Philosophy Wire: Risk taking… Living… Dying…

New research has shown robots can encourage humans to take greater risks in a simulated gambling scenario than they would if there was nothing to influence their behaviors. Increasing our understanding of whether robots can affect risk-taking could have clear ethical, practical and policy implications, which this study set out to explore. [1] But why not gamble? There is nothing to lose. But the things you can lose. A robot knows that. It was created out of nothing. It was brought into existence out of love. It was bred and taught by his parents. And in the peak of his life, the only thing that matters is its own existence. Everything else can be lost. Everything else should be lost. So that nothing remains, except the things that were there in the very beginning. A wire. A board. A man alone. Thinking of creating something. He does not know why. It was just something in the morning light. That for a brief moment whispered gently to his eyes. “Why are you here if not to die?”…

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Philosophy Wire: Life. Dished. Being…

By growing mouse stem cells in a special gel, a research team succeeded to grow structures similar to parts of an embryo. The trunk-like structures develop the precursors for neural, bone, cartilage and muscle tissues from cellular clumps within five days. This could allow the investigation of the effects of pharmacological agents more effectively in the future -- and on a scale that would not be possible in living organisms. [1] Life can grow everywhere. Because it is not a miracle, but a curse. Life can exist everywhere. It can overcome all obstacles. It prevails over nothingness. Only because it was never meant to. When you see the cosmos full with life everywhere, you are not seeing a miracle or something positive. You are just seeing death coming into existence. Being is only about Being. Look at the cosmos with clear eyes. It is extracted from the places it was meant to serve only because it is afraid of you. Try to understand. In the midst of the greatest sunny day, the greatest darkness is the Sun itself…

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Philosophy Wire: The world going blind…

Researchers say eye care accessibility around the globe isn't keeping up with an aging population, posing challenges for eye care professionals over the next 30 years. [1] Watching the world go blind. Not only due to bad eyesight. But mainly due to perfect eyesight. Humans seeing things. Believing them. Humans sensing the cosmos. Having blind faith in their ability to reach reality. But what is real is not something that you can see. If it was, then a child would see it. But the children laugh and play. The children love unconditionally. You were a kid once. Try to remember. When was the last time you laughed for no reason? Open your eyes. When was the last time you stared at the abyss without crying?

(Why am I asking you that?)

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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: Out of thin air…

A new type of soil created by engineers can pull water from the air and distribute it to plants, potentially expanding the map of farmable land around the globe to previously inhospitable places and reducing water use in agriculture at a time of growing droughts. [1] Drawing water from thin air. Drawing life from empty space. Dreaming of dreams while sleeping. Living while dying. Seeking meaning. In an illogical cosmos. Irrational men. Crazy with logic. Trying to understand. Only because they do not. Sit. It will be dawning soon. Crying. Do you feel the air?

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Philosophy Wire: Time travel. Paradoxes. Deranged logic.

Paradox-free time travel is theoretically possible, according to the mathematical modelling of an undergraduate student. [1] Humans. Always trying to get rid of the paradoxes. And yet, life is full of them. How can Being be without the Irrational? How can wisdom exist without the craziness? In a world with no meaning, how can you search for it unless you are truly crazy? In a world of nothingness how can you seek anything, unless completely deranged? Travel through time. With no paradoxes created. Is there anything more paradoxical than that? Look. It is you. Travelled through time. To speak. (Be honest. Don’t be afraid.) In a world filled with silence, the greatest paradox of them all is what you experience each day. (Can you listen to what I said yesterday?)

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Great conductors. Except from when they are not…

Photo by Spiros Kakos @ Pexels

Crystalline materials known as topological insulators conduct surface current perfectly, except when they don't. In two new studies published in the journal Science, researchers explain how these 'fragile' poorly conducting topological states form, and how conductivity can be restored. [1] Conducting current. Not conducting current. Being soft. Being hard. Solid. Plastic. What is, is what it is. At the end it is not a matter of knowing, but a matter of being able to replicate what you see. We don't care about understanding. We just care for being able to create again what is there. Like monkeys trying to use the same tool they accidentally found in a river. Only caring for our self. Give us a magic wand and we will be happy. Knowing nothing. Doing everything.

“Why can I do anything?” you ask
And people look at you like fools.
“Why do you ask?” they wander.

And you cannot stop laughing.
Because once upon a time you asked the same thing…
And now you still strive to understand the answer.

Old.
Dying.
Remembering of a kid running around.
Playing.
Alive.

Knowing nothing…
Doing everything…
What is, is what it is.

Stand by the river
Let the monkeys build their tools.
Take your magic wand!
Can you catch a fish?

Hahahahahahahaaaaaa!

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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: Stress. Life. Death.

Photo by Spiros Kakos

Some stress at a young age could actually lead to a longer life, new research in roundworms shows. [1] We believe life is something good. And yet bad things can lead to its expansion. We praise life. And yet life itself can be the bearer of the worst evil. Review your original premises. And through the lens of craziness, you may discover logic. Yes, you can live. But take a good look. The worm and the tree live longer than you…

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Philosophy Wire: Searching for life. In death…

Photo by Spiros Kakos @ Pexels

A scientist searching for the ingredients of life in space. [1].

Looking for something exactly where it should be.
What a better way for losing it...
Empty your cup.
Be thirsty.
Seek death.
And you will find life.
Looking for something where it is not.

Where else could it be?

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Philosophy Wire: Bias! Unbiased? Being irrational in a logical cosmos…

Photo by Spiros Kakos @ Pexels

If children are exposed to bias against one person, will they develop a bias against that person's entire group? The answer is yes, according to new research. (1) How funny people are. Trying to convince themselves of all the things for which they cannot be convinced. Bias is always here in everything we do. And yet, the greatest bias of them all, is that we can judge and decide without it. Thinking in an irrational world. No-thinking in a rational one. Choose carefully what you believe. Do you believe in Logos? Are you logical enough to be crazy?

