mindfulness

Quote from Wikipedia: In  philosophy ,  systems theory ,  science , and  art ,  emergence  occurs when an entity is observed to have properties its parts do not have on their own, properties or behaviors which emerge only when the parts interact in a wider whole. Emergence plays a central role in theories of  integrative levels  and of  complex systems . For instance, the phenomenon of  life  as studied in  biology  is an emergent property of  chemistry , and many  psychological  phenomena are known to emerge from underlying  neurobiological  processes. The fractal patterns in a  snowflake can be an example in physical system.                                                     Photo by Nathan-Myhrvold How about consciousness? Well philosophers doesn't agree, as usual.  But lets's say that information shared through the world - like this, can be controlled, questioned and made more accurate. Then new knowledge can be made of it.  I guess Wikipedia is an example of that.  Even i

 David Hume, the 18-century Philosopher and historian from Scotland, is admired by many.  He was an agnostic or maybe an atheist (depends on the readers view).  Anyway he believed that people could be warmhearted and good to each other. And that was because of feelings of empathy.  The importance of feelings was in the foreground for him He meant that reason is dependent on feelings.  Hume himself, is said to be a friendly man and nice to have a conversation with because of his humor and wit.  why? Maybe because he didn't spend so much time to ponder about metaphysical things: He wrote that if he did that to long he had to go to the inn, drink some wine and have a chat with people there and then the pondering was gone.  Instead he liked to study human minds.  He was one first in the west to say that we have no self. What we have is series of impressions that the brain tries to interpret.   This is also what modern philosophy and Buddhism says. Some suggest that Hume read Buddhist l

 Is there ambiguity in science? Yes there is.  especially in quantum physics. We don't now how it works, but it works. Some say that's enough - we don't exactly have to know what happens  (Niels Bohr was one of them).  In Einsteins theory time goes faster for one person in a valley than for another person on a mountain  (because of gravitation).  Quantum physics looks in a way like art or human relations. In these areas we we for sure know that there are ambiguity included.  In relation we often are not sure of how much we Love each other or how long the relation will last. The question "are we really together now" may put the relation in a more clear light (or maybe ens it). That is ecactly what happens when someone makes a mesaurment in quantum physics. The mesaurment ends the ambiguity.  In modern art different spectators can, or should have, different interpretations.   The spectator interact with the art. Of course the artist has his or her view and maybe an

 A person guided by moral constructivism, doesn't look for for a moral code in nature or in heaven or in books like the Bible or in any other book.  Moral guidelines is being based by subjective judgments and beliefs.  Though a moral constructivist  can claim that he is right, his or hers moral is not arbitrary, even though his ethical system is invented by humans.  As David Hume argued, we have no objective guidelines to distinguish right from wrong. We are, according to Hume more guided by passion than by reason, even in out moral decisions. And passion and desires are grounded in our genes and our upbringing.  Moral exists only insofar as we make it so. Its like art and the rules in football. And we all know that players often will have warnings or try too act as they are wounded - though most often they respect the rules even if they are man made. (but what happen if there were no penalties?) So will not this lead to anarchy and crime: "I feel that I have the right to take

 The title comes from a talk by Martin Rees, the English astronomer, in Stockholm, some years ago. What he means is that we now can change the world a lot. Because of our interaction with high tech we can evolve much faster than evolution. I guess that includes AI. The sun will shine for many years ahead and future human will look very different from now. Its in the end of this long lecture that Rees speaks about the future of the Earth.  Before that he speaks about the emergence of more and more complexity in the life on Earth.  Let us at least hope that we can use these abilities to fight climate change and the sixth mass extinction.  We will  in the future for sure have abilities to do that.  We need politicians that are not afraid of being unpopular.  And we need a new story than the one of new-liberalism.  Adam Curtis shows in a a documentary that new-liberalism is a way to cool down the masses by consumerism. That seems to be the way many countries around the world use now.  But

 This is not astrology, stars doesn't decide our destiny.  But stars gave us the elements for life because of their lifecycle.  Dying stars gave us carbon. Carbon was not there from the beginning.  And exploding supernovas gave us other elements, that now has created complex life on earth - and us too.  This is remarkable, as if the universe had a plan.  So this may give us hope for the future, maybe there is more to come...  Even our own sun will create carbon in the end of its lifecycle.  Right now it creates helium out of hydrogen.  That's the light that shines on us. And without that light, no life...  The universe is growing, is expanding and is still creative.  We should not fear old age and death, out of that will new things grow.  I sure humankind is evolving too.  Earlier generations gave us knowledge - also by their mistakes.  There is more democratic, or quite democratic states now than ever before.  Dictatorships are less stable.  We may develop because of the hards

