Philosophy Wire: Burying the dead…

Was burial of the dead practiced by Neanderthals or is it an innovation specific to our species? Researchers have demonstrated, using a variety of criteria, that a Neanderthal child was buried, probably around 41,000 years ago, at the Ferrassie site (Dordogne, France). [1] But why would they do that? If they haven't sensed something more than the things they sensed? Why do the children laugh in the void? If not for things they see without their eyes? Look human. Yes, you are evolved. Yes, you are grown up. Surely you can see everything now. But this is not why you cry less. That is the only reason you do.

Why would you need to discover the cosmos anyway?

If not for your sensing of absolutely nothing inside?

(Who will burry you?)

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Philosophy Wire: Why are you laughing?

We employ our cognitive skills daily to assimilate and process information. A new empirical study shows that we do better at this task than those born a century ago. But cognitive capacity still begins to stagnate at around the age of 35. [1] Humans. Constantly improving. Understanding more and more every day. Soon we will understand everything. Soon we will know more than we ever did. And looking back at our ancestors we will be puzzled. (Why are they laughing?)

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Philosophy Wire: Walk on water… Miracles without miracles…

Researchers not only reveal the physics of how elastic spheres interact with water, but they also lay the foundation for the future design of water-walking drones. [1] We like to defy miracles. We are proud to ridicule the nonsensical. We believe only in hard science and data. And yet, it is the miracles which drive our efforts every day. And our eagerness to achieve them. One day we will manage to achieve them. One day we will be able to do everything. One day we will declare our self ‘God’ in the place of God. And in our enthusiasm, we will not see Him crying out of pride while watching us...

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Philosophy Wire: Deep AI vs. Human doctors. A battle long lost…

The 'deep learning' computers in a diagnostic imaging lab routinely defeat their human counterparts in diagnosing heart failure, detecting various cancers and predicting their strength. But nonetheless researchers dismiss any notion that such machines might someday replace pathologists and radiologists. [1] We are soon to have computers as doctors. The wave of progress cannot be stopped. We will become machines. Because this is what we believe we are, for centuries now. There is no argument against using AI to diagnose problems in the path we have chosen to follow. Unless we turn back and discard the whole structure of science as we know it altogether. There is no data. There are no useful theories. There is only man. And his will to live in an inhumane cosmos. Inside a cold doctor’s room, the lights are off. Lifeless computers. Beeps and hums. Killing humans. One diagnosis at a time...

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Philosophy Wire: Science generating monsters. Smiling and accepting.

Researchers have developed transgenic mosquitoes that stably express the Cas9 enzyme in their germline. The addition of Cas9 will enable the use of the CRISPR gene editing tool to make efficient, targeted changes to the mosquitoes' DNA. As proof of concept, the researchers used the system to disrupt cuticle, wing, and eye development, producing completely yellow, three-eyed and wingless mosquitoes. Their long-term goal is to develop new pest control strategies. [1] Knowledge does not liberate. Knowledge creates monsters. And modern science is all about knowledge. Always searching for more in the name of progress and research. And yet, more and more knowledge increases our longing for more knowledge. And that makes us feel more and more empty. And frustrated. The moment we realize we will never know everything, we try to make things on our own. To control the cosmos, to manipulate it in order to fit our understanding. And the cosmos will bend under our will. And we will feel more empty. Because we would not have understood anything, we would have just made the cosmos look like us inside: Hollow and void. Seek nothingness. Crave to be empty. Let go. It is only then that you will fully understand everything. It is only then that the beauty inside you will come out. Without any strings attached or knowledge razors to cut through it and distort it. You are not only editing your genes. You are changing the cosmos itself. Making it ugly. Accept yourself. Just smile. You are beautiful.

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Philosophy Wire: Microchips. Limits. Limitless...

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2014-06-09]: Stanford scientists have developed faster, more energy-efficient microchips based on the human brain. The new microchips are 9,000 times faster and use about 40,000 less energy than current microchips! [1] Our achievements are limited by the limits of the world we live in. But the world is infinite. But it has limits. But these limits are infinite. But...

