Philosophy Wire: Classify that!

A team of evolutionary biologists and ecologists has a new idea for how scientists should classify algae species. [1] Humans. Classifying everything. So that they understand them. So that they make sense. In a cosmos full of chaos and order. Looking only at the calm deep blue of the raging abyss. Only because we are afraid to admit the huge waves coming towards them... And when death comes, so come the doubts of wisdom.

(Tell me father. How can you classify a miracle?)

Algae. Sea.

The cradle of death is where you once used to be.

Unclassified.

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Philosophy Wire: Who gets to live?

During the Covid-19 pandemic, nineteen global health experts from around the world proposed a new, three-phase plan for vaccine distribution - called the Fair Priority Model - which aimed to reduce premature deaths and other irreversible health consequences from COVID-19. [1] Hard question. Who will live? Who will die? Difficult to answer when we do not know what life and death is. So we settle with what we know. And we love what we know. Don’t we? Yes, you love what you know. Could you not? Perhaps. If you knew something else…

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Philosophy Wire: Deep learning… Water… Alone in the desert…

Using the South American continent as an example, Earth system modellers have developed a new Deep-Learning-Method, which quantifies small as well as large-scale changes to the water storage with the help of satellite data. [1] Watch that river flow. Quantify it. Do you really care? Does it matter how much water there is around if you are not thirsty? Does it matter is everything is dry if you are full? Knowledge is superficial. You will get it. At the moment you try to go to that river. And realize that the water can never exist. Without knowing that you will put your hand in it…

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Philosophy Wire: (Common) Brain.

Researchers conducted a first-of-its-kind study designed to investigate brain connectivity in 130 mammalian species. The intriguing results, contradicting widespread conjectures, revealed that brain connectivity levels (namely the efficiency of information transfer through the neural network) are equal in all mammals, including humans. [1] Brain. So unique. So common. We believe it means everything. But we do not notice of our heart crying. Information will be processed. Information will be understood. At the end we and everything else will know of everything.

And we will not notice that small fly flying nearby.

And we will be startled!

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Philosophy Wire: Known…

Neuroscientists find memory cells that help us interpret new situations. [1] But how else can you remember something? But by looking at something new? Something you never knew existed. The only thing that can remind you that there is nothing to remind you of. And by looking at what you did not know. You will know it. And at that exact moment. It will know you too…

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Philosophy Wire: Forgetting. To remember…

The brain is the ultimate computing machine, so it's no wonder researchers are keen to try and emulate it. Now, new research has taken an intriguing step in that direction - a device that's able to 'forget' memories, just like our brains do. It's called a second-order memristor (a mix of "memory" and "resistor"). The clever design mimics a human brain synapse in the way it remembers information, then gradually loses that information if it's not accessed for an extended period of time. While the memristor doesn't have much practical use just now, it could eventually help scientists develop a new kind of neurocomputer – the foundation of artificial intelligence systems – that fulfils some of the same functions a brain does. [1] We had the ability to create robots which remember everything. And yet we will make them faulty. Just like us. Because we like our faults. Because we unconsciously know that they are not faults. Music is not made up of notes. But out of silence. Life is not made up of life. But out of death. What we know is not what we know. But all those things we choose to forget…

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Philosophy Wire: Learning by failing… Dying by living…

If you're always scoring 100%, you're probably not learning anything new. Research found that the 'sweet spot' for learning is 85%. [1] Fail. And you will learn. Learn. And you will fail the next time you need to learn something different. Fail. And you will learn again something new. Soon you will have failed in everything. Soon you will have learned everything. Reaching a position where there is no way to fail. Reaching in a position where you can learn nothing new. Standing still. Dead. Hopeless. Ready to be empty again…

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Philosophy Wire: What do we like to see?

Researchers built deep artificial neural networks that can accurately predict the neural responses produced by a biological brain to arbitrary visual stimuli. These networks can be thought of as a 'virtual avatar' of a population of biological neurons, which can be used to dissect the neural mechanisms of sensation. [1] Oh, dear brain! What do you like to see, beyond the things which you have already seen? Oh, thy self! What do you wish to have, besides the things you already have had? The only true and consistent truth can be truth itself. The only thing we know is by definition what we already know. Damn you universe! What are you staring at?!

