The Japanese have a concept known as Arigata-meiwaku. The rough translation is “Unwelcome Kindness” or “Misplaced Kindness”. Arigata-meiwaku is used to describe a situation in which someone does something for you that you didn’t want them to do, and you tried to avoid it. Nevertheless, the person went through with the plan, determined to help you or…
This really is an amazing planet. A new version of my favorite “Earth from space” videos has been posted, this time with pictures from the International Space Station, set to music, and well-edited. Thank you Knate Myers for putting this together and to the folks who tipped me off about it. I recommend you watch…
Have you ever met someone, or seen someone on television, who has insane, completely irrational beliefs? These beliefs could be scientific. They could be religious. They could be political. They could be racial. They could be philosophical. The particular manifestation doesn’t matter. An example would be the stoning to death of a woman accused…
The United States is facing a significant cultural challenge driven by basic biology that could radically redefine our socioeconomic structure. That isn’t hyperbole, it’s a statement of fact. Several years ago, I began reading research papers, essays, and other data on assortative mating patterns in human populations. In essence, people want to be around people…
This is one of the most fascinating things I’ve ever seen … there are people who can’t recognize faces; even their own, or their children. They think as many as 1 in 50 people suffer from it, but just like color blindness, it never occurs to them that they are different unless they have to…
Each of us has a brain chemistry baseline that is part of our genetics. Some people are naturally content most of the time. Others are miserable no matter how well their life is going. No one ever tells the people in the latter category how to function.
After writing We All See, Smell, Hear, Taste, and Feel the World Differently, I have been running different exercises and simulations in my life to add to my knowledge of other people’s perspectives; how they go through the world and how those input filters influence cognition. One of the tools has been image filters to see…
Unless you have trained yourself to think otherwise, it is a common mistake to assume that everyone sees and experiences the world the same way you do. They don’t. There are significant implications for education, social harmony, and communication when we fail to recognize the basic truism that all external stimuli must be filtered through…
NASA has released a new image of the East Coast from space at night. It was taken on February 6th, 2012 and the official description is: Eastern Seaboard at Night An Expedition 30 crew member aboard the International Space Station took this nighttime photograph of much of the Atlantic coast of the United States. Large…
There is an old latin phrase, panem et circenses, made famous by Juvenal of Ancient Rome. “Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions — everything, now restrains itself and…
