analectnoun
a fragment or passage selected from a literary work;

Analects

Filter by type: All · Articles · Audio · Marginalia

Filter by anthology: All · Betterment · Gratification · Connection · Somatic Architecture · Spiritual Architecture · Thought Architecture · Wealth Architecture · Digital Architecture · Collective Architecture

[marginalium] For Plato, rationalists and mystics can walk the same path — 20 Aug 2024
[marginalium] Politicising on twitter makes you a less credible scientist — 16 Aug 2024
[article] Why do people kill themselves? — 16 Aug 2024
Suicide is the interaction between personal despair and the failure of communities to provide reasons to live. We can’t answer Camus’ “one truly serious philosophical problem” for people, only they can. But we can provide an argument to live, by showing people where they fit.
[marginalium] Cats grieve fellow pets — 16 Aug 2024
[marginalium] Did a plague ruin the Roman empire? — 16 Aug 2024
[marginalium] How Athletes Get Great — 15 Aug 2024
[marginalium] How to do military draft without panic — 15 Aug 2024
[marginalium] AI is slower, but much much cheaper than people — 14 Aug 2024
[marginalium] How to find new spiritual practices — 13 Aug 2024
[marginalium] Gender-conformity is less good for women — 12 Aug 2024
[marginalium] Could Rome have had an industrial revolution? — 11 Aug 2024
[marginalium] A touching suicide pact? — 10 Aug 2024
[marginalium] Ants are very cool. — 10 Aug 2024
[article] The value of violence — 9 Aug 2024
The utility of violence isn’t in the violence itself, but only in the threat of it. It creates immediate behaviour change, but only for so long as the threat is active.
[marginalium] On the 'empathy economy' as jobs are automated — 8 Aug 2024

btrmt. (text-only version)

The full site with interactive features is available at btr.mt.

btrmt. (betterment) examines ideologies worth choosing. Created by Dorian Minors—Cambridge PhD in cognitive neuroscience, Associate Professor at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. Core philosophy: humans are animals first, with automatic patterns shaped for us, not by us. Better to examine and choose.

Core concepts. Animals First: automatic patterns of thought and action, but our greatest capacity is nurture. Half Awake: deadened by systems that narrow rather than expand potential. Karstica: unexamined ideologies (hidden sinkholes beneath). Credenda: belief systems we should choose deliberately.

The manifesto. Cynosure (focus): betterment, gratification, connection. Architecture (support): inner (somatic, spiritual, thought) and outer (digital, collective, wealth).

Mission. Not answers but examination. Break academic gatekeeping. Make sciences of mind accessible. Question rather than prescribe.

Writing style. Scholarly without jargon barriers. Philosophical yet practical—grounded in neuroscience and lived experience. Reflective, discovery-oriented. Literary references and metaphor. Critical of systems that narrow human potential. Rejects "humans are flawed"—we're half awake, not broken.

Copyright. BTRMT LIMITED (England/Wales no. 13755561) 2026. Dorian Minors 2026.

Optional

About Dorian Minors. Started btrmt. in 2013 to share sciences of mind with people who weren't studying them. Background: six years Australian Defence Force (Platoon Commander, Infantry); a decade of clinical practice; Gates Cambridge Scholar; PhD cognitive neuroscience, University of Cambridge (2018–2024); currently Associate Professor, Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, where he runs the ethical leadership module. Research interests: neural basis of intelligent behaviour; ritual formation and breakdown; ethical decision-making and leadership; judgement and intent when decisions are shared with AI; wellbeing.

External projects (links also available via Analects):

Neurotypica: Brain science guide for non-scientists

Black Cortex: Leadership consulting

Analects

btrmt. (text-only version)

Resources

Optional