Deep Purpose
“He did it on purpose.” Maybe, but what is ‘purpose’? And an even more profound question: What is ‘deep purpose’? Complexity is needed for purpose. A jumbo jet is complicated but not complex. Therefore, a jumbo jet doesn’t have purpose. It can have A purpose given by those who use it. The jumbo’s so-called purpose Read the full article…
Compassion in patterns
This may be, at the same time, the deepest and the highest (tentative) view on the phenomenon of Compassion. Thinking is pattern recognition and completion. You’re spoilt today. This may be, at the same time, the deepest and the highest (tentative) view on the phenomenon of thinking. I mean ‘pattern’ at the most abstract level. Read the full article…
Real Compassion is Really Effective
Compassion is very complex. Together with a lack of understanding comes a huge underrating of its effectiveness. Where does the effectiveness come from? Subconceptual (largely non-conscious) mental processing controls the body and conscious mind ― one can say: from the inside. At this level, mental-neuronal patterns are mind and body simultaneously. Consequently: It profoundly influences Read the full article…
Where is/was the Mind in COVID-19 Causality?
This is the title of an article – by me – in the high-level medical journal ‘Brain, Behavior, & Immunity – Health,’ edition May 2022. With pain and all due respect, I dedicate it to the 18 million COVID mortality worldwide ― according to this recent publication in Nature magazine. Because of more naturalistic measurements, Read the full article…
Why Only Growth is Durable
Mental growth ‘as a total person’ leads to a continual and lifelong change. Any other attempt toward change is mostly but a temporary glitch in the natural evolution. The reason is, simply put, complexity. The complexity of the human mind is usually highly underestimated. Looking at the brain increasingly shows – and also proves materially Read the full article…
Is the Brain a General-Purpose Computer?
The brain computes, although not comparably to a present-day computer. As a computing device, it is general-purpose. Cortical wonders Scientists have found out that the neocortex – part of the brain where much of human intelligence happens – is much the same over its whole surface. Any neocortical patch can develop in a variety of Read the full article…
Politics of Compassion
Countering any politics of anxiety, a politics of Compassion seems the best way to proceed. Empathy To start with proper understanding, Compassion is based on empathy, not sympathy. This also makes Inner Strength a necessary ingredient of Compassion. This is not weak ― quite the contrary. Not being naïve in a mentally developing world, one Read the full article…
Politics of Anxiety
Politics, being ethics at the group level, should not be overshadowed by anxiety. Anxiety Anxiety is an irrational mental state with mostly non-conscious origin. Roughly put, this differentiates it from fear. If not properly managed, anxiety tends to float into depression or aggression. One can see that, ideally, all politics should be exempt from this. Read the full article…
String of Enemies
Since time immemorial, humanity is plagued by a string of enemies. Is this ingrained in human nature? Just recently: from viral to geopolitical etc. 2020-2021: two years of the virus. Until now, with 15 million deaths and trillions of USD/EUROS of economic hardship, the war against this ‘enemy’ has prevented any clear sight of the Read the full article…
Comfortably Numb
In a fight between mere-ego and total self, being/staying numb can be the most comfortable option. I encounter this mindset frequently ― unfortunately, also in scientists. Please read first about mere-ego versus total self. Where’s the numbness? The numbness here lies in avoiding any fight by surrendering to mere-ego before the fighting starts. Even deeper Read the full article…
The Heart of Buddhism
Many Buddhists find the core of their worldview being expressed in the chanting of the Hannya Shingyo (ancient Japanese). In many Buddhist monasteries, it is chanted at least every day. You can listen to the entire (few minutes) Hannya Shingyo in this nice video. You can read a fine translation (one of many slightly different) Read the full article…
Maximum Clarity is not Optimal Clarity
Maximum clarity would be optimal if everything could be made totally clear. Since this is not the case, the optimum is not the maximum. Conceptually clear? This is how the term is mainly used by those who value rationality as something purely conceptual. With conceptual building blocks (clear arguments), logical rules can be applied to Read the full article…
Compassionate A.I. in the Military
There are obvious and less obvious reasons — time to re-think the military from the ground up. Compassionate A.I. may lead to this. It should be realized asap. Soldiers are human beings just like others, also if they have deliberately chosen for military service. Compassion is equally applicable to them. The obvious Many soldiers return Read the full article…
Explorative Self-Learning A.I.
This is more than a nice feature. It is essential for humans to become intelligent creatures. It may also be essential to future super-A.I. The human case Explorative learning is what every human child does. We call it ‘playing.’ It can last a lifetime. Indeed, those who feel young at old age are those who Read the full article…
Explorative Learning
Self-learning through exploration. This is a kind of reinforcement learning, but with specifically sought reinforcements towards efficient learning. Like a human child A child strives to get deep attention, which functions as reinforcement. The child does explicitly the things that lead to reinforcement ― such as by deep attention. Expecting this provokes activation of dopaminergic Read the full article…
AureLisa White Paper
Here is a white paper about the direction of the AureLisa project, with a link to AureLisa pitching (one pager). Feel free to share this. To see Lisa pitching herself (2’), click here. For a description of an intended AureLisa global consortium, click here. For a one-pager toward philanthropy, click here. You can watch an Read the full article…
Youthfully Sad
In a survey of 8000 high-school students between 2009 and 2021, the American CDC found the share of students with ‘persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness’ to have risen from 26 to 44%. This is confirmed by objective measures, such as self-harm, eating disorders, and suicide. Also, it’s not only happening in the US, but Read the full article…