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: 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: Models. Explanations. Cakes.

Fairy circles are one of nature's greatest enigmas and most visually stunning phenomena. Researchers have now collected detailed data to show that Alan Turing's model explains the striking vegetation patterns of the Australian fairy circles. In addition, the researchers showed that the grasses that make up these patterns act as ''eco-engineers'' to modify their hostile and arid environment, keeping the ecosystem functioning. [1] Explaining things with models. How can we do that? Models always come after reality. They come after experience. And nothing that comes after can truly explain anything. For what you needed to understand you already have. Come. (Functioning environment) Taste that cake. Do you want me to explain why it is delicious? (Could you live without the enigmas?)

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Philosophy Wire: Evolution paths.

When species under a taxonomic umbrella have faced forks in the road, leading to extinction or adaptation, the path taken has been difficult to follow. Scientists now argue that long-used approaches for reconstructing these paths are deeply flawed. They also offer a a mathematical model as a way forward. [1] Evolution paths. Difficult to follow. For the footsteps are your own. How can you analyze what is being born? How can you understand what constantly dies? How can you know life?

Yet, you seem to know it…

Are you afraid?

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Philosophy Wire: Mimicking life… Mimicking nothingness…

An international joint research team succeeded in fabricating a neuromorphic network composed of numerous metallic nanowires. Using this network, the team was able to generate electrical characteristics similar to those associated with higher order brain functions unique to humans, such as memorization, learning, forgetting, becoming alert and returning to calm. [1] Mimicking life. Even though we do not understand it. Or I would say, especially because we do not understand it! Because if we did, we would experience it. And there would be nothing left to mimic. Look at your hand. Feel its void. Can you touch yourself?

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Philosophy Wire: Universe. Early universe. Fuzzy universe…

Photo by Spiros Kakos @ Pexels

Scientists have found that the early universe, and the very first galaxies, would have looked very different depending on the nature of dark matter. For the first time, the team has simulated what early galaxy formation would have looked like if dark matter were ''fuzzy,'' rather than cold or warm. [1] Was the universe fuzzy in the beginning? Was it crystal clear? No, I am not talking about its physical properties. In a conscious world who cares about them anyway? I am talking about its philosophical ones! A universe existing cannot start from any other point than clear existence. A cosmos being, cannot be based on anything else than being itself. Everything is simple at the end. We complicate them because of our inability to admit the obvious. There is nothing fuzzy about an existing cosmos. Except for us. Because we don’t like this cosmos. We want to destroy it. And what better way to do that, than to try to explain why an existing cosmos exists? Ask. But be aware. Those who ask are sometime the questions themselves… (Do you exist?)

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Philosophy Wire: Metaphors

Scientists have used MRI scanners to discover the parts of the brain which understand metaphors, in both healthy volunteers and people with schizophrenia. They found that people with schizophrenia employ different brain circuits to overcome initial lack of understanding. The researchers hope this identification of brain reactions and affected areas may help people with schizophrenia to better comprehend metaphors in everyday speech. [1] We believe we are masters of the Logos. And we develop more and more tricks when handling it. We now know how to speak well. We now know how to make metaphors. We laugh at those who do not understand them. But our metaphors are ugly. Ideas of an imaginary cosmos which is not there. Only in the terror of a mind with schizophrenia, does the real Being manifest into what it really is. Look around. There is nothing to see. Only raw data, inexplicable and incomprehensible for anyone outside of them. You can be driven crazy just by thinking about it. And yet, you are not. And that is exactly what is driving you crazy. Crazy enough to think that you understand, while you are not. Crazy enough to believe that you see while you are blind. There is nothing to see. And yet you see everything…

Are you not scared?
Don’t look at the man with schizophrenia like he is crazy.
Don’t be afraid of him.
Look into your eyes and see.

He is afraid of you…

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Philosophy Wire: A cataclysmic past. A cosmos in turmoil…

Recent research shows that our planet may have been pummeled with asteroids long before some scientists had previously thought. [1] Velikovsky tried to explain why the past of the cosmos was violent. But no one heard. Because everyone believes in order. Now we know. We know that cataclysmic events too place in the past. But we still don't believe in chaos. For we believe that since we have understood these events they are not so chaotic after all. You see, we still love order, patterns and explanations. We love understanding. Thus, we will never understand that the cosmos is incomprehensible. We hate ignorance. Thus, we will never know that there is nothing to know. Chaos out of order. Order out of chaos. Only because neither is there. In a world in turmoil, we choose to open our eyes. Only because we are afraid to keep them closed…

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Philosophy Wire: Seeing how computers think. Smiling in the mirror.

Researchers trying to figure out how computers think and how humans think as well, in order to better understand and improve AI systems. [1] How could we see how anyone thinks? That is the essence of being: that it cannot be understood. And we constantly fail to grasp it. Everything you understand is moot. Only the meaningless can have meaning. Only the unimportant can seem important. Only the incomprehensible can be comprehended. Look yourself in the mirror. There is nothing you understand. Unless the things you do not. Don't think about it. Just accept it. And for a weird reason, you will catch yourself smiling…

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Philosophy Wire: Measuring with void… Understanding nothing…

Holes in the Universe sharpen cosmic measurements: Regions of the Universe containing very few or no galaxies -- known as voids -- can help measure cosmic expansion with much greater precision than before, according to new research. [1] Look into the void. It has all the answers. Not because it solves problems. But because it renders problems meaningless. Including life. The biggest problem of them all. For in this perfect world you should know. That everything which cannot be understood, should not…

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Philosophy Wire: AI Universe. Our universe. Do you understand?

