Philosophy Wire: Happiness. Unattainable happiness.

It's well understood that a difficult childhood can increase the likelihood of mental illness, but according to new research, a happy and secure childhood does not always protect a child from developing a mental illness later in life. [1] Happiness. The goal of all humans. We strive so hard to attain it that we forget that we will one day lose it. And on that day the whole world will look darker. And the rain will fall. And we will cry. And the only thing that will keep us alive, will not be happiness or the promise of a smile. But someone who will hold our hand and cry…

(c) Philosophy WIRES - Commenting world news from philosophy's perspective…

Philosophy Wire: Masks. Emotions. (A Covid reminder)

Some years ago an article regarding the then Covid pandemic wrote: The proliferation of face coverings to keep COVID-19 in check isn't keeping kids from understanding facial expressions, according to a new study. [1] Cover your face. I still see you. Close your eyes. I can still feel your laughter. Stop speaking. I understand your love. Senses are overrated. The most important thing you feel it not. (I am Me) Who told you that the cosmos is different than You?

(c) Philosophy WIRES - Commenting world news from philosophy's perspective…

Philosophy Wire: Lonely brain… Full humans…

A new study shows a sort of signature in the brains of lonely people that make them distinct in fundamental ways, based on variations in the volume of different brain regions as well as based on how those regions communicate with one another across brain networks. [1] Oh, lonely man. I can see you sitting there on yourself. Reading. Thinking. I feel sorry for you. I am with people. I am with company, riding the waves. Dancing in the moonlight, laughing at the stars. I do everything, I feel the rain. I am happy and desired, I am hated and envied. I am alive! And yet, when I go home at night, right before I sleep. I can still see you. Sitting just by yourself. Reading a book. Thinking. Smiling. And I cannot help but wander…

Why am I not alone?!

(c) Philosophy WIRES - Commenting world news from philosophy's perspective…

Philosophy Wire: Internet. Migration. (Self?)

The spread of the Internet is shaping migration in profound ways. A new study of over 150 countries links Internet penetration with migration intentions and behaviors, suggesting that digital connectivity plays a key role in migration decisions and actively supports the migration process. [1] I can get where you are by staying here. So why go there? And yet, I will never be there as I once wished. For "there" is now just a dream. I wanted to be there. I wanted to walk next to you. I dreamed of touching your hand. I longed for seeing your face every day. Only because I saw you. Now I am here. Now I do see you every day. And I am so bored of that. It seems I am full, but I am empty. It seems I have everything, but I still long for home where I had nothing. For at the end, all these things I saw and wanted were mere obstructions of Me.

(The only thing I wished and could see)

Oh, home sweet home.
How I wish I could come in just for one day more…
How can you still love me?

Only my tears feed the river that is no more…

(c) Philosophy WIRES - Commenting world news from philosophy's perspective…

Philosophy Wire: Accept the rage.

Thunderstorms often provoke violent cloud bursts that can result in devastating flooding. But what actually spawns thunderstorms and cloud bursts? This question has spurred a new study. [11] Humans. Sitting. Looking at the storm. A violent storm. Winds and rain. Thunders and death. Humans fleeing. Scared of their own home. And yet. In the middle of chaos, we have forgotten. That we once stood. That we once looked at the storm.

(c) Philosophy WIRES - Commenting world news from philosophy's perspective…

Philosophy Wire: Love. Others…

New research suggests people too often opt to send email or text messages when a phone call is more likely to produce the feelings of connectedness they crave. [1] We like listening to others. Instead of reading what they wrote. We crave for love. And yet we isolate our self. Because at the end what we need is not love by others. But our own ability to love others. We have lost that ability. But we can find it again. Only if we cry and despair. And through the mist of agony, read again the face of the Moon. Come, my child. I always loved you. Especially before I even had you…

(c) Philosophy WIRES - Commenting world news from philosophy's perspective…

Philosophy Wire: Angry! With… me!

Swans display more aggression to fellow swans than other birds, new research shows. [1] Isn’t that always the case? How can we ever be mad at someone else? The only person we can be angry at is someone we know. Just look at the mirror and you will find it.

Ask everyone else and they will tell you!

“Who am I?”
“You are no one!”
“Is that you?”

