Philosophy Wire: Laugh at… yourself?

Laughter exposes something essentially human. But Bergson’s very interest in laughter and the comic might well arise from the fact that the phenomenon of laughter indicates a social situation – denoted as the comic – in which human beings are both the source and the object of laughter. The comic situation gives laughter, as a sociological fact, a dual valence: humans laugh, but they only ever laugh at themselves. [1] Watch closely. There is nothing to laugh at. There are no others. There is nothing here now. Not your senses. Not the others. Not even yourself. Nothing. Just you. Alone. Wandering in the forest of pure existence. Stepping into a river. The water is tickling you…

What can you do but cry?
So, you decide to laugh…

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Philosophy Wire: Winning by losing… [Teaching young children]

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2017-09-21]: When children are falsely successful at games and other challenges, it can lead them to ignore important information in and about the world around them, according to a new study. [1] Letting go and showing acceptance (of defeat in this case) may seem like passive, but it is the most active state one can achieve in a cosmos full of arrogant useless beings. Learn how to lose. It will be your greatest victory.

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

Philosophy Wire: City DNA. In ATMs…

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2017-08-20]: The microbes found on the ATMs can provide a repository to offer a picture of a city's DNA. [1] Once upon a time the same thing could be said for the city’s cathedral. Now we have just changed temple. We used to offer everything to God. And even though we had nothing we felt like we had everything. Now we demand everything from... ATM. And even though we have everything it feels like we have nothing. Do you need receipt? No. Other transaction. No. Balance is zero. Please take your card.

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

Philosophy Wire: Impossible games. Attractive games.

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2014-12-19]:

Video games which are impossible to win seem to be attracting more and more gamers. [1]
Because deeply inside we know...
that the impossible is the father of the possible...
In a world where everything is possible,
everything is impossible.
It sound impossible, huh?

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

Philosophy Wire: Evolution. Predictability. Skakos Zen.

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2014-12-02]: A longstanding question among scientists is whether evolution is predictable. A team of researchers from University of California Santa Barbara may have found a preliminary answer. The genetic underpinnings of complex traits in cephalopods may in fact be predictable because they evolved in the same way in two distinct species of squid. [1] But how can anything not predictable be an object of science, as we have stupidly defined science today? Only when we stop believing things are predictable, when we have accepted chaos, when we see the unpredictable in the eye, will we be part of the world as it it and not as we would like it to be. Stop trying to predict everything and everything will become predictable...

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

Philosophy Wire: Unmanned cargo ships. Money. True riches...

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2014-11-02]: Europe is planning unmanned cargo ships.[1] Soon we will have robots consuming energy and producing money, so that other robots can consume energy and produce more money. Fake tools (money) to support fake structures (economy). Stop making more money and you will see that only then you are truly rich...

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

Φιλοσοφικό Τηλεγράφημα: Μη επανδρωμένα πλοία. Χρήμα. Πραγματικός πλούτος.

Φιλοσοφικό Τηλεγράφημα του Σπύρου Κάκου [2014-11-02]: Σχεδιάζουν και μη επανδρωμένα φορτηγά πλοία. (Munin project) [1] Σύντομα θα έχουμε ρομπότ που καταναλώνου ενέργεια και παράγουν χρήμα, ώστε άλλα ρομπότ να καταναλώνουν ενέργεια και να παράγουν πιο πολύ χρήμα. Ψεύτικα εργαλεία (χρήμα) για να στηρίξουν ψεύτικες κατασκευές (οικονομία). Σταμάτα να βγάζεις χρήματα και θα δεις πως τότε είσαι πιο πλούσιος από ποτέ...

(c) Φιλοσοφικά Τηλεγραφήματα - Φιλοσοφικός σχολιασμός της επικαιρότητας…

Φιλοσοφικό Τηλεγράφημα: Δες το χταπόδι...

Φιλοσοφικό Τηλεγράφημα του Σπύρου Κάκου [2014-09-20]: 'Ένα χταπόδι φαίνεται ότι κλωσσούσε τα αυγά της για 4.5 χρόνια! [1] Φαίνεται εντυπωσιακό. Αλλά για το χταπόδι δεν είναι. Ο ανόητος βλέπει το χέρι. Ο σοφός βλέπει το πλοκάμι...

(c) Φιλοσοφικά Τηλεγραφήματα - Φιλοσοφικός σχολιασμός της επικαιρότητας…

Philosophy Wire: See the octopus...

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2014-09-20]: A deep-sea octopus is observed guarding the same clutch of eggs for nearly 4.5 years! [1] It seems impressive. But for the octopus it is not. The fool sees the hand. The wise sees the tentacle...

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

Philosophy Wire: Climate, dollars, carbon...

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2014-07-07]: A price tag on carbon as a climate rescue plan. [1] Besides the fact that we are so arrogant as to believe we can save the... climate, we believe that we can even make some money out if it!? Try to remember the golden rule here: If you can make money out of something, then that something isn't worth it... Stay poor, if you want to really be rich.

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

Φιλοσοφικό Τηλεγράφημα: Κλίμα, δολλάρια, διοξείδιο...

Φιλοσοφικό Τηλεγράφημα του Σπύρου Κάκου [2014-07-07]: Τιμή στο διοξείδιο του άνθρακα ως σχέδιο για τη διάσωση του κλίματος. [1] Εκτός του ότι είμαστε τόσο αλαζόνες ώστε να πιστεύουμε ότι μπορούμε να διασώσουμε το... κλίμα, πιστεύουμε ότι μπορούμε να βγάλουμε κια χρήματα από αυτό... Θυμήσου όμως το χρυσό κανόνα: Αν μπορείς να βγάλεις χρήματα από κάτι, τότε αυτό το κάτι δεν αξίζει... Μείνε φτωχός, αν θέλεις να είσαι πραγματικά πλούσιος.

(c) Φιλοσοφικά Τηλεγραφήματα - Φιλοσοφικός σχολιασμός της επικαιρότητας…