Neuroscience clues to who you aren't Michael Bond, consultant THE problem of the self - what it is that makes you you - has exercised philosophers and theologians for millennia. Today it is also a hotly contested scientific question, and the science is confirming what the Buddha, Scottish philosopher David Hume and many other thinkers maintained: that there is no concrete identity at the core of our being, and that our sense of self is an illusion spun from narratives we construct about our lives. Bruce Hood's The Self Illusion is a thoroughly researched and skillfully organised account of the developments in psychology and neuroscience that are helping to substantiate this unsettling vision of selfhood. He casts a long line, exploring subjects such as free will, the unconscious, the role of (false) memories in building identity, as well as myriad social psychology experiments showing how people behave differently according to the situation they are in. American DNA holds some surprising secrets Debora MacKenzie, consultant
The Egg The Egg By: Andy Weir You were on your way home when you died. It was a car accident. And that’s when you met me. “What… what happened?” “You died,” I said, matter-of-factly. “There was a… a truck and it was skidding…” “Yup,” I said. “I… I died?” “Yup. You looked around. “More or less,” I said. “Are you god?” “Yup,” I replied. “My kids… my wife,” you said. “What about them?” “Will they be all right?” “That’s what I like to see,” I said. You looked at me with fascination. “Don’t worry,” I said. “Oh,” you said. “Neither,” I said. “Ah,” you said. “All religions are right in their own way,” I said. You followed along as we strode through the void. “Nowhere in particular,” I said. “So what’s the point, then?” “Not so!” I stopped walking and took you by the shoulders. “You’ve been in a human for the last 48 years, so you haven’t stretched out yet and felt the rest of your immense consciousness. “How many times have I been reincarnated, then?” “Oh lots. “Wait, what?” “Well, I guess technically. “Sure.
40 Photo-Illustrated Questions to Refocus Your Mind - StumbleUpon Asking the right questions is the answer… It’s not the answers you get from others that will help you, but the questions you ask of yourself. Here are 40 thought-provoking questions to help you refresh and refocus your thinking: Please share your thoughts with us in the comments section below. Also, check out our sister site, Thought Questions, for more photo-illustrated questions like these; and check out The Book of Questions if you’re interested in reading even more inspiring, thought-provoking questions.Title photo by: Helga Weber For all other photo credits please refer to ThoughtQuestions.com Related 40 Questions Everyone is Afraid to Ask Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers. April 13, 2012 In "Aspirations" 40 Questions that Will Quiet Your Mind Judge a person by their questions, rather than their answers … because asking the right questions is the answer. August 5, 2015 In "Happiness" 25 Photo-Illustrated Reminders to Help You Find Happiness
How To Create a Gothic Blackletter Typographic Design Blackletter or gothic script fonts are hugely popular in a range of modern cultures. Metal bands, tattoo artwork and extreme sports brands all make use of the awesome blackletter style. Often the sharp letter shapes are enhanced with elaborate swirls and decorations. Follow this step by step guide to customizing your own gothic typographic design, we’ll be modifying the original vector letters in Illustrator before moving over to Photoshop to add a cool distressed and metal effect finish to the artwork. The design I’ve been working on features the word ‘Cobra’ – Simply because it sounds pretty bad-ass! The blackletter type has been customised and modified with additional swirls, curls and various pointy bits which add plenty of visual interest while disguising the original wording. View full size artwork The first stage of the design process will be in Illustrator, here we’ll create and tweak the gothic script lettering. Elsewhere a new brush was created. Download the source file
Scans Show Psychopaths Have Brain Abnormalities New research shows that psychopathy appears to be linked to specific structural abnormalities in the brain. The study, published in the Archives of General Psychiatry and led by researchers at King’s College London, also confirmed that psychopathy is a distinct sub-group of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), said Nigel Blackwood, M.D., from the College’s Institute of Psychiatry and lead author of the study. He noted that most violent crimes are committed by a small group of male offenders with ASPD, but only about a third of these men are true psychopaths (ASPD+P). Psychopaths are characterized by a lack of empathy and remorse, and use aggression in a planned way to secure what they want, whether it is status or money. Previous research has shown that psychopaths’ brains differ structurally from healthy brains. “Using MRI scans we found that psychopaths had structural brain abnormalities in key areas of their ‘social brains’ compared to those who just had ASPD,” he said.
Important Things I've Learned From Kids This page is brought to you by UC Berkeley Parents Network Back to the Jokes & Quotes Collection (author unknown) 1. It's more fun to color outside the lines. 2. The opinions and statements expressed on this page are those of parents who belong to the UC Berkeley Parents Network and should not be taken as a position of or endorsement by the University of California, Berkeley.
It Happened to Me: My Boyfriend Died He drank Mountain Dew Code Red. His favorite piece of clothing was a Dallas Cowboys T-shirt, because he was born in Texas. He used American Crew hair gel. On special occasions, he smelled like Drakkar Noir, a gift from a high-school girlfriend he couldn’t completely give up. His phone number had lots of 2s in it. He drove a red convertible. He died on his 26th birthday. These are the pieces of a life, and a love, you won’t find in an obituary. At 22, I was a nervous, anxious wreck. And so it came to pass that in March 1999, I met a very beautiful boy with black hair and blue eyes underneath the Macy’s men’s store sign on the corner of 34th Street and Seventh Avenue. He called the next day. Greg refused to take life too seriously. A few months after we began dating, I found out he was sick. That’s a lot to process, I said. You can break up with me, he said. It was a deal. A few weeks later, I couldn’t reach him on the phone. And things were better. Greg and I didn’t have a lot of time.
01.31.2006 - Language affects half of what we see UC Berkeley Press Release Language affects half of what we see By William Harms, University of Chicago, and Robert Sanders, UC Berkeley Media Relations | 31 January 2006 BERKELEY – The language we speak affects half of what we see, according to researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Chicago. Scholars have long debated whether our native language affects how we perceive reality - and whether speakers of different languages might therefore see the world differently. The idea that language affects perception is controversial, and results have conflicted. A paper published this month in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences supports the idea - but with a twist. The paper, "Whorf Hypothesis is Supported in the Right Visual Field but not in the Left," is by Aubrey Gilbert, Richard Ivry and Paul Kay at UC Berkeley and Terry Regier at the University of Chicago.
10 Truths To Keep Your Relationship Healthy I think it's easy to make things more complicated than they need to be. Here are some basic rules of the relationship road that will keep you headed in the right direction 1. Successful relationships take work. They don't happen in a vacuum. They occur when the couples in them take the risk of sharing what it is that's going on in their hearts and heads. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. There are no guarantees, but couples who practice these techniques have longer and stronger relationships than those who are not proactive in their love. Dr.
100 Free Online Books Everyone Should Read | Best Colleges Online Posted on Tuesday March 31, 2009 by Staff Writers By Caitlin Smith Whether you want to learn more about business or read some the great works of literature, you’ll find more than enough material to keep you busy for months in collections of free ebooks. Some books are released free of charge by their authors, while others have been around for so long that copyright laws no longer apply and they can be freely exchanged. We’ve pulled together 100 of these free online books that are well worth your time to read, though this is by no means a comprehensive list of the great, free literature out there. Classics The Internet can be a great place to find some of the most important works of literature from the past few hundred years. Philosophy and Religion These famous works will help you get a better understanding of religious and philosophical theories from around the world and through many different periods of time. Politics, Economics and History Plays and Poems Ancient Writings Finances