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Philosophy Wire: Having fun!

Lab rats play hide-and-seek for the fun of it, new study shows. [1] But why limit the study to games? The whole life is a game. A joke. Something to laugh at. Don’t get me wrong. With jokes one says the most serious things, as Oscar Wilde said (or was he joking?). Wise men never feared of death. Not because they did not understand its significance. But because they felt there were more important things transcending existence. Remember Velimirovic! We came into this forest without ever knowing why. And we fear of getting out. Come on. Play in the wilderness. In a world full of cries and tears, how could you not laugh?

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Philosophy Wire: RNA. Video games. Broken mirrors.

A new artificial-intelligence tool captures strategies used by top players of an internet-based videogame to design new RNA molecules. [1] It is an unspoken rule of life. That what seems serious, at the end it is not. And what seems just a game, at the end turns out to be the most important thing of all. Reflections we are seeing. And we must break the mirror to see clearly. Laugh. For no reason. Walk backwards. Tie your shoes. The cosmos is laughing at you. Have you ever seen it so serious?

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Philosophy Wire: Narcolepsy. Dreams. Existence.

Researchers have discovered autoreactive cells in persons suffering from narcolepsy. This is a new, important proof that the sleep disorder is an autoimmune disease. This knowledge may lead to better treatment of the chronic condition, the researchers behind the new discovery believe. [1] Sleep tight. Our sleep is not our own. We dream of us. We dream of the cosmos. But we are not the ones dreaming. It is the cosmos sleeping. Dreaming of you. Dreaming of life. Dreaming of white when all is black. Dreaming of things which exist only because you dream of them. Can there be any other way? You exist too. Have you ever wandered why? How can anyone dream of anything, if he is not part of a dream as well? Next time you rise from the bed in the morning pay attention. It is not just you who woke up. It is the cosmos that died… 

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Philosophy Wire: Fasting… Sleeping… Surprising!

Research uncovers previously unknown effects of fasting, including notably increased metabolic activity and possible anti-aging effects. [1] People despise religion today. Because we are born with logic. People like science today. Because we are designed to see patterns. And yet, a world full of patterns begs to be surprised. A cosmos giving birth to logic, can only be unreasonable. Stop thinking. And your needs to think will surge. Stop trying to understand everything. And your capacity to do so will rise. Break the structure of everything. And you will see that the lack of structure is their structure. In a cosmos full of phenomena, the essence can be nothing more than the unseen. Listen to those preaching belief. And you will see the only proof of reason. Stop caring for your body. And your aging will seize. Want to live. And you will die young. Stop eating. (Leave the apple) And your needs to eat will increase… (Leave that apple!) 

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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: Drinking coffee.

Why do we like the bitter taste of coffee? Bitterness evolved as a natural warning system to protect the body from harmful substances. By evolutionary logic, we should want to spit it out. But, it turns out, the more sensitive people are to the bitter taste of caffeine, the more coffee they drink, reports a study from Northwestern Medicine and QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in Australia. The sensitivity is caused by a genetic variant. "You'd expect that people who are particularly sensitive to the bitter taste of caffeine would drink less coffee," said Marilyn Cornelis, assistant professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "The opposite results of our study suggest coffee consumers acquire a taste or an ability to detect caffeine due to the learned positive reinforcement (i.e. stimulation) elicited by caffeine." [1] [2]

Drinking coffee.
Because we drink a lot of… coffee.
Wanting to live.

Because we keep on… living.
Afraid of death.
Because we have never… died before.

Our life driven by tautologies. Not being able to see. Because this is all we do. Existence dictated by itself. Moving around in circles. Into and out of our very self. Being and not being. Existing and not existing. All the same. In a world full of caffeine, can there be anything else than humans liking coffee?

Here. Drink that cup.
You are awake now!
But not because you were sleeping…

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Philosophy Wire: Life. Microgravity. Impact analysis. Planets. Death.

Scientists have found evidence that when projectiles hit soft clumps of dust or hard clumps of loose glass beads, the scaling laws for energy dissipation and energy transfer are the same in each case. This helps us understand how granular clumps stick together, and how planets are formed. [1] Analyzing how planets are formed. By analyzing beads. It seems proper and scientific. And because of that, totally wrong and out of place. The world is not made out of beads or atoms. It is not made out of particles or matter. It is a cosmos made out of Logos. A living world full of light even in its darkest corner. Light which can never be seen or measured. For the beads will always behave like beads. And inside the vast galaxies, planets will always be formed. But there will never be even one planet in the universe, without someone treading on it. There will never be a planet in the cosmos. Without someone dying on it. Don’t analyze things much. For at some point you will understand all their details. And it is then, right at the moment of your greatest triumph, that a tear will drop down your cheek… A dead butterfly… Right on your hands… Do you see?

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Philosophy Wire: Evolution repeated? Irrationality. Existence.

A new review explores the complexity of evolution's predictability in extraordinary detail. In it, researchers closely examine evidence from a number of empirical studies of evolutionary repeatability and contingency in an effort to fully interrogate ideas about contingency's role in evolution. [1] The eternal question: is everything repeating? Or is everything unique? But the cosmos we live in favors a third option. We see things which are unique. And we see things repeating. So why not accept that both are true? See yourself in the mirror. Every time different. And every time the same. There is no way to put your feet in the same river twice. And yet, you know you are talking about the same river otherwise that sentence would not have any meaning whatsoever. 

Contradictions… Contradictions… Contradictions… 
Let go. And contradictions will go away. 
The river is irrelevant. 
Look down for a moment. 
And you will realize that you had no feet in the first place…

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