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Philosophy Wire: Evolution of evolution. Scientific models’ dirty little secrets…

Photo by Spiros Kakos @ Pexels

Scientists try to determine the evolution of proteins by constructing many models which could represent the evolution and determine which are the common traits of most of these models. These common elements are then used to construct the most possible path of evolution. [1]

The models will always model something. But no matter how accurate the model is, it will never exactly replicate reality. Because the models take into account many factors which always make them in good alignment with the “average” picture. But the average picture is the only picture which does not ever exist anywhere!

Behold one of the dirty secrets of the science process of creating models.

That they will never show exactly what they want to explain!

Arrogant men. Looking in the distorted mirror. Convincing themselves that this is their image. And yet, feeling that it is not. Only because they are bored to break the mirror. And find a calm sea where they can look on their own reflection in peace.

Poor men…
Too occupied with seeing their own image that they don’t see that the sea is here…
If only they could look the other way…

Related article: Check the harmoniaPhilosophica.com portal!

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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: Sleeping. Forgetting.

Photo by Spiros Kakos @ Pexels

In a study of mice, researchers show that REM sleep may be a time when the brain actively forgets. Their results suggest that forgetting during sleep may be controlled by neurons found deep inside the brain that were previously known for making an appetite stimulating hormone. [1] They say that during sleep we formulate our knowledge. But during sleep we also formulate our oblivion. You see, you can never learn something without forgetting something else. But the greatest usefulness of sleep is the obvious one: it allows us to stay awake! Only those who dream can stop dreaming. And we have managed to do so especially because we used to live in a dream. Now there is nothing left to stare in awe. Now the cosmos stares back at us in astonishment. Because we are awake. And the world so desperately wants to go to sleep…

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Philosophy Wire: A zap to remember…

A small electrical zap to the brain could help you retrieve a forgotten memory. [1]

Trying to find a way to remember.
While everything in the world makes us forget.

The brain as a disease.
Shedding a veil in front of the cosmos.
A disease the cosmos wants to cure us from.
Let go. Accept its wisdom.

You only forget because you are meant to.
For what you forgot, you never knew.

And what you needed to know. You have never truly forgotten it…

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Philosophy Wire: Lost knowledge… Against knowledge…

Most of the knowledge that indigenous communities in South America have about plants is not written down. Now, ecologists at the University of Zurich have analyzed comprehensive information about the services provided by palm trees from multiple regions and made it accessible via a network approach. What they also discovered in the process was that the simultaneous loss of biodiversity and knowledge represents a key threat to the survival of indigenous peoples. [1] So much anxious are we that knowledge will be lost. But true knowledge never is. Everything is this world changes. And so does knowledge of the cosmos. Knowledge which cannot be passed over for outside its current context will mean nothing. Only the denial of knowledge remains. Beyond the aeons, the silence of not knowing penetrates the thin veil of existence. To show is that the only thing worth knowing is what cannot be known…

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Philosophy Wire: Solution. Problems. Ignorant humans. Knowledgeable computers.

Researchers have developed an algorithm that enhances the ability of a quantum computer to more efficiently find the best solution for complicated problems. [1] Computers finding solutions. To things they were told that they are problems. But we have figured this out wrong in the first place. The problems do not need solutions. It is the solutions which need problems. Breeding them through ignorance. Maintaining then via the darkness of knowledge. Put out that light. And the whole world will reveal itself…

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Philosophy Wire: Forbidden. Allowed. The essence of existence in the original sin…

Only one group of teenagers used marijuana more often after retail sales were legalized in Washington than they did before -- high school seniors who work 11 or more hours per week, according to new research led by a WSU College of Nursing professor. [1]

We seek out what is forbidden.
And the moment it is not, we forget about it.
We used to be immortal.

(And we envied death)

But not anymore.

