We haven’t really changed as a people. We’ve just found better ways to control our animalistic urges through a system of sustained behaviour modification we call “civilisation“. The following epiphanies, which as far as I know are all my own, are proof of this harsh reality:
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