Human Dignity and the Manipulation of the Sense of Happiness: From the Viewpoint of Bioethics and Philosophy of Life. Journal of Philosophy of Life Vol.2, No.1 (March 2012):1-14 If our sense of happiness is closely connected to brain functions, it might become possible to manipulate our brain in a much more refined and effective way than current methods allow.
In this paper I will make some remarks on the manipulation of the sense of happiness and illuminate the relationship between human dignity and happiness. The President’s Council on Bioethics discusses this topic in the 2003 report Beyond Therapy, and concludes that the use of SSRIs might make us “feel happy for no good reason at all, or happy even when there remains much in one’s life to be truly unhappy about.” I will extend their line of thought through two thought experiments. Baboons prove reading an ancient skill. Although baboons have no linguistic skills, they are able to classify a four-letter sequence as either a real word or a random sequence.
This challenges the long-held view that accurate word recognition is dependent on language. Credit: CNRS photothèque / Cyril FRESILLON ABERYSTWYTH: Baboons have mastered one of the basic elements of reading – identifying the difference between sequences of letters that make up actual words from nonsense sequences. Although the animals have no linguistic skills, they were able to classify a four-letter sequence as either a real word or a random sequence. These findings challenge the long-held notion that the ability to recognise words in this way – as combinations of objects that appear visually in certain sequences – is fundamentally related to language.
It now appears that when humans read, we are partly drawing on an ancient ability, predating the evolution of our own species. Reading and language. Talking to Colin Spencer. This is Not a TV or a Piece of Furniture. In the race to create the next great home entertainment option, IKEA has one-upped the competition by introducing the UPPLEVA, which is a smart LED HDTV (complete with built-in Blu-ray player), a 2.1 sound system and a piece of furniture all in one piece (plus wireless subwoofer).
They'll be rolling this out in Europe to start with this fall (Sweden, Italy, France, Poland, Denmark, Spain, Norway and Portugal), with more countries being added in the spring of 2013. This definitely fits a more European sensibility, but we totally see this selling in larger cities like New York where space is always limited. Video: Bizarre Magnetic Ferrofluids Will Blow Your Mind. For snakes, hunting bats in a cave is like shooting fish in a barrel. When the sun goes down in the subtropical forests of Puerto Rico, hundreds of thousands of bats emerge from the caves that stud the island’s northern end.
After a day of sleeping, the animals are ready for a hard day’s night of hunting insects. For some of them, though, there will be no feast of beetles and mosquitos, and they’ll instead wind up a meal themselves for the snakes that have set up an ambush at the cave’s entrance. After providing a warm, safe place to sleep all day, the caves become death traps once darkness falls. Puerto Rican boas slither in from all over the forest to turn the bats’ exodus into their own hunting ground. The 'Greenest' Restaurant in the USA is in Chicago.
Every morning, the executive chef of Chicago’s Uncommon Ground, climbs up onto the rooftop garden and chooses, along with the restaurant’s hired farmer, the day’s produce.
Once he returns to the kitchen, he decides what the daily special will be according to the vegetables at his disposal. And the regular lunch and dinner menus change seasonally, as does the 60 square meter of pesticide-free garden, which grows everything from raspberries to zucchini, parsley to rosemary, and which generated 317 kilos of ingredients last year. The food that doesn’t arrive from the roof comes from locally-sourced suppliers.
At Uncommon Ground, the keyword is environmental awareness. Some of their measures are quite common by now: the use of solar panels, LED lighting, strict adherence to recycling practices, and the re-use of rain water. The two Uncommon Ground restaurants have both earned top marks, while in the U.S., there are only 5 restaurants that have earned the maximum points. Cardboard cathedral for quake-hit New Zealand city. 16 April 2012Last updated at 05:57 GMT The Christchurch cathedral, built in the 19th century, sustained significant quake damage A cardboard cathedral will be built in the New Zealand city of Christchurch to temporarily replace the one damaged by the 2011 earthquake, officials say.
The 25-metre-high NZ$5m ($4.1m, £2.6m) cardboard version, to rise close to the quake-damaged cathedral, is to be completed in December. Christchurch cathedral itself is to be demolished after it was deemed beyond repair. The 22 February quake left 185 people dead and many buildings badly damaged. 9-year-old's DIY cardboard arcade gets flashmobbed. Nirvan says: "I just finished this short film about a 9-year-old boy's elaborate DIY cardboard arcade.
Caine made his arcade using boxes from his dad's used auto parts store. He hadn't had many customers, so we set up a fun flashmob to make his day, and filmed his response. I hope it brings a smile to your day. P.S. Nadine Boughton. The Annenberg Center for Photography’s IRIS Nights will be featuring a lecture with Nadine Boughton on Thursday evening, April 19th in Los Angeles.
Tickets are available here at noon today, Pacific Standard Time, and tomorrow at 9:30am. The lecture accompanies the exhibition, Digital Darkroom that takes a look at the intersection of art and technology. Nadine grew up in Rochester, New York, under the shadow of George Eastman’s Kodak Tower. She studied photography with Garry Winogrand, and at Visual Studies Workshop, Rochester, NY, and Lesley University Seminars, Cambridge, MA. She currently lives in Gloucester, MA where she teaches photography, collage and creative writing. Safe Sex for Seniors PSA Is So Hot It Kind of Burns. Mining Our Own Personal Data, for Self-Discovery.
