Philosophy Wire: Listening. What you expect to listen…

Neuroscientists show that the entire auditory pathway represents sounds according to prior expectations. [1] How can it be any different? We are seeing the cosmos through our eyes. We are listening to its whispers with our ears. We are thinking about it with our brains. We are the destroyers of the world. Only because we are its creators. But some day we will die. Some day we will stop seeing. Some day this cosmos is brought to ruins. And then we will see. That there was nothing there from the beginning. Except us. For the cosmos to stare in awe and Be...

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Philosophy Wire: Entangled. For-ever. (Does it matter?)

Super-fast quantum computers and communication devices could revolutionize countless aspects of our lives - but first, researchers need a fast, efficient source of the entangled pairs of photons such systems use to transmit and manipulate information. Researchers have done just that, not only creating a chip-based photon source 100 times more efficient that previously possible, but bringing massive quantum device integration within reach. [1] Entanglement getting more stable every passing day. At the end, scientists will create entangled particles that essentially stay stable for-ever. But why do we seek stability in an ever changing cosmos? If not to remind us of its instability? How do we achieve stability in an ever changing cosmos? If not due to its inherent stability? Ask the simple questions... And the cosmos will disappear in front of your eyes... And that will be your best proof that it ever existed.

Constantly changing.

Always the same.

PS. From the beginning, the cosmos can be entangled with the only thing that could ever exist: NOTHING.

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Philosophy Wire: Disappearing Moon…

Astronomers have taken a step towards understanding how the Moon might have formed out of a giant collision between the early Earth and another massive object 4.5 billion years ago. [1] But nothing is created at the moment it is created. But at the moment it is admired and feared. Look at the cosmos. Stare at the stars and watch in awe of everything disappearing, the very moment you just look at them…

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Philosophy Wire: Make an effort…

New research gives the first detailed view of ventral striatum activity during three phases of effort-based decision-making -- the anticipation of initiating an effort, the actual execution of the effort and the reward, or outcome, of the effort. [1] Petty humans. Deciding to make an effort only when there is a need to make an effort. Deciding to do nothing only when there is a need to do nothing. But do the flowers bloom because there is a need? Does the cosmos cry because there is a reward? Look at the abyss. Hold my hand. And just try not to cry.

To the universe whispering…

(There was no anticipation for your coming to this void cosmos…)

There is no effort needed to be alive…

(Can you know thyself?)

Make an effort…

(At the end, to die!)

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Philosophy Wire: And the killers shall be killed…

Pathology reports on more than 50 killer whales stranded over nearly a decade in the northeast Pacific and Hawaii show that orcas face a variety of mortal threats -- many stemming from human interactions. [1] Fear not of life. Rejoice not of death. For the living shall be living. And the killers shall be killed. In a cosmos full of nothingness, only everything can ever be dead…

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Philosophy Wire: The video game… [Can you remember? This was the last day of your life…]

Even though people tend to remember fewer details about past events as time goes by, the details they do remember are retained with remarkable fidelity, according to a new study. This finding holds true regardless of the age of the person or the amount of time that elapsed since the event took place. [1] Can you remember? When you were a child. Sitting with your grandparents in their warm home. Looking at the Christmas tree, having a high-score at the video game you have now lost. You slept well then. Wake up. This is the last day of your life. Can you remember? You are not here. You are not there. Instead the cosmos is inside everywhere…

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Philosophy Wire: Silence. Predicting everything…

Researchers, armed with artificial intelligence tools, can rate a movie's content in a matter of seconds, based on the movie script and before a single scene is shot. [1] Predicting the future. Based on words. Based on numbers. Numbers based on ghosts. Words born from silence. In an empty cosmos. Yes, you can predict everything. Only because there is nothing to predict...

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Philosophy Wire: Growing jasmine…

Many humans live to see their 80s, some even reach 100. But chimpanzees rarely make it past 50, despite sharing 99% of our genetic code. While modern medicine has added years to human lifespans, a study points to a more ancient explanation why humans are the long-lived primate. Part of the secret to human longevity may lie in chemical changes to our DNA that slowed the rate of aging after human ancestors diverged from chimps. [1] Young people. Feeling old. Old people. Still blooming and being bold. Smell that jasmine. Mature cosmos. Cold. Ready to die. Exploding universe. Can you think of a flower growing without someone crying?

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Philosophy Wire: Through the looking glass…

Signals sent from the retina to the brain have a lot of background noise, yet we see the world clearly. Researchers show that to achieve visual clarity the brain must accurately measure how this noise is distributed across neurons when processing the signals sent down the optic nerve. These results are likely to shape the design of future retinal prosthetics and other brain-machine interfaces. [1] Look at the cosmos. It looks so clear. Only because it is obscured by noise. Noise making everything the same. Chaos causing patterns and order to emerge. A sea so deep that makes you feel it is calm. Can you swim? Can you laugh in the rain? Accept the noise in the forest. And you will understand what the forest tried to conceal from you in the first place. (There is no forest)

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Philosophy Wire: Male. Female. Cosmos. Day. Night.

After 10 months of camera surveillance in the Tanzanian rainforest, researchers have concluded that female and male leopards are active at very different times of the day. The discovery contradicts previous assumptions and could be used to help protect the endangered feline, whose populations have dwindled by 85 percent over the past century. [1] Wake up. Someone else is falling asleep. Dream. Someone else is going to work. A cosmos in constant movement. With only one purpose. To make you go to sleep again. So that you can wake up. To wake me up. So that I can dream…

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Philosophy Wire: Dead cosmos…

A theoretical research finds that many white dwarfs may explode in supernova in the distant far future, long after everything else in the universe has died and gone quiet. [1]

Explosions that will be felt by the whole cosmos.
Explosions that will be felt by no one.
For the cosmos would be dead long before it died.