(c) Philosophy WIRES - Commenting world news from philosophy's perspective…

Philosophy Wire: Angry! With… me!

Swans display more aggression to fellow swans than other birds, new research shows. [1] Isn’t that always the case? How can we ever be mad at someone else? The only person we can be angry at is someone we know. Just look at the mirror and you will find it.

Ask everyone else and they will tell you!

“Who am I?”
“You are no one!”
“Is that you?”

(c) Philosophy WIRES - Commenting world news from philosophy's perspective…

Philosophy Wire: Simple.

People who laugh frequently in their everyday lives may be better equipped to deal with stressful events. [1]

Such a dark cosmos.
Obscuring comedy behind a veil of tragedy.

Laugh. And you will laugh.

So simple.
So difficult…

(c) Philosophy WIRES - Commenting world news from philosophy's perspective…

Philosophy Wire: Mommy…

Photo by Spiros Kakos @ Pexels

Stress in small children separated from their parents may alter genes. [1] Science. The art of the obvious. A child running away. From his parents lying on the ground. But it cannot cry. For it is a parent now. Oh, stressed child. Don't cry. Your parents are happy now that they will die…

(c) Philosophy WIRES - Commenting world news from philosophy's perspective…

Philosophy Wire: Empathy. Standing still…

Photo by Spiros Kakos @ Pexels

Researchers have found that it is possible to assess a person's ability to feel empathy by studying their brain activity while they are resting rather than while they are engaged in specific tasks. [1] Stop laughing. Stop crying. Make the mirror change. By standing still. Force existence into being. By being no one. Make the cosmos cry. Force the universe to laugh. By standing still. By doing nothing. By making the world wander. By forcing the universe to see. That it is not you who needs them in order to exist…

(c) Philosophy WIRES - Commenting world news from philosophy's perspective…

Philosophy Wire: Enjoying revenge…

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2023-02-24]:

When it comes to entertainment, people enjoy seeing bad guys get their punishment more than seeing them be forgiven, a new study reveals. But even though they don't enjoy the forgiveness stories as much, people do find these narratives more meaningful and thought-provoking than ones in which the bad guys receive their just deserts. [1]

Enjoying revenge.
Enjoying life.
Dying.
Oh, you lost man.
Seeking meaning where there is none.

Addicted to crying.

Terrified that laughing might make you sad...

(c) Philosophy WIRES - Commenting world news from philosophy's perspective…

Philosophy Wire: Where are thou my heart?

Photo by Spiros Kakos @ Pexels

Heart muscle cells derived from stem cells show remarkable adaptability to their environment during and after spaceflight, according to a new study. The researchers examined cell-level cardiac function and gene expression in human heart cells cultured aboard the International Space Station for 5.5 weeks. Exposure to microgravity altered the expression of thousands of genes, but largely normal patterns of gene expression reappeared within 10 days after returning to Earth. [1] Funny. We learn to crawl. We learn to walk. We run. We learn to fly. Eager to go to the stars. Flying away from home. Exploring the cosmos. We will know things. We will learn. We will reach the end of the cosmos. But only when we go back at home, into that cradle where we first listened to our mother, will we be who we are again… Only when you know where you started from does the destination have a meaning… Father… Are you still there?

(c) Philosophy WIRES - Commenting world news from philosophy's perspective…

Philosophy Wire: Negative emotions

Teenagers who can describe their negative emotions in precise and nuanced ways are better protected against depression than their peers who can't. That's the conclusion of a new study about negative emotion differentiation, or NED -- the ability to make fine-grained distinctions between negative emotions and apply precise labels. [1] Feeling bad. Speaking to someone about it will not make it go away. It will just transfer the bad emotions to another person as well, making them easier to handle. This is not a bad thing. You need to do that. And the other person needs it as well. For her is not about person. He is you. Listening carefully. All you have to do is let the other person speak…

(c) Philosophy WIRES - Commenting world news from philosophy's perspective…

Philosophy Wire: Empathy… to yourself.

