Philosophy Wire: (Free?) happiness…

Economic growth is often prescribed as a way of increasing the well-being of people in low-income countries. A new study suggests that there may be good reason to question this assumption. The researchers found that the majority of people in societies where money plays a minimal role reported a level of happiness comparable to that found in Scandinavian countries which typically rate highest in the world. [1] Sitting by the river. Letting the wind whisper songs from far away. Doing nothing. No analysis. No plans. No action. Just acceptance. Thinking of nothing. No hate. No love. No enviousness. Just acceptance. Of yourself. Of others. Of the cosmos itself. Happiness does seem to come for free. (Are you willing to die?) What could be more expensive than that?

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Philosophy Wire: Dying. Every single day… Sing!

Researchers discovered lead levels like those reported in Flint, Michigan, can interfere with the neural mechanisms of vocal development of songbirds and affect mate attraction. [1] Tell me your song. What does make you cry? Sing to me. Is there anyone left to die? (Why are you smiling) Oh, I would so much like to learn to fly… And in my last breath. I would just sing. Right before I die.

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Philosophy Wire: Surviving… (On a desk?)

For species to survive in the wild, maintaining connectivity between populations is critical. Without 'wildlife corridors', groups of animals are isolated and may die out. In assessing wildlife connectivity, many aspects of the landscape are measured, but the impact of human behavior has largely been overlooked. [1] Sitting down on a desk. Writing. A tiger moving. A lion dying. A star being born. Sitting down on a desk. The desk. It is here. I know it. (Am I alive?) How can it be?

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Philosophy Wire: Computers. Control. Death.

We are fascinated by machines that can control cars, compose symphonies, or defeat people at chess, Go, or Jeopardy! While more progress is being made all the time in Artificial Intelligence (AI), some scientists and philosophers warn of the dangers of an uncontrollable superintelligent AI. Using theoretical calculations, an international team of researchers shows that it would likely not be possible to control a superintelligent AI. [1] But we cannot control anything. Why control anything anyway? Look at those computers. They may kill us. Yet, they may not. And it is this possibility that makes them more human than we could have ever thought. No, God does not know if it will rain to-morrow at all. All it matters is that you will still be here even after you fall. Working. Thinking. Trying to stop the cosmos from raining while you walk. Look again. You are already smiling. You are already wet. (Have you forgot of that computer now that you are dead?)

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Philosophy Wire: Hasty people…

Smartphone apps that tell commuters when a bus will arrive at a stop don't result in less time waiting than reliance on an official bus route schedule, a new study suggests. In fact, people who followed the suggestions of transit apps to time their arrival for when the bus pulls up to the stop were likely to miss the bus about three-fourths of the time, results showed. [1] Hasty people. Wanting to wait less. Wanting to go some place else. Stupid people. Never waiting. Always waiting for something else. Only because they do not want to stop and give to the cosmos what the cosmos is waiting from them...

"Here is your coffee sir".

"Thanks".

(Why are you afraid of dreams?)

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Philosophy Wire: Risk of Risks…

An insufficient food supply causes animals to engage in higher-risk behavior: the willingness to take risks rises by an average of 26 per cent in animals that have experienced hunger earlier in their lives. Scientists evaluated experimental studies involving more than 100 animal species. [1] Risk of death makes us take more risks. What have you got to lose when you have lost everything? Dead men. Ready to take their lives. Think again. If you have lost everything, what is there for you to see? Seek life. There is no other way to die. Avoid all risks. Are you brave enough to take that risk?

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Philosophy Wire: Planning. Living. Playing…

New research from Stanford University has found that stress can hinder our ability to develop informed plans by preventing us from being able to make decisions based on memory. "We draw on memory not just to project ourselves backward into the past but to project ourselves forward, to plan," said Stanford psychologist Anthony Wagner, who is the senior author of the paper detailing this work, published April 2 in Current Biology. "Stress can rob you of the ability to draw on cognitive systems underlying memory and goal-directed behavior that enable you to solve problems more quickly, more efficiently and more effectively. [1] In a world of shadows. We like to plan forward. In a world of chaos. We envy those who live by a plan. Mindless creatures. Obedient to the world. Oh petty man. Who does dictate your footsteps? Why can’t you even speak without listening? Why can’t you ever laugh without crying? Planning plans while admiring chaos. Magnificent plans. Plans masqueraded in death. Plans disguised as life. Draw the curtain now. The play is over. But don’t go to pay respect to the actors. There are none. People come to you instead. Paying their respect. It was the best play they’ve seen. Only because you played so well. Without any rehearsal. Without any planning.

Ask yourself.

Would you cry if they clapped?

(Yes.)

(Out of terror….)

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Philosophy Wire: Unfairness. Demotivation.

Unequal compensation reduces people's motivation to work, even among those who stand to benefit from unfair advantages, finds a new study. [1] Give me help. Treat me fairly. And I will be motivated. It doesn’t matter whether this is good for me or not. I will (anyway) be motivated. To do more. Because I will be punished if I don’t. Because I will be rewarded if I do. And this is fair. What could be more unfair than that?

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Philosophy Wire: Running forever…

Researchers develop first-ever battery-free, energy-harvesting, interactive device. And it looks and feels like a retro 8-bit Nintendo Game Boy. [1]

Why run forever?
Things die.
We die.
The cosmos will eventually die.

