77. Of cause!
Patients often think that medical reasoning is mostly causal reasoning. Doctors often think so too. This is not the case. And that’s too bad, because it would make things so much easier… ◊◊◊ Still, we better don’t rely on wishful thinking. ◊◊◊ Causal reasoning is a myth that can easily be deconstructed. Therefore, we have Read the full article…
76. The curve of a woman
This Sticky is dedicated to all attractive women. Of course, the sticky-ness in this is meant platonically, but that may be profound… ◊◊◊ Sex-appeal (the subject of this text) is a mind game. Look at ‘suggestive clothing’. The sex-appeal lies in what is suggested rather than in what is shown. Now you may or may Read the full article…
75. Religion with no object
What’s in a name? Nothing. In some cases, even much less than nothing. ◊◊◊ In this world, many things are called ‘religion’ that clearly have nothing to do with what it can mean. Obvious: religion is not about believing that it will rain tomorrow (Is there a 20% chance? 60%?). Likewise, religion is not about Read the full article…
74. What’s in a book?
Believing in the bible, is not the same as believing in God. It’s believing in the ones who say the bible comes directly from God. Then the question is: why should anyone believe those guys? Because they have good marketing support? Because they have pointed ears? Because they believe in other guys who believe in Read the full article…
Open Religion = Poetry
Respect is due to all people, but not to anything just because it’s called ‘religion.’ Open religion = poetry. Let’s just say: religion = poetry. I’m not talking about words, rhythm and rhyme, although poetry of course can also be cast as such. It’s also much wider: the poetry of any art, the poetry of Read the full article…
From Sexual Harassment to Being a Gentleman
A ‘no’ is a no, even between quotation marks. In any ambivalent situation, you should not sexually harass any woman – or man – in any way. But we should start tackling this issue from a positive side… To me, ‘gentleman’ is still a nice word. I hope it will stay so forever. What it Read the full article…
73. The revenge of the tonsils
Things may appear rational, but that’s no guarantee that they are. Sometimes, I mean most of the time, we are not aware of this as much as we should. The result is that we live in a very irrational world and are not even aware of it. The house of Homo Sapiens is a house Read the full article…
72. The enemy!
Becoming successful is easy. You only have to be able to count to three: 1) Create an enemy; 2) Make yourself ‘needed’ to fight this enemy; 3) Simply go for it. ◊◊◊ It’s too bad that in all this, the word ‘simply’ is crucial. It means that people with a relevant level of intelligence have Read the full article…
71. The eye of the needle
Experimental scientists want to ‘prove’ the effect of acupuncture by using their experimental scientists’ schemes. What has come out of the experimentation with acupuncture is that it works… sometimes. ◊◊◊ Even so, if one doesn’t care exactly what works, then the case seems to be in favor of the needlers… sometimes. However, if one goes Read the full article…
70. A vision on mind
I think ‘vision’ has been interesting to me since I opened my eyes. Human vision of course. But later on ‘artificial vision’ too: how can a computer learn to really see the world? What does this mean : to see the world? Can one say that a camera sees the world? No, of course not. Read the full article…
69. Getting that wonderful sea-feeling
“We look at things and see ourselves.” ◊◊◊ This phrase is nonsense of course, but then again: not completely. For instance, there is more information coming from the brain to the eye than vice versa. If you look at it this way then the eye itself, nothing more than the first stage of vision, is Read the full article…
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…