Stephen Wolfram, a scientist and entrepreneur, wondered: Could all of that information be compiled into a personal database, then analyzed to tell us something meaningful about our lives?
Maybe it could suggest when we tended to be the most creative or productive, along with the circumstances that led up to those moments. Dr. Wolfram runs Wolfram Research, which is deeply steeped in data analysis, along with Wolfram Alpha, a computational search engine that provides many answers for Siri, the personal assistant for Apple’s 4S. Computers are good at spotting patterns, and Dr. Wolfram thought an analysis of his own personal data might reveal patterns in his life — for example, when he was most likely to come up with new ideas, “preferably good ones.”
Dr. The Other Arab Spring. All these tensions over land, water and food are telling us something: The Arab awakening was driven not only by political and economic stresses, but, less visibly, by environmental, population and climate stresses as well.
If we focus only on the former and not the latter, we will never be able to help stabilize these societies. Take Syria. Privacy-first ISP raising money for online services that can't and won't fink you out to spy agencies. Nina Katchadourian. "Lavatory Self-Portraits in the Flemish Style" from Seat Assignment 2010 and ongoing Improvising with materials close at hand, Seat Assignment consists of photographs, video, and digital images all made while in flight using only a camera phone. The project began spontaneously on a flight in March 2010 and is ongoing. At present, over 2500 photographs and video, made on nearly 200 different flights to date, constitute the raw material of the project. While in the lavatory on a domestic flight in January 2011, I spontaneously put a tissue paper toilet cover seat cover over my head and took a picture in the mirror using my cellphone.
The image evoked 15th-century Flemish portraiture. Scroll down for more images. Online dating for preppers, survivalists, doomsday believers - Mar. 29. One Survivalist Singles member, Mtexplorer2, says "a woman wearing a backpack in her profile picture is an automatic 10. " NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- For people who spend every day preparing for disaster -- whether it's a 2012 apocalypse, a nuclear meltdown, an economic collapse, a hurricane or a tsunami -- it can be hard to find a compatible partner. Canning venison, shooting firearms, living off the grid and creating manure from human waste just aren't traditional interests many people look for when browsing mainstream dating sites like eHarmony or Match.com. Fancy a doomsday date? If things get really bad, it may be your best bet. Has global economic collapse got you looking for survivalist skills in a prospective mate?
Photograph: Peter Zelei/Getty Images/Vetta "Doomsday dating" really does exist: websites designed to match those with particular skills and resources for dealing with disaster, be it nuclear attack, extreme weather or economic collapse. Open-data Cities Conference. Leeum, Samsung Museum of Art. How to weaponize office supplies. 19 Regional Words All Americans Should Adopt Immediately. When traveling across the United States, it sometimes feels like the locals are speaking a whole different language. That's where the Dictionary of American Regional English comes to the rescue. The last installment of this staggering five-volume tome, edited by Joan Houston Hall, was published in 2012, and let me tell you, it’s a whoopensocker. In celebration of slang, here’s a list of 19 delightful obscure words from around the U.S. that you'll want to start working into conversation. US tops global clean energy investment rankings.
12 April 2012Last updated at 04:11 ET By Mark Kinver Environment reporter, BBC News Global solar generation capacity increased by almost 30 gigawatts in 2011 The US has regained top spot from China as the biggest investor in clean energy in 2011, according to global rankings. The table, published in a report by the Pew Charitable Trusts, showed that US invested more than $48bn (£30bn) in the sector, up from $34bn in 2010. China slipped to second place, the authors reported, with investment only increasing by $0.5bn to $45.5bn. Project RE_ by Samuel Bernier. Decommissioning Space Shuttles. Self-sculpting sand. CNC Mill Kits - Shapeoko.
Product Details. Solar Winds Desert Power Plant to harness clean energy for local grids. Solar Winds Desert Power Plant to harness clean energy for local grids. Transform Your iPhone Into a Microscope: Just Add Water. Interactive plants react and convey emotions. A research group at Keio University are creating interactive plants, enabling them to display emotions and communicate with people. Typogami: A Free Animated Typeface Inspired By Origami. Flux machine. Hacker Grants: Supporting Women in Technology. Marc Hedlund is VP of Engineering at Etsy. He has managed engineers in Internet companies from coast to coast, and is currently writing a book for O’Reilly Media on engineering management. The Toy Fair. • The Toy Fair isn't for kids. Seed Libraries Crop Up. Synapse Magazine - Electronic Music and Synthesizers. US Coast Guard sinks tsunami 'ghost ship' Resistance spread 'compromising' fight against malaria. BBC Nature - World's rarest ducklings Madagascan pochards hatch.
The Life Unlucky « what things do. Rolling Words: Snoop Dogg’s Smokable Book. News - Print-your-own-robots developed in US.