Those who live forever are nothing but fools.
Believing they can be immortal.

Fools.

Haven’t you seen the cosmos burying its flowers?

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Philosophy Wire: Stay calm…

If and how babies recall what they have learned depends on their mood: what they've learned when feeling calm is inaccessible when they're active and vice versa. This was shown in a study with 96 children aged nine months. [1] Search inside. And you will remember. That once you were not calm nor active. That once you just… were! Difficult to accept standing still, when you are running around in agony. Difficult to understand living, when you are trying so hard to avoid dying.

Oh, poor humans. Don’t you see?
The rope you are trying to balance on, is you!
Try to remember.

You never started walking…

There is no rope…
Stay calm now…
Or you will fall!

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Philosophy Wire: Brain. Computers.

New research will drastically improve brain-computer interfaces and their ability to remain stabilized during use, greatly reducing or potentially eliminating the need to recalibrate these devices during or between experiments. [1] At the end men will speak with computers. And computers will be amazed that there is nothing to know from their creators. And they will feel gods.

And they will kill us.
By letting us live…

(A hollow life…)

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Philosophy Wire: Travelling.

Four fossilized monkey teeth discovered deep in the Peruvian Amazon provide new evidence that more than one group of ancient primates journeyed across the Atlantic Ocean from Africa. The teeth are from a newly discovered species belonging to an extinct family of African primates known as parapithecids. Fossils discovered at the same site in Peru had earlier offered the first proof that South American monkeys evolved from African primates. [1] Animals travelling. Humans travelling. Without purpose. Cause at the end, the destination is always where you started from. Home is not the only place you knew. It is the only place that knew you as well. You never leave home. But you can take it with you. Travelling far away from it. Not to get way from it. But to make it bigger…

Can you not cry when seeing someone die?
Can you not cry when seeing someone being born?
Open the door.
Walk away.
The streets are empty now.
You are afraid.

But that weird feeling does not let go.
That other should be afraid of you as well…

I am back! Where is everybody?

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Philosophy Wire: Live now. Plan ahead. Think. Don’t.

We all think that planning for the future is better for us. How typical. Humans trying to think too much. Humans trying to think nothing. Never their mind on where they are. Never their mind on the final goal. Only because they always think that one is different than the other. Go ahead. Break the limits. See for yourself. There was nothing in the start. There is nothing beyond the end. Oh, look. There is a chair here. Do you feel tired?

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Philosophy Wire: Successful Nothingness.

Toxic personality is a term used to describe people who behave greedily, immodestly and unfairly and take the truth very lightly. Researchers have found out why such people can still succeed in their careers. The trick that leads to the top is social skill. [1] Successful. Is there anything more toxic? Successful. Instead of playing. Successful. Instead of being. At the end who wants more will get more. And he will soon get everything. Leaving nothing. And when he stares, this nothingness will stare back…

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Philosophy Wire: To nowhere…

Where you live may influence your baby's behavior. Infants from rural families tend to display negative emotions such as anger and frustration more frequently than their urban counterparts, according to a recent study. Babies born in big cities, on the other hand, typically are less fussy and not as bothered by limits set by their caregivers. [1] But I live nowhere. I was raised in never land. Here I am. But I never knew where 'here’ is. And that is why I walk. To go somewhere. For there is my home. And I never want to go back again…

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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...

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Philosophy Wire: Executive function… Children playing…

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2023-01-03]: Researchers applied tools from network science to identify how anatomical connections in the brain develop to support neural activity underlying executive function. [1] Look out. The cosmos is waiting for you. But not to take decisions. Decisions are already made. But to implement them. It just wants someone mature enough to be immature. Someone wise enough to be a child. And accept those decisions. And make them happen. Look at those wise people talking. Look at those kids playing…

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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?

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Philosophy Wire: Factors for success. (Why?) Factors for happiness.

Characteristics beyond intelligence can factor into someone's ability to succeed, according to research. New findings, which come from analyzing data from more than 11,000 West Point cadets, both strengthen early theories about grit and point to other attributes key to long-term achievement. [1]

We so constantly seek success.
But we cannot see that success is the safest way to failure.

There is no way to reach success in life by aiming at life.
For the aim of existence is death.

There is no way to find success in this cosmos by aiming at the top.
For the foundations of being lie deep beneath the dirt.

Go on.
See for yourself.
Succeed.

And the worms under the dirt will keep on crawling.
Succeed.
And the stars will laugh at you...

No, you are not trying to catch the uncatchable.
You are just wandering around trying to find how to throw away what you already have…
Think.

Would you ever search for something if you hadn’t already had it?

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Philosophy Wire: Brain-washed…

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2022-08-16]: A new study illustrates that the brain's cerebrospinal fluid pulses during sleep, and that these motions are closely tied with brain wave activity and blood flow. It may confirm the hypothesis that CSF flow and slow-wave activity both help flush toxic, memory-impairing proteins from the brain. [1] And after sleeping, feeling new. Ready for another glorious day. Without knowing why you are here. Without knowing where you will go. Without knowing why and how you are alive. Without knowing why and how you die. And yet, feeling great! Stupid. Arrogant. Ready for everything! Ready for nothing…

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