Jordan Bates

What would happen if some of history’s famous philosophers were alive today and tried to spread their ideas via Internet memes? I tried to answer this question by translating some of the major ideas of five famous philosophers into Matrix Morpheus memes. For your amusement and education, here’s what might happen if five great philosophers took [...]

Sometimes I share comics from the inimitable Existential Comics and provide some commentary on them. Now is one of those times. Sharing and elaborating on Existential Comics’ striking, moving, thought-provoking, and/or hilarious philosophy comics seems like a great way to make philosophy education more fun and accessible, and to help popularize philosophy. So I’ll probably keep [...]

Yes, it’s true. I’ve started a podcast. I’ve been hearing rumors for a fair span of time that many people very much enjoy traversing the galaxy of podcasts. I myself have in fact barely listened to podcasts over the years, with the exception of Yoni Wolf’s ‘Wandering Wolf’ and Open Mike Eagle’s ‘Secret Skin.’ Having dabbled [...]

I made a comic! For the first time ever. It involves an angst-ridden human and a sorta-Zen tortoise and plenty of strangeness. I’ll leave it at that. I hope you enjoy. A version of this essay was first published at HighExistence. Refine The Mind is now on Patreon. For the cost of buying me a [...]

I find myself returning again and again to the writings of Rainer Maria Rilke, a Bohemian-Austrian poet who passed away in 1926. There is something in Rilke’s words that strikes me as the highest quality to which a writer or artist can aspire. It’s a clarity and a purity that communicates something more than the [...]

About three weeks ago, I went on a camping trip to Yosemite National Park. I’d never been to Yosemite. Of course I’d heard whispers of its legendary beauty, and I’d probably seen pictures of it here and there. But prior to departing, I made a point not to ask Google to show me 5,000 images [...]

“Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.” ― Rudyard Kipling Right now, you’re staring at some squiggly black symbols on a supercomputer. Particular sequences of these symbols are linked with concepts in your mind. As a result, you’re able to see this intricate, loopy labyrinth of letters as something more than an arbitrary jumble of hieroglyphics. You’re [...]

An astounding fact: researchers at GiveWell have determined that the most effective charities in the world have as much as 1,000 times the impact per dollar of the least effective charities. 1,000 times. That means that—in terms of how much a gift helps other humans—donating $1,000 to an ineffective charity is equivalent to donating $1 [...]

COLONEL SANDERS: What was it like the first time it happened? C.G. KOCH: Oh, of course it was a fiasco the first time, nightmarish, yeah. Didn’t know what to make of it, felt like the world was falling away from me. See every time it starts as a creeping sensation, an almost uncanny feeling that [...]