Buddhism and the Brain: Mindfulness in Modern Times by Derek Beres Evan Thompson is a professor of philosophy at the University of British Colombia who specializes in cognitive science, Buddhism, and philosophy of mind. His latest book, Waking, Dreaming, Being: Self and Consciousness in Neuroscience, Meditation, and Philosophy, investigates the intersection of brain science and Buddhism in an honest, non-judgmental fashion that's true to neuroscience and psychology without negating the metaphorical value of millennia-old aphorisms. With an emphasis on dreaming and the complex facets of consciousness, Thompson does a wonderful job at connecting old Buddhist and Hindu concepts with contemporary learnings in the realm of the human brain. I recently chatted with him about these topics. Let's get right to the heart of the matter: What is consciousness? One of my favorite lines from the book is, "Consciousness is something we live, not something we have." Is consciousness just a brain process, as many neuroscientists and biologists would say?
Parallel worlds exist and interact with our world, say physicists Quantum mechanics, though firmly tested, is so weird and anti-intuitive that famed physicist Richard Feynman once remarked, “I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics.” Attempts to explain some of the bizarre consequences of quantum theory have led to some mind-bending ideas, such as the Copenhagen interpretation and the many-worlds interpretation. Now there’s a new theory on the block, called the “many interacting worlds” hypothesis (MIW), and the idea is just as profound as it sounds. The theory suggests not only that parallel worlds exist, but that they interact with our world on the quantum level and are thus detectable. The theory is a spinoff of the many-worlds interpretation in quantum mechanics — an idea that posits that all possible alternative histories and futures are real, each representing an actual, though parallel, world. MIW, however, says otherwise. Whether or not the math holds true will be the ultimate test for this theory. Source
Netflix UK best movies list What is money? — Aeon Ideas Money is not a store of value. It is a claim on value. This might sound like pedantic semantics, but it is crucially important, especially if you’re trying to alter how it works. Imagine a Coca Cola bottle with Coke in it. That bottle is a store of value. The fundamental difference between the note and the Coke can be tested by a simple experiment. Now imagine that instead of incinerating the Coke, I burn the note instead. Let’s scale this vision up now. That’s pretty much like the British Pound, for example. And if I take my £10 note and burn it, what happens? That’s an act of sacrifice, because the curious thing that occurs as a result of this is that all the remaining claims become worth slightly more. Of course, it’s a bit more complex than that, because that act of altering the number of claims in the system can induce all manner of economic activity. And the key players in that are not just central banks, but the entire commercial banking sector.
Charles Darwin Would Be Ashamed of 'Social Darwinism' by Big Think Editors Charles Robert Darwin (1809 – 1882) was an English naturalist and geologist, best known for his contributions to evolutionary theory. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestors, and introduced the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection, in which the struggle for existence has a similar effect to the artificial selection involved in selective breeding. In modified form, Darwin's scientific discovery is the unifying theory of the life sciences, explaining the diversity of life. More than any other person in history, Darwin shaped our fundamental view of life. Species diversification through natural selection is the principle through which we understand the great diversity of life on our planet, as well as the genesis of our own species. Darwin himself cautioned that the strong logic of evolution should not come at the cost of human sympathy.
The 18 Best Philosophical Movies of All Time Whether realizing the art form of filmmaking or not, directors and writers often use their preferred visual medium to tell a story. Ideologies, theories or whatever form of message is always decoded in this visual medium in hopes that the audience gets the message. The secret of making a successful film, especially when telling a story, is to avoid preaching. From Mel Gibson to Seth Macfarlene, Federico Fellini to Ridley Scott and of course Hitchcock, their movies have messages, from symbolist storytelling to clever subtext dialogues. Here’s a list of some of the movies that have philosophical messages encoded for the audience. 1. Hitchcock, the master of suspense, toys with his audience, repels and lures them to a world of shock. Starring in this underrated classic are James Stewart, Farley Granger and John Dall. This is an anti-existentialist movie, and James Stewart discovers to his horror that, following existentialism principles, two of his students have killed their classmate. 2.
10 facts you should know about Vincent van Gogh 10 facts (and a video) on the prolific genius who died a relatively unknown artist. 1. Vincent van Gogh was born on March 30, 1853, in Groot-Zundert, Netherlands. He was named after his grandfather and his stillborn brother who died one year before Van Gogh was born. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. Check out the full TED-Ed Lesson “The unexpected math behind Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” that these GIFs were pulled from: 5 examples of how the languages we speak can affect the way we think Keith Chen (TED Talk: Could your language affect your ability to save money?) might be an economist, but he wants to talk about language. For instance, he points out, in Chinese, saying “this is my uncle” is not as straightforward as you might think. In Chinese, you have no choice but to encode more information about said uncle. The language requires that you denote the side the uncle is on, whether he’s related by marriage or birth and, if it’s your father’s brother, whether he’s older or younger. “All of this information is obligatory. This got Chen wondering: Is there a connection between language and how we think and behave? While “futured languages,” like English, distinguish between the past, present and future, “futureless languages” like Chinese use the same phrasing to describe the events of yesterday, today and tomorrow. But that’s only the beginning. Featured illustration via iStock.
10 Films Every Human Rights Advocate Should Watch The 25th edition of the Human Rights Watch Film Festival is set to launch next month, bringing 11 days worth of visual storytelling to theaters in New York City. Centered around five themes -- Armed Conflict and the Arab Spring; Human Rights Defenders, Icons and Villains; LGBT Rights; Migrants’ Rights; and Women’s Rights and Children’s Rights -- the festival will pay homage to justice advocates and icons across the world. The festival began over two decades ago, as a series of films shown in a small NYC theater, but has since grown to accommodate over 100,000 viewers in 20 cities around the globe. According to the HRW, the festival's programming committee screens more than 500 films and videos to create the final program. This year, the event will host 20 documentaries and two fiction films, including 16 features by women. Ahead of the official launch date, June 12, we've put together a list of 10 films to watch out for during the many screenings and premieres. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.
"Can We Achieve Immortality?" Although the speed of light still remains sacrosanct, are we at least making progress toward profaning time? In fact, breaking out of the shackles of the here and now can be done—but it's not terribly feasible. That's because, as Einstein instructed us, the passage of time is relative. Time moves faster at greater distances from the center of a massive object, such as the Earth; the clocks on satellites passing overhead have to be calibrated for these miniscule, albeit very real, relativistic discrepancies. This phenomenon of time dilation can, however, start to pay dividends for an astronaut standing on a neutron star—the compact, super-massive remnant of a giant star. Speed also makes time fly: Stationary clocks (relative to, say, an earthbound observer) tick faster than clocks in motion. Despite the considerable caveats, "going forward in time is just a matter of money and engineering," Davies says, "so big leaps could become a reality one day."
Note: "Types of Creative Thinking" This article doesn’t focus on ePortfolios but rather this woman’s approach to creativity and how/why creative thinking is important for students to practice: Convergence and divergence – two necessary types of thinking for being creative: Partly because it is tied to the profitability in business, a great deal of effort has been put forth in defining creative problem-solving and in training folks in how to do it. In this genre one of the more common definitions of creativity has to do with dissecting creative thought into a process of dual exchanges through the melding of two types of thinking — convergence and divergence. Definitions of divergent thinking usually include the ability to elaborate, and think of diverse and original ideas with fluency and speed. Unfortunately, too often the processes involved in schooling concentrate on convergent thought, and ignore or undervalue divergent thinking.