68. Altruism is egoism
Have you ever heard of the Samaritan paradox? Some ‘scientists’ find samaritanism (just doing something for someone else) a very weird phenomenon because it doesn’t fit the so-called biological premise of me-first (including we-first for a group). They look upon any derivation of me-first as either having a hidden agenda or being an aberration, something Read the full article…
You Are Free Even while Freedom Is an Illusion
Freedom has multiple aspects. In a previous post, I described how you can feel free [see: ‘In Defense of Free Will’]. While this is a nice feeling, are you indeed really free? A determinist says: no. Does determinism annihilate free will? Let’s define determinism for now as the idea that everything in the universe is Read the full article…
In Defense of Free Will
Free will as generally conceived, appears to be an illusion. This doesn’t mean that we ‘have no free will’. [see also: ‘You Are Free Even while Freedom Is an Illusion’] The notion of personal ‘free will’ is probably as old as humanity. Only God or some devil – or a witch – might interfere and Read the full article…
Public Speaking: Pupils Don’t Lie
The human (eye) pupil reacts quicker than any conscious decision. Therefore, in principle, pupils cannot cheat. This points to their importance in authenticity. That is, of course, unless you train beforehand in faking authenticity… Or if you cheat by taking chemicals such as atropine droplets – ‘bella-donna’ – which have historically been used by women Read the full article…
67. Why the subconscious is not a sub-consciousness
Since Freud, and actually quite some time before, much has been said and written about ‘the subconscious’, in one form or another. Even so, many people still deny its existence. But if it doesn’t exist, then… ◊◊◊ who is processing millions of pieces of visual information? who is continuously coordinating all muscles? where does inspiration Read the full article…
66. About mainstreams and whirlpools
This is personal. Very very personal. I have been devoting a big part of my life till to a project (Aurelis) that is extremely counter to mainstream cosmology. This is not an easy position. ‘Mainstream’ is the stream of the main. This is: the stream that has created and is continuously creating its own riverbed Read the full article…
65. Every child is a child
An event that changed my life, at least my thinking about it, happened in Brazil. It’s already a while ago. I was still a medical student at that time and had the opportunity to work in a hospital in a shantytown (a ‘favela’) of Salvador Da Bahia for some months. Parents came there with their Read the full article…
64. Relax! Don’t take it easy!
There is a general notion that ‘relaxation’ is easy. And so it is. But. Very big but. ◊◊◊ Think of quitting smoking. This is easy. You just have to do… nothing. Even more (or should I say ‘less’): you have to not do something. Yet there are hundreds of millions of people who have the Read the full article…
63 Why people laugh
… for one thing only. But please, read this Sticky from beginning to end. Don’t go peeping now. We will reach the goal just in time … ◊◊◊ As you know, people laugh for many things. Most people also laugh many times each day. No other animal does this. We are the best laughers of Read the full article…
62. Autism: Look who’s not talking
I’m ashamed to live in this age of disgrace. ◊◊◊ As with all ‘categories’ that are no real categories but only feable attempts to uphold an idea of ‘knowing’, there are of course many causes of the phenomenon called ‘autism’. Sure there is genetics involved as well as several physical environmental factors. Is this not Read the full article…
61. How to make someone love you (including yourself)
Here’s one that will interest many. You’ve liked that girl or boy next-street for such a long time. You want to get closer to that woman or man at work, but it seems as if you’re just one more copy machine. You are husband and wife living next to each other… even a bit too Read the full article…
60. Not calories make you fat, frustration does
The world is on a diet. Below the equator, it’s compulsory. Above it, it’s ‘chosen’. Well, more or less. ◊◊◊ Let’s look at the situation above the earth’s own big belt. There as you know, diets are everywhere. The third world war has been declared and it’s a war against calories. Diets are the cannons. Read the full article…
59. Irritable bowling. Stop that game!
On average 10% of patients attending a GP are seeking advice mainly for symptoms of irritable bowels. A gastroenterologist sees up to 30% of his clientele suffering from this. Yet the painful truth for the people suffering from this painful condition is that medicine has no substantial answer to this. There is really a lot Read the full article…
58. Has anything meaning but meaning itself?
People are in search of ‘meaning’. It’s an age-old story. Males use to be more in search of the ‘meaning of life’. Females use to be more in search of the ‘meaning of living’. The latter being: the meaningfulness of everyday circumstances. ◊◊◊ Is one more real than the other? No. ◊◊◊ No, because actually Read the full article…
57. Isis’ priests, named ‘therapists’
Do you like etymology? I do. It brings a sense of broad cultural togetherness, in space and in time. It also keeps at the forefront the fact that culture was not made in one day. Western culture is truly the result of millennia (as is of course Eastern culture too, let’s not get into competition). Read the full article…
56. Whispering
My God, I saw a program about a man who, like so many, used to ‘break’ the will of a horse in order to make it comply to the will of his ‘master’. So mean. So sad. So beastly (and I don’t mean the horse). ◊◊◊ Then came a book and movie about a ‘horse Read the full article…
55. Making medicine 80% cheaper? No problem
Health is money (and vice versa). At least, that seems to be the message if you read the world in a pharmaceutical company’s handbook. The problem is that money is to many people still a rather scarce commodity. In the US, 30% of personal bankruptcies are due to the out-of-own-pocket costs of medical care. In Read the full article…