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POPSOf Body and Mind, and Deep Meditation " Physiological tests also revealed significant changes. Compared with the relaxation group, IBMT subjects had lower heart rates and skin conductance responses, increased belly breathing amplitude and decreased chest respiration rates, all of which, researchers wrote, "reflected less effort exerted by participants and more relaxation of body and calm state of mind." Finally, researchers noted, IBMT subjects had more high-frequency heart-rate variability than their relaxation counterparts, indicating "successful inhibition of sympathetic tone and activation of parasympathetic tone ." Sympathetic tone becomes more active when stressed."
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POPSThe Great Designer Baby Controversy of ’09 This will probably become in the coming yrs one of the most heated controversaries we will come across as a species. we do not yet have the philosophy (and by implication ethics) to go with such technological advancements. having said that, the motion is inexorable and we need prepare our arguments.
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POPSPopulation and Sustainability "The sustainability benefits of level or falling human numbers are too powerful to ignore for long" The question remains however, in what fashion can we individually change the sustainability balance. important article.
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POPSWhy Are Humans Different From All Other Apes? It’s the Cooking, Stupid This is a fascinating and quite fresh view on a possibly groundbreaking view on the evolution of the human specie. “Cooked food does many familiar things,” he observes. “It makes our food safer, creates rich and delicious tastes and reduces spoilage. Heating can allow us to open, cut or mash tough foods. But none of these advantages is as important as a little-appreciated aspect: cooking increases the amount of energy our bodies obtain from food.” (emphasis mine)
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POPSWho Should Decide the Survivability of Newborns? This is an extremely important aspect of our new world, since technology now allows actions that were for all practical purposes impossible just a few yrs ago. the question is an ethical philosophical one, rushing to answer is not advised..
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POPSThe New Socialism: Global Collectivist Society Is Coming Online A worthwhile article , KK explores the newly arising power of social networks, adhocracy and the newly emergent cyberculture. Though I do not resonate with his use of the term 'socialism', a deep forray into the web event of collaboration provides a different view of the potential for a change we all hope for. Open source is definitely the way to go.
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POPSThe power structure of Bronze Age societies was based on social networks I actually find this demonstration highly important and pertinent to our modern day situation on the web. It appears that evolution of civilization favors a society organized around the tribal concept (our modern day equivalent being the loosely knitted, groups or indeed tribes on the social networks). It seems that the future heralds a return to tribalism on a global scale via the web.
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POPSIn Defense of Distraction Probably the best article you will read on the subject of internet, the infoflow and attention, superb writing, and of course I totally agree with the last lines, but you will have to read all of it and reach the zen state brought to you courtesy of over-stimulation
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POPSA Cultural Law of Gravity "Human culture seems to have gone way beyond what such a law of gravity might allow" a fascinating post, worthwhile your time of reading
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POPSTransparency means nothing without justice Cory Doctorow on cyber-liberties. it is probably one of the most pressing issues in today's world, our overall culture moves into a transparent society (see David Brin) and the only way we will survive it is if tranpartency indeed will be all-pervasive
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POPSBrain mechanisms for behavioral flexibility "We hypothesize that single neurons probably cannot switch outputs in a short period of time, so the brain realizes behavioral flexibility by preparing separate pathways for each task through learning, and then chooses the appropriate pathways, rather than switching outputs, in a given trial." That statement would indicate the possibility that our brains increase in plasticity and flexbility via learning
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POPS4.5 lessons from Twitter though David Weinberger Posted this on March 24 the points he mentions are highly relevant. the most important issue here is indeed the social assymetry twitter allows, as I see it , it is the ambient awareness and ambient intimacy that is developing that is of importance here, the web's awareness to itself starts with scaling in an assymetric state of affairs.
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POPSSave the Holocene! "I get the utility of using the idea of the Anthropocene to provoke recognition of the mind-bending reality that we are transforming the very planet on which we walk. (emphasis mine) Where the Anthropocene as a concept breaks down, it seems to me, is in the implications it raises, particularly among certain crowds who seem to be saying with increasing frequency, "well, dude, we're in the Anthropocene, anything goes." A worthwhile and important read
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POPSHere Comes the internet connected home Who amongst us was not a Jetsons fan? "The Jetsons may have had some really futuristic things that were wild fantasy, but many of those fantasies of our childhood are quickly become our reality." How far, how fast, have we come..
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POPSUnconditional love in the brain? Of course we must agree first on what " unconditional" means, but it seems that neuroscientists lately have decided somehow to conquer the territory traditionally reserved for philosophers. As I see it, it is high time for serious philosophers to reclaim their place. Unconditionality is not a neurological term and thus to my eyes is meaningless in this particular context. I definitely agree with the writers of brainethics, this is the kind of science one should be skeptical of.
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POPSMarcelo Gleiser on How do We Know? Marcelo Gleiser, Appleton Professor of Natural Philosophy at Dartmouth College, is a theoretical physicist who has worked on a diverse set of topics: cosmology, particle physics, phase transitions, condensed matter physics and biophysics. an interesting take on the concept of reality and existence, notice the last statement: "In this case, and in a paradoxical way, the theories that we construct to amplify our view of physical reality will actually limit what we can know about nature."
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