Even when feeling empathy for others isn't financially costly or emotionally draining, people will still avoid it because they think empathy requires too much mental effort, according to new research. [1] We believe that feeling requires effort. But the only effort we need to exercise is not to exercise effort. For the empathy needed is not empathy towards others, but empathy towards yourself. You are the one who needs attention. But you are too sad to believe you deserve it… And so you become the others… And so you offer empathy… And so you lose any chance you ever had to feel it…

(c) Philosophy WIRES - Commenting world news from philosophy's perspective…

Philosophy Wire: Feeling envy. Exploding universe.

Researchers showed that part of the macaque brain alters the sense of value felt upon receiving a reward in a manner dependent on the receipt of rewards by one's peers. This finding on the neuroscience of envy provides insight into how all primates, including humans, compare their material well-being with that of others and are potentially motivated to compete for limited resources. [1] Looking at others. Feeling bad because they take more. But everything contains nothing. And nothing can only exist if it contains everything. You wish more too. But where would that more lead? To even more. And that, to even more. At the end, you will get everything. At the end you will have the while universe in your grasp. Only to discover that you hold nothing. Open your hand. Watch a universe explode…

(c) Philosophy WIRES - Commenting world news from philosophy's perspective…

Philosophy Wire: Trust… you.

Why do some people trust their gut instincts over logic? It could be that they see those snap decisions as a more accurate reflection of their true selves and therefore are more likely to hold them with conviction, according to new research. [1] Today’s society does not hold the emotions and instinct too high. We love and worship cold hard logic. But we tend to forget that this logic is based on the hardest axioms. And because these axioms were selected despite all existing data we had, their child (logic) is so hard and strict in defending them. Our true self knows that. And he ignores logic whatsoever. Look at the crying child. No, he is not wrong. He is right. And that is why he cries so much. Soon the child will leave the strict Father. To start a life on its own. Soon the child will ‘die’. And even God will cry for not trusting Himself…

(c) Philosophy WIRES - Commenting world news from philosophy's perspective…

Philosophy Wire: Computers… Depression… Understanding…

Researchers detail a neural-network model that can be unleashed on raw text and audio data from interviews to discover speech patterns indicative of depression. Given a new subject, it can accurately predict if the individual is depressed, without needing any other information about the questions and answers. [1] Detecting depression. Without understanding. But this is exactly the reason why people get depression in the first place. They try to understand. And they don’t. But the only thing to understand is that there is nothing to understand. Not as a computer. But as a human. Who is able to understand but chooses not to…

(c) Philosophy WIRES - Commenting world news from philosophy's perspective…

Philosophy Wire: Revenge. A hug. A kiss. Humans. God.

Researchers have developed an economic game in which a participant is confronted with the fair behavior of one player and the unfair provocations of another player. They observed which areas were activated as the participant experienced unfairness and anger. Then scientists gave the participant the opportunity to take revenge. They thus identified the location in the brain of activations that are related to the suppression of the act of revenge in the dorsolateral prefontal cortex. [1] We believe it is our brain (not us) which makes us do things. Our brain makes us want revenge. Our brain suppresses the revenge desire. But a rock cannot want revenge from another rock. A pile of dirt cannot forgive another pile of dirt. And the more we try to use our brain the more we distance our self from what makes us us. We hold in high esteem actions like performing mathematics or playing chess. And yet, what we think as the “finest” acts of humans, like mathematics and chess, can easily be conducted by (lifeless) computers. It is the simple little things which prove our greatness. Things which cannot be attributed to anything physical. Things more simple than a rock and yet more complex than the most complex quantum computer. The quarrel with your kid. The kiss after the quarrel is over. A hug. A smile. You are God. Complete in your incompleteness. Powerful in your weakness. Greatest than the greatest lifeless universe. It is the little things you need to concentrate on. There is nothing bigger, is it?

(c) Philosophy WIRES - Commenting world news from philosophy's perspective…

Philosophy Wire: Be pessimistic. Be happy.

Neuroscientists have shown that stimulating the caudate nucleus can generate negative moods that lead to irrational decision-making. Stimulating the caudate nucleus causes animals to give far more weight to the anticipated drawback of a situation than its potential benefit. [1] Being pessimistic and irrational is the right thing, not the wrong. Why should we consider the irrational as wrong? Or the negative as… negative? Do you believe life is a set of happy moments? Do you believe the sun always shines? Wait until the first rain drop. And only then will you start to really smile…

(c) Philosophy WIRES - Commenting world news from philosophy's perspective…