Being of Value
That’s what we all are: beings of value. Even of immense value. We should dare to acknowledge that and act accordingly. I know it’s not always easy to acknowledge one’s value. I’ve had my ups and downs in life myself. I’ve also seen people in diverse situations, including in most dire ones where even the Read the full article…
Daydreaming: Time Well Spent!
We – almost – all daydream at least once a day, shifting our attention from the external world to internal mentation. This wouldn’t be so if not very important. Why? Using brain scans such as fMRI, scientist discovered the neural basis of daydreaming, being a set of brain structures which turn on in between cognitive Read the full article…
Group Thinking
The French term ‘pensée unique’ is frequently used for what is actually ‘pensée de groupe’ (group thinking). This is a human inclination with dire consequences but which can be overcome through proper support and personal effort. This is related to a quite natural human inclination. In many cases, your brain (thus: you) doesn’t readily like Read the full article…
X or Not X, Versus: X or Y
This is a straightforward blog, although you may need to keep your attention focused on the logic. For instance: Freedom of speech: are you for or against it? … (just enough time for your immediate answer.) OK. Until recently, I would hesitate a bit, then say yes. Now let’s put ‘freedom of speech’ versus ‘the Read the full article…
Beyond Post-Truth
‘Getting beyond’ is as much related to meaning as it is to truth. [Please read before this: ‘Post-Truth’] Let’s get beyond it Which, I admit – without POMO-ing myself – may not be completely possible. There is always more ‘between heaven and earth’ [quoting Shakespeare] not to speak about ‘beyond heaven and earth’. But that’s Read the full article…
Eyes of Soul
People have been looking for ‘God’ everywhere outside themselves. Then also inside themselves. Contrary to both, ‘eyes of soul’ points to the looking itself. Something When people use the term ‘God’, all you can know for certain – well, more or less – is that they use the term ‘God’. Apparently, they use it to Read the full article…
Post-Truth
“Not the facts are important but what works. The higher human purpose is to escape literalism and reach the essence, shaping one’s own reality.” No. I’ve not gone mad. And I’ve not gone POMO, fancy acronym for post-modernism. To assure you, the under-title of this blog is as abhorrent to me as I hope it Read the full article…
Humanism with a Vengeance
Humanism: ‘man is the measure of all things.’ Vengeance: this is about the total human being – partly conscious, mostly nonconscious. Many faces of humanism, yesterday and today Among them, I see ‘humanism’ as what puts human being at the forefront, thus not – apart from human being – any organization: no religion, no politics, Read the full article…
ACE towards the Making of a Better Person
ACE (Adopt-Combine-Enhance) is a nice instrument, guided by a synthesis of rationality and poetry. [see: ’ACE in a Moral World‘] The making of No engineering stuff. We are nature. The ‘making’ lies in the support of nature to further itself from inside out. Morality lies in the direction of this support within our natural constraints Read the full article…
From Me to Morality
From inside the brain to very large groups of people, this text tracks the origin of morality through the ages as well as at any single point in time. Morality is like the Nile Searching for the ‘source’ finally gets one somewhere far inside a strange continent, where one doesn’t find one source but many. Read the full article…
Morality is NOT the Suppression of Self-Interest
A group can not endure for long if its members all just do their own thing. So, what’s the problem? The reasoning in favor of suppression is simple. This is about what is called the ‘free rider’ problem. In the course of ages, our ancestors and even pre-ancestors (‘hominids’ and before) learned the advantages of Read the full article…
A.I. to Benefit Humans
‘Human-oriented’ is not the same as ‘ego-oriented.’ As never before, and perhaps never after, we have with A.I. a powerful toolbox that can be used in any direction. In-depth As to AURELIS ethics, the striving – of A.I. and of any other development – should definitely be towards humanity-in-depth, the ‘total human being,’ as opposed to Read the full article…
Two Meanings of ‘Meaning’
The difference mainly involves ‘depth’. Two meanings that should not be confused. These are: What one can find in a dictionary – the formal definition What ‘deeply touches’ someone – poetry, art, religion, loved ones, or an important memory The former definition by itself does not ‘deeply touch’ a person. It is the domain of Read the full article…
AURELIS Vision and Mission
“Optimally validating the deeper layers of human psyche of all people and in all domains of life through practical tools, science and philosophy, with deep respect for every total human being and with as final aims: durable health and well-being, striving for truth and complete non-aggression.” AURELIS Vision AURELIS stands for the mining and development Read the full article…
From Aggression to Efficiency
A link between aggression and efficiency is not frequently made. I hope that at the end of this text, this will be remedied. Whence cometh aggression? It seems to be as old as, well, much older than humanity. Even so, one might argue that ‘animal aggression’ is in most cases functional, thus more ‘humanly understandable’ Read the full article…
Nature and Nurture of Morality
Evidently, there is nature and there is nurture. Much less evident is how they relate to each other. Nevertheless, we can learn and take appropriate action. A mollusk has no morality because it’s pure nature. No nurture, very small degree of freedom. Obviously. What the mollusk teaches us is that ‘morality’ starts where hardwired structuring Read the full article…
Can A.I. be Empathic?
Not readily in the completely human sense of course. But can A.I. show sufficient ‘empathy’ for a human to recognize it as such, relate to it and even ‘grow’ through it? [Please read: “Landscape of Empathy”] Humans tend to ‘recognize’ human features in many things. We look at the clouds and we see human faces Read the full article…