 What gives us hope? It depends of, hope for whom?  For you or for humankind Or maybe for the earth Or maybe for the universe as a whole... Right now it seems that humankind is in a dangerous situation, Lauri Anderson puts it this way; " Humankind has not lived on this Earth for ever, so we cannot take for granted that we will in the future. Its not hard to imagine the Earth without humans". So, if we have a non-anthropocentric view, we can wish for the Earth to have a healthy life, with or without humans.  This can be seen as sad view if we are a human being, but if we are wolf or a tiger or an elephant it would be an event to celebrate.  Is it possible to have  non-anthropocentric view? Maybe not totally... But as Laurie Anderson (a Buddhist practitioner) says;  I think its possible to image the Earth without humankind. It has been like that before... But first of all it would be reasonable to hope for a future where humankind could cooperate with the rest of nature in a ba

 The liberal democratic story, with free will and the individual in focus may not work any more. As Yuval Harari points our will is guided by our desires and we cannot choose our desires. In the future AI will now us more than we know ourselves. We already get information and advertises on the net that are there because of our interests or  what we googled on before or what we had bought.  AI can be a far more dangerous technology in the future were we can be hacked by companies or dictators. A new big story may be produced slowly and from many sources.  It may hopefully not be superstitious but grounded in science.  It may be aware of that we are dependent on mother earth, nature and other people.  Or a more dark story will be that technology will save us, for instance by travelling to other planets or by never living forever with the help of computers.  Anyway we cannot look back. Harari meditates every day and goes every year for long vipassana retreats.   He is for sure influenced

 For instance life and knowledge.  Some bacteria has lived  on earth for more than 3 billion years. They divide and lives on and on and on.  Well more complex life forms have been her for a long time too - even if humans have not...  Knowledge is in fact very resilient - as long as there are books or internet or storytelling  An example from Shakespeare's Sonnet 18:                                                  So long as man can breathe, or eyes can see                                                      So long lives this, and gives life too thee This information from Shakespeare has been around for hundreds of years and will probably, because of its beauty survive for a very long time (if we in the far future civilization may survive on other planets, eve if our sun has died).  So if humans are changing and fading away, knowledge are not. When you reed a good book complex information goes from one person to another even if the author is dead. Chiara Marletto has written a bo

  There Comes If you do not fight it---if you look, just look, steadily, upon it, there comes a moment when you cannot do it, if it is evil; if good, a moment when you cannot not. This are words by Simone Weil, from a Christian viewpoint, but it could have be written from a practitioner of meditation (she was interested i Mahayana Buddhism too. Grace fills empty spaces, but it can only enter where there is a void to receive it We must continually suspend the work of the imagination in filling the void within ourselves." "In no matter what circumstances, if the imagination is stopped from pouring itself out, we have a void (the poor in spirit). In no matter what circumstances... imagination can fill the void. This is why the average human beings can become prisoners, slaves, prostitutes, and pass thru no matter what suffering without being purified. The test of what is real is that it is hard and rough. Joys are found in it, not pleasure. What is pleasant belongs to dreams. We

 The era of mankind.  Clive Hamilton writes about it in his book Defiant Earth. The Fate of Humans in Anthropocene. Hamilton is a professor of public Ethics in Canberra.  He means that  humans have modified the processes on Earth so radically that it has changed the nature forces that regulates the Earth development and forced it to an new geological epoch.  We have to think of what to do to slow down the changes, as climate change. But we have to adapt to what is already there and will affect the Earth in many thousands of years. Can we repair what we have done?  In the end of the book he concludes that only politics can do something about the threats that Anthropocene puts in front of us. We cannot do it individually. Maybe the struggle that will come is the only way to learn how to live in solidarity with the Earth. He means that it is really important that mankind will survive. We are the only creature on the planet that is intelligent and can understand something of the universe. 

  Some music comes as a surprise.  As the time for ready for it, even if we didn't know it. In my search for positive things for the future this album is for sure in that  category.  It combines three music styles and makes it to one and to something new.  So it may be music for the future.  Someone has said that the music in the far future will be landscapes of sound.  (if you listen to then Icelandic composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir you may understand what he meant.) But here I speak mainly about the Album "Promises" by Floating points, Pharaoh Sanders and London Symphony Orchestra. Its a mix of electronic music, jazz and classical music and it works. The title of the album also looks at the future with light eyes.  It may not be so dark as it sometimes seems.  We have some time to stop climate change. And if we can avoid a nuclear war and trouble with AI, we can can look forward to some progress on the Earth. As we live in Anthropocene we have to be the gardeners of the E

 Well, we don't know why we are here, Maybe there is no "why"  it may just be random. But we don't know either.  We are the only animals here to wonder about those things. So why not give it a try....  In quantum physics there is room for randomness, so everything is not determined (as Einstein thought).  In our days it seems that we human can decide a lot of what is going on at the Earth,  For good and for worse we are living in Anthropocene, the era of humans.  We have change the surface of the Earth so much so its not wrong to call it a new geological era.  But its also the era of Internet.  In Taiwan Audrey Tang works for the government as digital minister and as a programmer to make the the democracy work.  I think its adequate to see her (she is a transgender) as an example for a new and positive thing for our age; A way to manage in a non competitive way. And a way to make democracy stronger by letting many stories flourish.   That may also bee way to see meani

