The Internet is a sea of quite endless information, most of it trivia which is quite diverting – perhaps too diverting from actually useful sources of information. A combination of factors, I think – both commercialization as well as the politicization of information has made most legacy media less than useful as a source of pointers.
Here, instead, I submit my own humble collection of discoveries to spam.
The first two links both discuss something which I’ve been thinking about quite a bit – the tendency of superstimuli to hack us and make us behave in ways that effectively at harmful to ourselves – on a personal level, as well as on societal level. This is discussed as a Substack post made by the always excellent Roko, discoverer of the Basilisk.
If you’re more into pictures, this is an excellent introduction to the concept. This post’s introduction image is an borrowed from Suart Mcmillen’s comic.
Some interesting connections between superfluid thinking, and how the brain handles fluid movements. This may, in an indirect way, indicate a process by which creative thinking, for example, appears to be connected with cardio and literal fluid movements.
In running the mind flies with the body; the mysterious efflorescence of language seems to pulse in the brain, in rhythm with our feet and the swinging of our arms. The structural problems I set for myself in writing, in a long, snarled, frustrating, and sometimes despairing morning of work, for instance, I can usually unsnarl by running in the afternoon
The benefits of meditation continue to demonstrate, though there seems to be differences in the types of meditation and what they accomplish.
- Psychology study sheds light on a meditation training that may help people overcome automatic habits
I am also something of a transhumanist – such as the concept might be, as I find the word rather limiting at times – humans have been changing our way of interacting with the world and ourselves. Still, there’s a lot interesting in it, and it’s something that’s always ripe with discovery.
- Artificial muscles made of proteins
- The brain’s secret to life-long learning can now come as hardware for artificial intelligence
Beyond that, there’s always more mysteries in the world. Sound can turn into light – and perhaps more fascinatingly, we have no idea why this is happening.