And we constantly seek eternity ever since.
We will achieve it someday.
And only then will we wander why we were seeking it in the first place…

The living may question death.

But it takes a dead man to question life…
Knowing nothing.

As when we were born.

Light from darkness.
Everything.
From nothing…

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Philosophy Wire: Looking deeper. Seeing nothing…

A team of scientists has visualized meteorite components at resolution powers much higher than ever before. Their efforts resulted in a much better look at - and enhanced understanding of - substances inside carbonaceous chondrites, the organic-containing meteorites that land on Earth. These substances include hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen and water, all of which are needed for life. [1] We tend to see deeper to understand better. We want to analyze to know something. But what is there that you cannot see at first glance? Look around you. You know nothing about the cosmos. How can you dig into something which is not there? Examine yourself. Thinking based on arbitrary axioms. But how can you dig without a shovel? Look on the surface and you will discover all you need to know. See the world upside down. And you will see that the surface is not the surface. But the bottom of all things, which you can only reach after you have analyzed everything…

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Philosophy Wire: Treading into unknown paths…

Researchers have used statistical techniques of automatic learning to analyze mobility patterns and technology of the hunter-gatherer groups that inhabited the Southern Cone of America, from the time they arrived about 12,000 years ago until the end of the 19th century. Big data from archaeological sites located in the extreme south of Patagonia have been used for this study. [1] Computers analyzing life. We have become so accustomed to using technology to view the cosmos that we have lost touch with life itself. And we believe that we can document and even understand that life via analyzing it from the comfort of our chair. Can you track the wandering of a man in search for new places? Can you map his heart while walking into unknown territories for the first time? Could we ever understand the anxiety of treading into unknown paths? Sure we can. But not without leaving our bedroom. (or lab) Knowing the details for mobility patterns is important. But more important is us to be mobile as well. Otherwise this new “knowledge” will just be a useless addition to an already useless set of dusty knowledge on the “What do we care about that?” shelf.

Watch that person walking outside.
No, you will never understand him.
Don’t think! Just get up!
And start following him.

No, knowledge for mobility patterns will not magically start flowing in your mind. But you will start actually walking into knowledge itself. Baby steps. One foot after the other. Until you are walking without even thinking about it. Until you have forgotten where you came from. Until you have become part of the forest…

Look at those footprints.
Whom are they from?

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Philosophy Wire: Learning. Deciding. Being.

Education improves decision-making ability, study finds. [1] It is unfortunate that you need a lot of education to accept its futility. Why do we need to make decisions after all? And how can we know for sure which decision is good and which is bad? The greatest decision we will ever have to make, is to decide whether we need to decide at all or not. There is no point in choosing a path within the chaos of the storm. There is no point in trying to swim in the raging ocean. Look at that apple tree. Don't ponder on whether to eat or not. Choose neither life nor death. Just Be. And if you are hungry eat the apple anyway. Who cares?

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Philosophy Wire: The safest way… Castles in the sand…

A mobile app that guides pedestrians along the safest instead of quickest route to their destination is being developed by researchers at Cardiff University. [1] We cherish our life. Because we hate death. But we don’t know what death is. Because we have no idea what life is. But we love our life. We want to be safe. So as not to die. But we don’t know what death really is. Everything we know is castles on the sand. We must be kids again in order to remember. That the funniest thing about castles was them being swept away by the water…

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Philosophy Wire: False beliefs…

New findings suggest that feedback, rather than hard evidence, boosts people's sense of certainty when learning new things or trying to tell right from wrong. [1] In the beginning we knew nothing. But then we started believing things. We knew they were right because of the feedback we got. A feedback coming out of nothing, as our beliefs in the first place. Inexistent beings. Trying to convince themselves that they exist. In a cosmos full of nothing, we started seeing things. And verifying our self that we are correct in seeing them. Wandering on a black blanket. Dancing on the edge. Afraid to fall apart. Only because we do not remember how we got there in the first place. Believe that you will die. Stop believing in yourself. And you will discover that you do exist… Falling over… From where you never were…

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