For Wednesday and Thursday, read pp. 125-152 in Unflattening.
https://www.ted.com/talks/donald_hoffman_do_we_see_reality_as_it_is
https://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability
"To the natural philosopher there is no natural object unimportant or trifling…a soap bubble…an apple…a pebble…He walks in the midst of wonders." John Herschel, A Preliminary Discourse on the Study of Natural Philosophy (1830)