Not with explosions.
But with the last breath of a dying man…
And a tear will drop.

And the cosmos will stand still watching.
Of silent explosions…
Explosions that will be felt by no one.

Explosions that will be felt by the whole cosmos.

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Philosophy Wire: Simple… Complex…

Lego could be used as a practical tool to train doctors in anaesthetic skills according to new research that has shown a simple task using the building bricks can help improve technical skills - a finding that could improve medical training and patient safety. [1] See the simple things. And you will master the complex ones. For nothing is complex. Except your inability to see simplicity in chaos. Look at that bolt. Stare at that steel rod. Can you see the Eiffel Tower? Look at that cosmos. Stare at the universe. Can you see you?

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Philosophy Wire: Going back… Being born again…

When damaged, the adult brain repairs itself by going back to the beginning: When adult brain cells are injured, they revert to an embryonic state, say researchers. In their newly adopted immature state, the cells become capable of re-growing new connections that, under the right conditions, can help to restore lost function. [1] When things are tough, go back. Go home. Sleep. Die. Be born again. Giggling. Looking at humans adapting to the Cosmos. Crying. Sensing the Cosmos adapting to us…

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Philosophy Wire: Learn! Un-Learn! Teach!

Rice University computer scientists have overcome a major obstacle in the burgeoning artificial intelligence industry by showing it is possible to speed up deep learning technology without specialized acceleration hardware like graphics processing units (GPUs). Rice researchers created a cost-saving alternative to GPU, an algorithm called "sub-linear deep learning engine" (SLIDE) that uses general purpose central processing units (CPUs) without specialized acceleration hardware. [1] Learn! But what is there to learn?! We are not wise because of what we add to our knowledge. We are wise because we forget and we unlearn. Because we discard whatever the world has taught us. So that we can teach him… Stop watching the river… For the river is already watching you…

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Philosophy Wire: One time dose.

Photo by Spyridon Kakos @ Pexels

Following up on their landmark 2016 study, researchers found that a one-time, single-dose treatment of psilocybin, a compound found in psychedelic mushrooms, combined with psychotherapy appears to be associated with significant improvements in emotional and existential distress in cancer patients. [1] But it’s not only that mushroom. It is not only that drug. It’s not only that awful experience. It is not only that happy moment. It is everything. For there is nothing which does not affect us. Would you eat that mushroom if you hadn’t had cancer? Would you have cancer if you hadn’t been born? Would you die if you hadn’t lived? Look at that mushroom again. It is not just a mushroom. It is the cosmos itself. Ready to devour you…

(To be born once more...)

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Philosophy Wire: Sick. Healthy. Irrelevant questions. Irrelevant answers…

Photo by skakos @ Pexels

A study has shown few differences in the profiles of genes that influence cognition between people with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and the general population. This surprising finding could provide new insights into therapies designed to improve cognition. [1] Healthy people. Sick people. And beyond them, a cosmos which doesn’t care who lives or dies. Is it a hard cosmos? Or are we just irrelevant? Are we unable to find answers? Or is it that our questions are unconnected to the answers we seek? People being born. People dying. And kids playing. It is a weird world. Only until we stop believing that we are not…

Laugh.

And everything will instantly stop being funny…

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Philosophy Wire: Collective wisdom. Your wisdom.

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2023-01-15]: In 1906, Francis Galton was at a country fair where attendees had the opportunity to guess the weight of a dead ox. Galton took the guesses of 787 fair-goers and found that the average guess was only one pound off of the correct weight -- even when individual guesses were off base. [1] Ask me. And I will lie to you. Ask the cosmos. And you will listen to the truth. Are you ready to accept the truth? Are you ready to accept you? Ask me. And I will tell you the truth. Only if you know it already…

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Philosophy Wire: Never alive… Always there…

For decades, an ancient Egyptian known as Merit Ptah has been celebrated as the first female physician and a role model for women entering medicine. Yet a researcher now says she never existed and is an example of how misconceptions can spread. [1] Does it matter though? If the dead can affect the living? If the non-existent can convey enthusiasm to the existent? We will grow. We will die. And at the end, the cosmos will stop being. But what is important is that at some point it was there. Close your eyes. Everything goes away. But you still know its there…

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Philosophy Wire: Interbreeding. Disappearing. Being.

Small populations, inbreeding, and random demographic fluctuations could have been enough to cause Neanderthal extinction, according to a new study. [1] Mingle with others. And you will soon disappear. But have you really disappeared? Or is it that you just found yourself? What is there can never disappear. For if it did, it was never there. (Parmenides) Neanderthal were never there. You are not here. There is something else in the cosmos. Something penetrating everything. Making everything obsolete by making them seem so important. Turning everything necessary by showing their insignificance. Being. Through not being. Search for what is not in the cosmos. And you will find out what can never disappear…

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Philosophy Wire: Human skulls. Beauty. Irrational numbers.

Photo by Spiros Kakos @ Pexels

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2022-06-21]: A new study comparing human skulls with those of other animals claims that the dimensions of our heads appear to follow the golden ratio - that special number with a controversial reputation for being the "formula for beauty". [1]

Humans. Beauty. Numbers. Ideas.
We love believing that we are beautiful.
A mind mirroring the universe.

And indeed we are.
Perfect beings.
Reflecting everything.

And only when you are ugly…
Only when you are deformed…
You reflect nothing.

And at that moment, the cosmos stops existing.
At that moment, the universe is afraid of you…
For you have stopped mirroring being into existence.

And you have started being yourself!

Look…
The cosmos had turned into a mirror now…
Why are you crying?

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