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Philosophy Wire: Organic agriculture, progress, old knowledge...

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2014-05-04]:

A journalist tries to reach Chinese farmers organic agriculture. [1]
What is new is actually old.
Only going backwards can you experience real progress...
Dig the Earth with your own hands.
And you will experience  enlightenment.

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Philosophy Wire: France - Signs of oppression...

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2014-03-08]:

Freedom of speech is denied [see Dieudonné case - 1, 2], but freedom of celebrating abnormal [see gay marriages - 3] and freedom of celebrating unethicality [see "French President Francois Hollande has confirmed his separation from his partner Valerie Trierweiler" - 4] is celebrated.

No, I am not saying that gay people should not have rights. I am saying they should not have the right to raise children as if they were "normal" - when it is obvious they are not.
No, I am not saying to allow racism. I am saying to stop seeing Nazi symbols everywhere by turning upside down/ right/ left any image we see only in order to look more "democratic".
And yes, I do say that we should not fuck other women when we are with another woman.

It seems simple. But "progressive" people have the tendency of making simple things complicated...
It is very hard to be considered one of the most progressive states in the world. You are somehow forced to have "progress" in every field of life, even there where the right decisions have already been made. Change is considered "progress" even if it is change to something worse. Being static is considered "bad". You want to move so that noone considers you "regressive". But you ignore the possibility that you may have already reached the right place.

"Newer is better".
"Modern is wiser".
"The old ones did not know".

Men with a childish way of thinking. Ruling nations...

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Philosophy Wire: Hello War! Meet your daughter.

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2014-01-21]: New US warships will be fueled on water. [1, 2, 3] Bad intentions are luring behind our comfort. How good can that be? We may not like to admit it, but almost all progress we currently enjoy is the daughter of war. Literally.

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Geo-engineering.

Scientists agree that geo-engineering is legal. [source]

Weather modification (including cloud seeding) was discussed from the 40’s [see declassified meeting notes of US Senate hearing at 1974 and here].

Patents for cloud seeding have been filed from this time. [Powder contrail generation]

Geo-engineering and weather modification today is part of the university research, part of private research, part of scientific research in general, part of state sponsored research, part of politics in the US, target of "philanthropy" (!) or part of military planning (see "Weather as a Force Multiplier: Owning the Weather in 2025" or here).

Taking all that into account, why should we even care if the chemtrails “conspiracy” theory is correct? [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]

After all, there is a specific US bill which prohibits such non-existent things… [source]

We want to control everything. Even the things which cannot be controlled. The chaos inside our mind has this crazy idea that it can impose order in the chaos outside of it. We cannot lash the sea.

The storm is right here. All we have to do is accept it and get wet.

Oh, how much we like to see the other way. How much do we really like to keep looking at a cloud taking “shapes”, while the storm keeps coming towards us from behind…

PS. Or could it be that everything have to do with money and weather derivatives? [8, 9]

Philosophy Wire: Are wars over? Nuh...

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2013-09-19]:

Are great wars over? "Experts" disagree. [1] No matter how hard I want to believe that we are progressing in this matter, I understand that "war" - in ANY form - is in our nature. It is in Nature's nature! We are at constant war with others, with our self, with our environment... And the point is not to win. But to let go...

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Philosophy Wire: War - A recent "conquest"...

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Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2013-08-26]: War seems to be a very "recent" conquest of our "civilization". [1] In the old days, no tribe attacked another in order to kill. Murders inside a tribe/ society always used to be more than killing of this kind. Until the world wars... Then we really show the world how much progressed and civilized we are...

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Philosophy Wire: Using typewriters for "progress"!

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Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2013-07-30]:

Computers are vulnerable.
Secret agencies switch back to typewriters and handwritting. [1]
Going back, is sometimes the way to go forward.

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Philosophy Wire: Pottery - The primitive (modern) technology...

