Society | Alessandro Perilli

Artists are not entertainers.

peris — Sun, 23 Nov 2025 13:23:53 +0000

Artists are not entertainers. They are explorers of our collective interior. They venture into the turbulence of being so that we may recognize ourselves a new. They transform fragility to form, silence to sign, darkness into light. to support them is to share their courage to believe that creation like knowledge requires risk, patience and depth.

It is to affirm that culture is not consumption but communion that beauty is not comfort but transfiguration. Today when almost everything can be owned, monetized or consumed, culture remains among the few things that live only when offered. So let us invest not only money but trust, attention and love in those who create today because they are not only making art, they are imagining us.

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The world will ask you who you are

peris — Sat, 09 Nov 2024 10:36:32 +0000

The world will ask you who you are, and if you don’t know, the world will tell you – Carl Jung

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The Three Dimensions of the Good Life

peris — Sun, 22 Sep 2024 17:56:09 +0000

We present empirical evidence that happiness, meaning, and psychological richness are related but distinct and desirable aspects of a good life.

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Digitally-native teenagers’ expectations about social interactions in real life

peris — Wed, 24 Jan 2024 10:28:15 +0000

How quickly people adopted consumer technologies (1900-2005)

peris — Wed, 24 Jan 2024 10:09:26 +0000

People write like bureaucrats because of the mistaken belief that it lets them off the hook

peris — Thu, 28 Dec 2023 10:44:09 +0000

My building had an elevator problem. The management company sent everyone this note:

Please be advised we have been experiencing intermittent issues with the elevator. Our priority is your safety, and we are taking immediate action to address the situation.

After a thorough investigation by our electrician, it has been identified that there may be an issue with low voltage affecting the elevator’s performance. The electrician has reported this matter directly to Con Edison and is working collaboratively with them to rectify the situation promptly. Con Edison will not be able to address this issue until sometime next week.

Until this matter is resolved, the elevator will be taken out of service.

We understand that any disruption in elevator service can be inconvenient, and we sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. Your safety is our top priority, and we assure you that we are taking every necessary step to resolve this matter as quickly as possible.

We appreciate your understanding and cooperation during this time.

I asked ChatGPT to rewrite it for humans. It responded with:

We’re fixing the intermittent elevator issues to ensure your safety.

Our electrician found a potential low voltage problem affecting the elevator. They’ve informed Con Edison and are working together to solve it quickly. However, Con Edison can only start repairs next week.

For safety, we’re shutting down the elevator until it’s fixed.

We apologize for the inconvenience this causes and are working fast to resolve it. Thank you for your patience and cooperation.

I took it one step further:

You have probably noticed that the elevator is broken. The electrician is working with ConEd but they don’t expect it to be fixed until next week.

We know it’s a hassle, and thank you for being patient.

People don’t write like bureaucrats because it’s easy or fun. They do it because of the mistaken belief that it lets them off the hook.

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We’d like to bring you into the conversation, but

peris — Tue, 29 Aug 2023 09:07:20 +0000

There’s a section in your book “Breaking the Spell” where you lament the postmodern idea that truth is relative.How do we decide which truths we should treat as objective and which we treat as subjective? I’m thinking of an area like personal identity, for example, where we hear phrases like, “This is my truth.”

The idea of “my truth” is second-rate. The people who think that because this is their opinion, somehow it’s aggressive for others to criticize or reject them — that’s a self-defeating and pernicious attitude. The recommended response is: “We’d like to bring you into the conversation, but if you’re unable to consider arguments for and against your position, then we’ll consider you on the sidelines. You’re a spectator, not a participant.” You don’t get to play the faith card. That’s not how rational inquiry goes.

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Rational analysis is something we awkwardly laid atop culture

peris — Wed, 02 Aug 2023 13:28:06 +0000

When we revert to a testable analysis of what works, we’re relying on the one thing that all humans share: reality. But cultural connection, peer pressure and the power of affiliation and status often short-circuit that analysis.

This happens so often that arguing about facts might not be the best way to make your point.

“Rational goodwill” is shorthand for, “If the analysis is testable, are you prepared to change your mind and accept the alternative that works?”

And yet, more often than we might expect, NASA engineers, doctors, political leaders and households would have to honestly answer that with a ‘no’.

It might be that culture isn’t something we awkwardly laid atop rational analysis. It might be the other way around.

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The effect of life events on life satisfaction

peris — Sun, 18 Sep 2022 14:00:28 +0000

Why would anybody want to listen to what you have to say?

peris — Mon, 18 Jul 2022 09:45:34 +0000

because you help them
because you entertain them
because you make them hopeful and/or enthusiastic
(maybe) because you say things they would like to say but cannot say

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