Month: January 2024

Climate Change, Eco, Health, Planet, TechnologyLeave a comment

The Potent Pollution Of Noise

Fernando Kaskais

Clément Thoby for Noema Magazine Earth’s acoustic environment has been profoundly altered by noise, but it’s not too late to change course. BY JEFFREY ARLO BROWN – Jeffrey Arlo Brown is a freelance writer based in Berlin. BERLIN, Germany — Thomas Kusitzky’s profession is unusual enough that it has its own consonant-heavy compound German noun: Stadtklanggestalter, or urban soundscape planner. Kusitzky, who believes he’s the only person in the world with that exact job description, works at the Berlin branch of an engineering firm called Müller-BBM Industry Solutions. Most of the company’s staff makes sure new buildings conform to the letter of noise … Continue reading The Potent Pollution Of Noise

Activism, Climate Change, Eco, Future, PlanetLeave a comment

Beware climate populism

Fernando Kaskais

A water level meter in the middle of the dried-up Kondor Lake near Kerekegyhaza, Hungary, 21 July 2022. Conspiracy theorists contend the drought is the result of previous weather-manipulation experiments devised to prevent hailstorms from ruining crops. Photo by Marton Monus/Reuters The most ardent deniers of anthropogenic climate change today will become the climate conspiracy theorists of tomorrow Ákos Szegőfi is a PhD student in the Department of Cognitive Science at the Central European University in Vienna, Austria. The climate crisis is turning more severe with every passing year, and we are coming close to a point where it would no … Continue reading Beware climate populism

Brain, Health, Science, TechnologyLeave a comment

A Pig’s Brain Transcended Its Body, Surging to Life on Its Own. Humans May Be Next.

Fernando Kaskais

Getty Images With one groundbreaking experiment, scientists ventured into unexplored realms of neurological function. BY TIM NEWCOMB – Is a journalist based in the Pacific Northwest. He covers stadiums, sneakers, gear, infrastructure, and more for a variety of publications, including Popular Mechanics. His favorite interviews have included sit-downs with Roger Federer in Switzerland, Kobe Bryant in Los Angeles, and Tinker Hatfield in Portland.  When a pig recently went under anesthesia at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, it was for anything but a routine procedure. Researchers were able to isolate blood flow to the brain, separate that brain from the rest of … Continue reading A Pig’s Brain Transcended Its Body, Surging to Life on Its Own. Humans May Be Next.

In Portuguese, PhotographyLeave a comment

Reflexões

Fernando Kaskais

© FERNANDO KASKAIS De acordo com a teoria do Intencionalismo, uma fotografia significa o que o fotógrafo tenciona e, como tal, a interpretação deve ser guiada por aquilo que o espectador pode descobrir acerca das intenções do fotógrafo. Mas, de acordo com outra teoria, a do Subjectivismo, o significado de uma fotografia não se baseia no fotógrafo nem na fotografia, mas no espectador, e em função de como a fotografia é recebida. https://kaskaisphotos.wordpress.com/2024/01/27/twilight-zone/ Continue reading Reflexões

Living, Media&Culture, Philosophy, PsychologyLeave a comment

Workplace “aporia”: How to handle unresolvable arguments

Fernando Kaskais

Ways to move forward when you’re wrong and I’m right. KEY TAKEAWAYS By Jonny Thomson It’s late in the night, and Mollie and Seb have been having the same argument for an hour now. Everyone else has gone quiet. They occasionally throw in a line or two, but they mostly just want to go to bed. The argument has long since gone around in circles. It’s going nowhere. It’s not a shouting match by any means. Mollie and Seb are both reasonable, respectful, and calm. It’s just that they’ve reached “That Point.” That Point is the part of a debate … Continue reading Workplace “aporia”: How to handle unresolvable arguments

Brain, History, Philosophy, Psychology, ScienceLeave a comment

Our language, our world

Fernando Kaskais

The ethnologist Frances Densmore, working for the Bureau of American Ethnology, and Mountain Chief, a Blackfoot leader. Photo from 1916. Courtesy the Library of Congress Linguistic relativity holds that your worldview is structured by the language you speak. Is it true? History shines a light James McElvenny is a linguist and intellectual historian at the University of Siegen, Germany. His latest books are Language and Meaning in the Age of Modernism (2018) and A History of Modern Linguistics (forthcoming, 2024). He presents the History and Philosophy of the Language Sciences podcast. Anyone who has learned a second language will have made an exhilarating (and yet somehow … Continue reading Our language, our world

Climate Change, Eco, Globalization, Planet, PsychologyLeave a comment

A Single Small Map Is Enough For A Lifetime

Fernando Kaskais

(Alastair Humphreys) What if this bog-standard corner of England is actually full of adventure, nature, wildness, surprises, silence, perspective — if only I bothered to go out and look? BY ALASTAIR HUMPHREYS - Alastair Humphreys is a British adventurer and author. He has bicycled around the world, walked across southern India, rowed across the Atlantic, run six marathons in the Sahara and trekked 1,000 miles through the Empty Quarter. He was named one of National Geographic’s adventurers of the year in 2012. He is the author of 16 books, including “Local: A Search For Nearby Nature And Wildness,” from which this essay … Continue reading A Single Small Map Is Enough For A Lifetime

Freak Religion, Islam, Manipulation, Media&Culture, War, ZionismLeave a comment

How the Gaza War Can Be Big News and Invisible at the Same Time

Fernando Kaskais

Illustration by Walker Gawande by Norman Solomon – Norman Solomon is the national director of RootsAction.org and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. He is the author of many books including War Made Easy. Zen wisdom tells us that the finger pointing at the moon is not the moon. Yet it’s easy to fall into the illusion that when we see news about the Gaza war, we’re really seeing the war. We are not. What we do routinely see is reporting that’s as different from the actual war as a pointed finger is from the moon. The media words and images … Continue reading How the Gaza War Can Be Big News and Invisible at the Same Time

Curiositys, Living, Psychology, ScienceLeave a comment

How Does Birth Order Shape Your Personality?

Fernando Kaskais

Beware the stereotypes By  Kendra Cherry, MSEd  Birth order refers to the order a child is born in relation to their siblings, such as whether they are first-born, middle-born, or last-born. You’ve probably heard people joke about how the eldest child is the bossy one, the middle child is the peace-maker, and the youngest child is the irresponsible rebel—but is there any truth to these stereotypes? Psychologists often look at how birth order can affect development, behavior patterns, and personality characteristics, and there is some evidence that birth order might play a role in certain aspects of personality.1 At a Glance … Continue reading How Does Birth Order Shape Your Personality?

AI, Future, Planet, Science, TechnologyLeave a comment

Biology or technology: Which moves more information per second?

Fernando Kaskais

The answer is set to change in the year 2113, a recent estimate suggests. KEY TAKEAWAYS By Adam Frank When people try to define life, they tend to focus on things like reproduction or metabolism. It’s true that moving matter and energy around to simply stay alive or produce offspring is a fundamental characteristic of living systems. But there’s another and perhaps more all-encompassing way of understanding life that puts information front and center. In this view, what makes life special — what makes it different from all the other physical systems — is its ability to use information. Stars, for example, can … Continue reading Biology or technology: Which moves more information per second?