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2013-04-11]: Ancient leftovers indicate that the earliest pottery was used by hunter-gatherers for cooking, thousands of years before farming communities began heating their food in vessels. Chemical analyses of charred food clinging to pottery fragments from sites across Japan indicate that hunter-gatherers who lived there between 15,300 and 11,200 years ago cooked freshwater or marine animals in ceramic vessels, say bioarchaeologist Oliver Craig of the University of York in England and his colleagues. [source: web news]

We believe we are too much "progressed" and "evolved". But if one looks at things more clearly, he will realize that we have not done much more from the stage we invented fire processing... Ceramic technology (from the selection of materials, to temperatures and conditions required during firing) entails elements that are still the basis for our technologies today. Think about it the next time you travel in a ship made of cast iron...

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Philosophy Wire! Burn… Burn… Burn…

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2013-02-16]:

Norwegian public television plans to broadcast a burning fireplace for 12 straight hours from Friday evening, with firewood specialists providing color commentary, expert advice and a bit of cultural tutoring. The idea was inspired by the SECOND BEST selling book in Norway which concerns… what else… fire wood! [source: Yahoo! TV]

NRK is not new to quirky programming.

In 2011, it broadcast 134 hours non-stop of a cruise ship going up the Norwegian coast to the Arctic, bagging the world record for the longest continuous TV program along the way.

At one point 600,000 people tuned in to watch that program with 3.2 million people, or over 60 percent of the population, glued to the screen at one point.

And an earlier broadcast of an eight hour train journey from Oslo to Bergen was so popular, NRK had to repeat it.

Who says that money and progress is synonym of mental health?

Well, I have to go now.

I am going to watch a flower grow…

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Philosophy Wire: N. Korea, progress, worries…

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2012-12-13]: The “civilized” world is worried about the satellite launched by N. Korea. [source: web news] You see, progress is a privilege of few…

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Philosophy Wire: Cleaning for getting more… pollution ?!?!?

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2012-11-30]: If the 4.9 million barrels of oil that spilled into the Gulf of Mexico during the 2010 Deep Water Horizon spill was a ecological disaster, the two million gallons of dispersant used to clean it up apparently made it even worse! According to new research from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Universidad Autonoma de Aguascalientes (UAA) of Mexico, the substances used for “cleaning” made the oil 52 times more toxic! [source: web news] It is once more proven – in a tragic way – that our “technologies” do not have the result we expect. Our assumed “progress” in many levels is shadowed by our full ignorance of the balance of Nature. If we left things as they were, everything would be better. Ecology is proved too much oppressive after all…

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Philosophy Wire: Civilization makes us more stupid. Yes. Yes?

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2012-11-13]: A new radical research reveals that as civilization progresses humans become more stupid. All the civilization advances make our life easier but also remove the evolutionary pressure we once had and which led to clever people surviving the dumb ones: there is no need to try to be clever since the developments like agriculture, the safety of an organized society and all technology available makes life easier for everyone [source: web news] Well. The study is indeed innovative. However ancient Greeks were once more ahead of their time. Thousands of years ago, they believed the SAME very thing for their time: They too believed in Regression rather that Progress. They believed that that they were the “bronze” genos (Gr. γένος) which succeeded the “silver” genos which in turn succeeded the initial Gold Genos of humans. Now if ancient Greeks where the “bronze” ones, who are we? The “plastic” ? We should be. We are the first civilization who takes so much care of recycling while not producing anything of value… OR… Maybe all this is just the complex of "the old times are always better than the current we live in” type… At the end it is up to you to decide. Do you freel a lesser person than your ancestors?

 

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Philosophy Wire: Down Syndrome? Nuh. You won't fly!

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2012-09-06]:

A child suffering from the Down Syndrome was not allowed to fly in First Class. American Airlines denied him the right to fly with its "privileged" customers [source: web news]. Probably the sight of such a person would be "too much" for them to bear... I am already imagining what would be going on in some of the First Class passengers when seeing a boy with Down next to them... "How on Earth was this child born in the first place?!? Don't we have "science" to kill those children before they are born?"...

Tough questions...
For the privileged and "civilized" only...

After all.
IT IS the 21st century!
And in this century we kill whatever annoys us, so that we do not even see it!

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The curse of Progress...

How can we save ourselves from the curse of "progress" ?
Progress which, as Adorno said, leads to the crushing of our primitive instincts...