Philosophy Wire: Children. Personality. Causality. (reversed)

Children's personalities may influence how they perform in math and reading, according to a study by psychology researchers at The University of Texas at Austin. [1] We believe in causality. But there is no reason whatsoever not to believe in the reverse causality. Children’s performance in math and reading. Affecting their personality. Weird. Could not be true. And this reason alone could be the reason that it is. See the world upside down. Is the world affecting you? Or are you affecting the world? Neither? Both? Can you find the beginning of a straight line? Can you detect the end of a circle?

Just dance!

Does it matter who started?

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Philosophy Wire: Bread before agriculture…

At an archaeological site in northeastern Jordan, researchers have discovered the charred remains of a flatbread baked by hunter-gatherers 14,400 years ago. It is the oldest direct evidence of bread found to date, predating the advent of agriculture by at least 4,000 years. The findings suggest that bread production based on wild cereals may have encouraged hunter-gatherers to cultivate cereals, and thus contributed to the agricultural revolution in the Neolithic period. [1] Having bread before agriculture. Having knowledge before experience. Having wisdom before knowledge. Every time the result is preceding the cause. Don’t you see? You have everything backwards… Eat that bread… Thank the Lord… He has already provided… And you have already eaten…

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Philosophy Wire: Domestication. Cause and effect. Non-education.

A rattle will only make noise if you shake it. Animals like the wolf also understand such connections and are better at this than their domesticated descendants. Researchers say that wolves have a better causal understanding than dogs and that they follow human-given communicative cues equally well. The study provides insight that the process of domestication can also affect an animal's causal understanding. [1] Leave the butterfly free and it will learn how to fly. Try to teach it how to fly, and (at least in some cases) you watch it crawl…

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Philosophy Wire: Penises, evolution, reasons...

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2013-06-16]: The reason why some bird lost their penises remain unclear. [1] And yet we try to imagine a reason. Everything must have a reason. Everything must be following the evolutionary logic. Because we say so.

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Philosophy Wire: Tragedy, grief, causes…

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2012-12-16]: Authorities try to find the motives behind the massacre in Connecticut. [1] But the truth is that sometimes there are no causes. The truth is that some humans just want to do harm…

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First Cause vs. String Theory, M-Theory 1-0

People look at modern scientific theories like the String Theory of the Membrane Theory (M-Theory) and call them "elegant". They praise Science for having these "excellent" examples of innovative thinking and look upon the scientists who first formulated them. But how blind can a person be? How can you look at theories demanding 11 dimensions which you do not have yet seen, or multimple Universes which you will never see and tag them "elegant"? If these are elegant theories, then how do the "not elegant" theories look like? It is really funny to know that the same people who name these theories "elegant" and "simple" and the same people who refuse to accept the simplest idea of all: that the cosmos has a (First) Cause... Some times, the simplicity is right in front of our eyes, but we refuse to look at it.

Philosophy Wire: We are machines! At last!

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2012-02-03]: A research shows that people who take drugs have a predisposition in their brain which makes them more susceptible to addiction [source: web news]. Come on now then. Let’s believe what our “science priests” tell us! We are not beings with free will! We are the slaves of our genes! We do not decide! Our genes decide for us! We are not to blame ourselves for nothing! We are machines!

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Philosophy Wire: Trees, reality, “Is” and “Is because”…

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2011-11-17]: Scientists found out why tree branches have the fractal-like shape they have [source: web news]. The shape they have seems to make them more resistant to air blowing on them. Humans have the tendency to find “causes” for everything. It never passes through our mind that trees may just… “be” as they are.

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Philosophy Wire: Greece, default and the brat.

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2011-10-04]: It is very simple. Greece DOES NOT WANT to implement the measures it has to implement. It does not want to reduce the number of public servants. It does not want to reduce public spending. To be exact, it does ANYTHING ELSE BUT the abovementioned two things [source: Come live in Greece to see it by your self]. Like a spoiled brat, it does not do what his father tells him to with the hope he will get away with this. But this time the father is harsh and certainly not stupid. And the brat will soon learn the laws of causality from first hand…

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