Good Acting ― Good Coaching
A good actor goes deep. A good coach goes deep. Both know what depth is about and can leverage it to the advantage of others. Coaching is not acting at the surface level. This means there is no pretension involved — only the real thing. A good coach is not a purveyor of instruments to Read the full article…
Jerusalem — City of God
This is meant to be(come) the city where people of all creeds can be together in Open Religion (see this category). No deeply religious insight, feeling, or motivation needs to be discarded. If you are religious, please try to deepen the feeling ― an endless direction. If a non-enemy of thy enemy can only be Read the full article…
Passion and Compassion
Com = together. Passion as any mental happening in which feelings and thoughts are unhindered. Background art by courtesy of my good friend Gary Conway, painter of Big Sur, California. About passion Passion is the fire that burns in the bush without destroying it. Othello’s wrath was not his passion, but only the anxiety that Read the full article…
Small-Circle versus Broad-Circle Empathy
Humans are made for a local environment ― the village as our world, not the world as a village. Nature never knew we would need to empathize with the other side of the world one day. Yet there is increasingly this need. Not only to tackle global problems. Of course, these problems exist and need Read the full article…
A.I. from Future to Now
While it’s challenging to imagine how future A.I. will look like, we can develop an abstract idea that helps us understand present-day urgencies. Of course, one day, the future will be a million years from now. However, for the purpose of this text, we can see it as something like a century from now. There Read the full article…
Neutrality as Art
This is the art of not taking sides in a conflict – big or small – and yet not being indifferent. Eternal shame In a world of looking for and creating ‘the enemy,’ many are continually keen on discerning which side anyone stands on. Almost inevitably, neutrality gets overrun this way. Not taking sides gets Read the full article…
Compassion is NOT the Surface
Compassion is profoundly challenging. It should not be confused with pity, empathy, or friendliness. Confusion concerning Compassion may lead to substantial mistakes. On top of this, the concept is vaguely used, like any profound concept. For my formalization, see Compassion, basically. Compassion is much more potent than any of the above. Compassion makes you strong! Read the full article…
What’s in It for Me?
At least half the world turns around this — no circumventing it. Therefore, it may be easier to change the ‘me.’ However, of course, the ‘me’ doesn’t readily want to be changed from the outside. Therefore, supporting the ‘me’ in changing from the inside out is recommended. Which is mental growth — coaching, everywhere. Also Read the full article…
Two Faces of Meditation
One face is of the ‘I’ that meditates. The other is of the meditation doing itself. Both are OKAY. Both together are even more OKAY. This is not only about formal meditation. Formal meditation – on a cushion, if you like – is part and parcel and also just a tool for more of the Read the full article…
Compassion Makes You Strong
This is, strong enough to enable you to care for little things and find in them a universal strength ― strong enough to tackle the world if need be. Strength of empathy As depicted in the landscape of empathy, this entails not being washed away by the emotional stream of the empathized one. Sitting in Read the full article…
Is A.I. Becoming more Philosophy than Technology?
This question has been relevant already for years. It’s only becoming worse (or better). Of course, technology remains important but it’s more like the bricks than the building. Many technologically oriented people may not like this idea. The ones who do are probably forming the future. Some history Historically, the development of A.I. has had Read the full article…
Compassion as Basis for A.I. Regulations
To prevent A.I.-related mishaps or even disasters while going into a future of super-A.I., merely regulating A.I. is not sufficient ― presently nor in principle. Striving for Compassionate A.I. There will eventually be no security concerning A.I. if we don’t put Compassion into the core. The main reason is that super-A.I. will be much more Read the full article…
Ending Life Compassionately
Any life. This text is foremost about the ending of one’s own life. It can be seen more broadly. Science and setting If possible, the end of life should not be set in a clearly unscientific setting. Even if this is most easy and comfortable, getting it scientifically correct can lead to additional possibilities of Read the full article…
What About Hate?
Weirdly, perhaps, there cannot be hate without love. Yet love doesn’t cause hatred. Is hate then the reverse of love, or is it love-gone-awry? Love is a conditional to, not a cause of hate. Imagine someone without love. That person has no reason ever to hate someone. He would just be indifferent. This includes self-hate Read the full article…
Lisa: No Disease – No Patient – No Medicine
In Lisa’s world, there are no diseases, patients, diagnoses, or therapies. Lisa is no part of present-day medicine. Any Lisa-related influence on health is but a side effect. Medicine is in essential change mode. In the era of this writing, many essential changes are happening as never before. Of course, the same is possible in Read the full article…
Legal vs. Deontological in A.I.
The trolley problem This is a well-known problem in A.I. A trolley driver gets into a situation where he must choose between killing one person by taking a deliberate action or letting five others get killed by not reacting to the situation. Deontologically, people tend not to choose purely logically and statistically in such situations. Read the full article…
Freedom is Space for Soul
Different people and different cultures seek soul in different ways. Yet there is a related search for freedom and space (free space) in all of them. ‘Soul’ is used here in a spiritual sense, transcending any specific religion or even religion as a whole. It’s about subconceptual mental processing without saying where or whether it Read the full article…