Motion
I first read the phrase “Turtles All the Way Down” in a book by Stephen Hawking. According to the story, a big name scientist was giving a lecture on astronomy. After the lecture, an elderly lady came up and told the scientist that he had it all wrong. ‘The world
Culture
We’re in the biggest economic slump since the Great Depression, and we can’t seem to get out of it. Why? Because, exactly as in the 1920s, so much of the nation’s income and wealth are going to the top, that the vast middle class doesn’t have
Mind
A book titled “Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness Are the Keys to Understanding the Nature of the Universe” has stirred up the Internet, because it contained a notion that life does not end when the body dies, and it can last forever. The author of this publication, scientist Dr. Robert
Mind
Panpsychism, the ancient doctrine that consciousness is universal, offers some lessons in how to think about subjective experience today. Unlike classical panpsychism, not all physical objects have a Φ that is different from zero. Only integrated systems do. A bunch of disconnected neurons in a dish, a heap of sand,
Culture
From David Gelernter in Commentary Magazine: “The huge cultural authority science has acquired over the past century imposes large duties on every scientist. Scientists have acquired the power to impress and intimidate every time they open their mouths, and it is their responsibility to keep this power in mind no
Matthew
That sleep helps clean our brain. Or in the words of the journal Science, “Observations showed that when mice sleep, channels between neurons in their brains expand, allowing cerebrospinal fluid to flush out detritus, such as proteins that in human beings are associated with Alzheimer’s disease.” (Source) How truly
Thinking
In early sixteenth century, Machiavelli asks, “Of cruelty and mercy, and whether it is better to be loved than to be feared or the contrary?” Here is his answer, from The Prince: Turning to the other qualities mentioned above, let me say that every prince must desire to be considered
Film
Sea World in San Diego amazed me. I was completely mesmerized by the Killer Whales and watched them swim around the pool for most of the day. Tonight, I watched the documentary Blackfish. Blackfish tells the story of Tilikum, a performing killer whale that killed several people while in captivity.
Mind
Sheldrake proposes that “memory” is inherent in cells, and that life exhibits “evolutionary habits,” a quality that Darwin also noted. “Cells come from other cells and inherit fields of organization” and that morphogenesis innately depends on organizing those fields, which he refers to as morphic fields. For instance, since the
Culture
“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.” – Nelson Mandela From CNN: Word of Nelson Mandela’s death spread quickly across the United States, bringing with it a mix of reverence and grief for a man who was born in South Africa but in
Culture
After Martin Luther King Jr. won the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize, plans for an interracial celebration in still-segregated Atlanta were not initially well supported by the city’s business elite until J. Paul Austin intervened. In his memoir, activist and former Atlanta mayor Andrew Young wrote: J. Paul Austin, the
Matthew
The Harpies’ first appearance in Greek literature is incongruously charming. For Hesiod, they are goddesses of the scudding storm clouds, “lovely-haired,” keeping pace “on their swift wings with the blasts of the winds and the birds.” Later the nastier implications of their name “Snatchers” take over. The classical Harpies are