Month: April 2024

AI, Future, Living, Philosophy, ScienceLeave a comment

Philosopher Nick Bostrom’s predictions on life in an AI utopia

Fernando Kaskais

Big Think recently spoke with Nick Bostrom about how humans might find fulfillment in a post-scarcity world. KEY TAKEAWAYS By Jonny Thomson In 1954, psychologist Muzafer Sherif engineered a tribal war between two groups of 11-year-old boys in two camps inside Robbers Cave State Park, Oklahoma. They were given tasks, rewards, and objectives — the kind of thing that would be prime-time reality TV these days. Before long, the two camps had established tribal identities. They had their own culture, norms, and behavioral standards. They were The Eagles and The Rattlers. And, other than a few insults and scowls, the … Continue reading Philosopher Nick Bostrom’s predictions on life in an AI utopia

Activism, Climate Change, Eco, Globalization, Planet, Politics, RightsLeave a comment

Emergency action

Fernando Kaskais

Ocean Rebellion protesters en route to the Marine Stewardship Council’s annual awards dinner at Fishmongers’ Hall by the Thames, London, 2023. Photo by Crispin Hughes/Panos Pictures Could civil disobedience be morally obligatory in a society on a collision course with climate catastrophe? Rupert Read is emeritus associate professor of philosophy at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, UK, and a former political liaison, strategist and spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion. He is now co-director of the Climate Majority Project, which he co-founded, and the co-editor of The Climate Majority Project (2024). He lives in Norfolk, UK. One fine day in 2015, near … Continue reading Emergency action

In Portuguese, PhotographyLeave a comment

Debaixo da Ponte

Fernando Kaskais

© FERNANDO KASKAIS A imagem da máquina como matéria distinta do corpo é opressora, existe a sensação assustadora de que o ferro é outra coisa, que se distingue da carne. Agora, tudo o que que nos rodeia é duro, o mundo olhado e tocado endureceu, o ferro, o aço, o vidro, ganham cada vez mais metros quadrados à carne, à moleza, e os homens moles desaparecem rapidamente. https://kaskaisphotos.wordpress.com/2024/04/27/debaixo-da-ponte/ Continue reading Debaixo da Ponte

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