Climate Change, Eco, Planet, Politics, ScienceLeave a comment

Climate Resilience Means Retreat

Fernando Kaskais

Sian Roper for Noema Magazine Moving people away from places at risk of flooding, heat, fires and other climate impacts is the only way to protect vulnerable populations from future destructive events. BY BRIAN STONE JR Brian Stone Jr. is a professor in the School of City and Regional Planning and director of the Urban Climate Lab at the Georgia Institute of Technology. This essay is adapted from his recent book, “Radical Adaptation: Transforming Cities for a Climate Changed World” (Cambridge University Press, 2024). In the months after Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans proposed a flood control program unlike any other in … Continue reading Climate Resilience Means Retreat

Art, Buddhism, Philosophy, PsychologyLeave a comment

“Everyone thinks they’re an artist.”

Fernando Kaskais

Ceramics Zen and the true purpose of Zen in the Arts (and the Arts in Zen) By Reverend Cristina Moon One of the first arts I trained in as part of living at Chozen-ji was ceramics. One weekend morning in 2018, I made my way back to the ceramics studio. There, I found several Dojo members puttering around and happy to show me the basics.  It would take months, if not years, to learn to tame a ball of clay on the potter’s wheel. It has taken me longer still to tease out how to approach elevating ceramics from more than making pretty … Continue reading “Everyone thinks they’re an artist.”

History, Living, Philosophy, PsychologyLeave a comment

The enchanted vision

Fernando Kaskais

The Weeders (1868) by Jules Breton. Courtesy the Met Museum, New York Love is much more than a mere emotion or moral ideal. It imbues the world itself and we should learn to move with its power By Mark Vernonis a psychotherapist and writer, working as well with Project Love. He has a PhD in ancient Greek philosophy, and degrees in theology and physics. His books include A Secret History of Christianity: Jesus, the Last Inkling, and the Evolution of Consciousness (2019), Dante’s Divine Comedy: A Guide for the Spiritual Journey (2021) and Spiritual Intelligence in Seven Steps (2022). He lives in London. Most ancient traditions, not only Christianity, … Continue reading The enchanted vision

Military, Politics, Technology, WarLeave a comment

Who needs butter when you got guns? World arms spending reaches $2.5 trillion

Fernando Kaskais

Between wars and increased tensions, every region saw increases By JIM LOBE Total military spending by nations reached a record high of $2.443 trillion in 2023, according to a new report released Monday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, or SIPRI. Across the globe, military expenditures increased by 6.8% in real terms over 2022, the steepest rise since 2009, according to the Swedish think tank which has tracked the military spending by countries based on open sources since the 1960s. Every region saw an increase, but Europe, Asia and Oceania, and the Middle East saw the greatest growth.. “The unprecedented rise … Continue reading Who needs butter when you got guns? World arms spending reaches $2.5 trillion

Big Pharma, Health, Science, UnbelievableLeave a comment

Personalized cancer vaccines are having a moment

Fernando Kaskais

Vaccines targeting some of our deadliest cancers are showing promise in early trials. KEY TAKEAWAYS By Kristin Houser Promising personalized cancer vaccines were a recurring theme at the American Association for Cancer Research’s (AACR) Annual Meeting in San Diego, earlier this month. A multitude of companies are pushing forward with shots designed to help the immune system fight patients’ specific tumors. Personalized cancer vaccines: Cancer cells are covered in mutated proteins, called “neoantigens,” that are not found on healthy cells. Personalized cancer vaccines train the immune system to recognize a patient’s unique neoantigens and then find and destroy the cancer cells. Because researchers … Continue reading Personalized cancer vaccines are having a moment

Living, Media&Culture, Philosophy, PsychologyLeave a comment

What is ‘lived experience’?

Fernando Kaskais

Ranchers face off with the Bureau of Land Management in a dispute over historic public land grazing rights near Bunkerville, Nevada on 12 April 2014. Photo Jim Uruquhart/Reuters The term is ubiquitous and double-edged. It is both a key source of authentic knowledge and a danger to true solidarity Patrick J Casey is assistant professor of philosophy at Holy Family University, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Everywhere you turn, there is talk of lived experience. But there is little consensus about what the phrase ‘lived experience’ means, where it came from, and whether it has any value. Although long used by academics, … Continue reading What is ‘lived experience’?

In Portuguese, PhotographyLeave a comment

Cubo

Fernando Kaskais

© FERNANDO KASKAIS O Universo é cego às suas próprias medidas, às suas dimensões, à sua velocidade e duração, e, como na definição medieval de divindade, o mundo é um círculo cujo centro está em todo o lado e cuja circunferência está em lado nenhum. Contudo, o homem transporta o seu centro consigo e, como pensa que o mundo orbita à sua volta, designa o Universo por cubo, e proclama; conheço todos os teus cantos! https://kaskaisphotos.wordpress.com/2024/04/20/cubo/ Continue reading Cubo

Military, Politics, WarLeave a comment

The World Is Assuming A Pre-War Posture

Fernando Kaskais

Tehran, April 15. (ATTA KENARE/AFP via Getty Images) “Ironclad” and “no limits” battle lines are being drawn across Asia, Europe and the Middle East. BY NATHAN GARDELS, Nathan Gardels is the editor-in-chief of Noema Magazine. It appears that the last vestiges of the post-war era have finally been exhausted and we now risk entering a pre-war era that consolidates the battle lines of conflict globally. Like the invasion of Ukraine two years ago, the massive swarm of drones and missiles launched directly from Iran against Israel, and now Israel’s return strike, as tempered as it may have been, is yet another precedent-shattering … Continue reading The World Is Assuming A Pre-War Posture

Brain, Drugs, Health, PsychologyLeave a comment

Eyes wide shut: Why psychedelic trips intensify with eyes closed

Fernando Kaskais

Visual stimuli, like watching videos, can diminish the potentially therapeutic effects of psychedelics, recent research suggests. KEY TAKEAWAYS By Saga Briggs You’ve likely heard the phrase “set and setting” when it comes to psychedelics: The quality of a trip depends on the mindset you have and the environment you’re in when you kick off a trip. But while it’s a common claim, there hasn’t been much research on the effects of set and setting on the psychedelic experience.  To bridge that gap, a recent study systematically examined these kinds of effects, including those that result from keeping your eyes open or closed … Continue reading Eyes wide shut: Why psychedelic trips intensify with eyes closed

AI, Freak U.S.A, Military, Technology, WarLeave a comment

The Pentagon is flirting with the dark side of AI

Fernando Kaskais

As DOD integrates artificial intelligence into military operations, concerns rise over ethics, transparency, and unintended consequences JANET ABOU-ELIAS, LILLIAN MAULDIN AND WILLIAM HARTUNG Rhetoric from the Pentagon and the arms industry suggests that integrating artificial intelligence, or AI, into U.S. weapons, communications, and surveillance systems will improve efficiency, innovation, and national security. The Pentagon is beginning to back its rhetoric on emerging technology with resources. The department’s Office of Strategic Capital now has the authority to grant executive loans and loan guarantees to invest in firms researching and developing 14 “critical technologies,” including hypersonics, quantum computing, microelectronics, autonomous systems, and artificial intelligence. … Continue reading The Pentagon is flirting with the dark side of AI