For the first time, astrophysicists have used artificial intelligence techniques to generate complex 3D simulations of the universe. The results are so fast, accurate and robust that even the creators aren't sure how it all works. The Deep Density Displacement Model can accurately simulate how the cosmos would look if certain parameters were tweaked -- such as the dark matter composition of the universe -- even though the model never received training data where those parameters varied. [1] Computers will one day understand everything. Without ever understanding nothing. And we will celebrate. And we will die. And we will love again. And the universe will move on. And the cosmos will evolve. Without even caring. Of who understands the why…

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Philosophy Wire: Know thyself…

Engineers have created a robot that learns what it is, with zero prior knowledge of physics, geometry, or motor dynamics. Initially the robot has no clue what its shape is. After a brief period of 'babbling,' and within about a day of intensive computing, the robot creates a self-simulation, which it can then use to contemplate and adapt to different situations, handling new tasks as well as detecting and repairing damage in its body. [1] The only way to know yourself is to stop trying to know yourself. Because you already do. Every part of you has dictated who you are, what you think of, how you think. Trying to analyze it will only draw you away from that, by making your self an object for understanding. And whatever you understand, you can never truly know… 

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Philosophy Wire: Defining death… Life… Not knowing...

Should death be defined in strictly biological terms - as the body's failure to maintain integrated functioning of respiration, blood circulation, and neurological activity? Should death be declared on the basis of severe neurological injury even when biological functions remain intact? Or is it essentially a social construct that should be defined in different ways? [1] Trying to define death. Without having defined life. And yet, the only way of living is via not knowing what life is. Just go out and walk on the sand. Feel the ocean on your feet. That thing which you do not comprehend, is you! At some point we will understand death fully. And then, only then, will we start dying for the first time…

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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: Computers… Depression… Understanding…

Researchers detail a neural-network model that can be unleashed on raw text and audio data from interviews to discover speech patterns indicative of depression. Given a new subject, it can accurately predict if the individual is depressed, without needing any other information about the questions and answers. [1] Detecting depression. Without understanding. But this is exactly the reason why people get depression in the first place. They try to understand. And they don’t. But the only thing to understand is that there is nothing to understand. Not as a computer. But as a human. Who is able to understand but chooses not to…

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Philosophy Wire: Explaining death.

More than 60 years after the drug thalidomide caused birth defects in thousands of children whose mothers took the drug while pregnant, scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have solved a mystery that has lingered ever since the dangers of the drug first became apparent: how did the drug produce such severe fetal harm? [1] Explaining death. Well after it has taken place. Does it matter? We want to understand. We want to explain. And the more we get dragged into that logic, the more we miss the obvious and most important point of them all: That understanding and explaining something is not the culmination of human intellect. Experiencing it is. Die. And you will understand everything about death.

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Philosophy Wire: Specializing… In nothing…

Find your passion' may not be the best advice after all: As the world becomes increasingly interdisciplinary, having diverse interests can help people make important connections across fields, such as between the arts and sciences. A new study suggests that one's belief about the nature of interests might prevent those insights from happening. [1] Every attempt to know something breaks it up into a million pieces. The only true knowledge is non-knowledge. Experience and accept. Never learn. The only way to understand is via understanding there is nothing to understand. Look at the whole. In a cosmos full of parts, it is the only thing which truly exists. Seek knowledge in everything. But without truly learning anything. Pour some tea please... But please, leave the cup empty…

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Philosophy Wire: Predicting the future…

Photo by Marlon Martinez from Pexels

Philosophy Wire by Spiros Kakos [2019-10-01]: Scientists have invented a software that can 'see' several minutes into the future. [1] Predicting the future. Based on what has happened already. Predicting what is happening today. Based on what will happen tomorrow. Sitting on either side of mirror we are. Trying to figure out the cosmos. Not understanding that breaking the mirror was the solution in the first place…

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Philosophy Wire: Understanding. Returning home…

The presence or absence of a unique brain signal after a listener has heard some speech indicates whether or not that listener has understood what has been said. The discovery has a number of practical applications, including tracking language development, assessing brain function post-injury, and confirming whether important instructions have been understood in high-pressure jobs. [1] We like understanding. We love understanding. And of course, we love understanding when someone is understanding! And yet again, we are not an inch closer to grasping the meaning of the cosmos. With every thing we understand, something new and unknown is revealed. And with every step we take towards our goal, the more we are distancing our self from where we started our journey. We love travelling. And only when we realize that there is no destination, will we start longing for home again…

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Philosophy Wire: Speaking. Understanding. Accepting. Silence.

A group of researchers has developed a new method for dialogue systems. This new method, lexical acquisition through implicit confirmation, is a method for a computer to acquire the category of an unknown word over multiple dialogues by confirming whether or not its predictions are correct in the flow of conversation. [1] We all understand the meaning of words from what we are taught. And from what we hear. We then accept that meaning and get on with our lives. But this is not what makes us special. A computer can do that. What makes us special is our ability to question what we learn. To question the meaning of the words we understand. And to speak with no words at the end. Because in essence, we do not understand anything. And only accepting it makes us wise. In the beginning there was Logos. Which meant nothing at all. And everything at the same time…

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