  Now is the time for artists like Arlo parks. It's just a question of time, as art is in progress, maybe like all things.  Phenomena like Donald Trump is in decay.  That's a way of life we cannot afford us to ask for anymore.  We just to keep our eyes open for the new things and they will open up like flowers in front of us.  What it means? Maybe listen to the young girls and what they have to say, what they have to give to the world.  There may be no agenda, no revolution, just the decay of the old.  And what is the old - maybe the white man as conquer of the world.  Maybe another to look at Mother Nature, maybe another to look at love and gender, maybe a more mindful way to live.  But you better ask people like Arlo Parks.  Here - live at KEXP at Home;  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQHmIt9OVGU An here in another video

  Heidegger emphasizes  the knowledge of death  of the individual.   That awareness can give meaning to our life - it leads us to do thing that are meaningful for us - not following the crowd.  Not only death but also being is something we have in common with every living being.  And that means being in a specific place - Dasein.  As in Buddhist philosophy Heidegger mean that we interact with the surroundings.  Being comes before thinking, but Heidegger is not into meditation.  He is not either into scientific progress.  It seems that he wants to fins ground for being - maybe that's why he was into Nazis, - at least for a while (not so much antisemitic as thoughts about "blut und boten" - blood and soil ) As David Deutsch means philosophy may not aim to find a common ground, or common truth, but more of criticizing old philosophy and therefore move forward in an never ending progress.  Im sure Heidegger was interested in Buddhism, as we can see in the video below he anywa

 If there is a subject, must therefore be an object?  Well if you study grammar it seems to be so.  I give you a banana, I'm  the doer, the subject. But lets say that we are interrelated.  Lets, for instance say that we are  nature.  Is that a good way to protect nature?  Maybe, but we now live in Anthropocene.  We have influenced the the whole surface of the earth.  We are the strong part now, but that may make us sad too. We cannot longer count on nature as something immense  that will always be there for us to use. We have to care for nature as an old mother. We have been her naughty child and now she is in danger.  Without her we will be lost too.  So maybe each one of us can be a guardian for birds, insects and fish. But some insects shall have a value even if they not are good for us.  We have  knowledges that a tree or a bird have not.  We are in a way superior - anyway if we really starts to behave starts to behave like homo sapiens. Maybe, in the long run, we can invent te

 Optimism is the name of a chapter in  David Deutsch latest book, The Beginning of Infinity. Can we be optimistic in this dark age?  Why not. As long as creativity rules.  As long as democracy more or less works in many countries.  The film The White Tiger (Netflix) shows a very corrupt India.  But the author of the book that the film is based on, Aravinda Adiga, has said that he wanted the book to be an eye opener about what is going on in his home country. He beliefs that it could work better in the future, so he can be seen as an optimist.  Deutsch thinks that technological solutions can help to solve the climate crises. We also be more optimistic as the US now is on the Paris train again.  If we can slow the heating down we have more time to find solutions.  We are made by nature to see the problems, that has made us survive.   In mindfulness we can label worrying  just as "worries" and let them pass,  After meditation we my try to solve them, or grade them as not necessa

 Sam Harris, the atheist that started to meditate,  has said in an interview in "The guardian";  "We are sleepwalking, and when you learn how to meditate, you recognize that there is another possibility, which is to be vividly aware of your experience in each moment in a way that frees you from routine misery. Meditation is simply the practice of learning to break the spell and wake up." He has even started a meditation app and it seems he's up to some kind of spiritualty (not religion) if I understand it in the right way.  Well, he have a podcast too, and there he has been speaking to David Deutsch.  https://samharris.org/search/David%20Deutsch  You better look at Wikipedia to have a clue of who David is.  The conversation may not be so easy to follow, but A man called Sam Hall makes an interpretation of it here:  About 44 minutes into the video Hall speaks about meditation and  Deutsch's look at it:  Harris says that meditation him happy and Deutsch replie

 It's nice to now and then come back to the writings of Camus.  He wrote about out absurd world - and i may have became even more absurd nowadays.  the world absurd comes from the Greek world surdus with means deaf.  Lets see what it can mean - one way is what Camus wrote about the experience to see someone talking in telephone inside a telephone box- we just see someone moving his or hers lips, and we may hear some fragments of a dialog, but we don't understand what is going on. Nowadays we have the same experience when we here someone talking in a mobile phone.  We are not literary deaf, but we cannot make us clear about what is going on,  we are also bombarded with information all the time, knowledge comes more seldom. But if the world is absurd, what about ourselves, are we too? Camus had some answers to that - we have to go on even if the world is absurd and even meaningless.  in the essay " the Myth of Sisyphus" Camus describes how Sisyphus pulls a heavy stone

My wife helps a family where one of the members have corona and stays in one room.  its a tough situation and even tougher it is that the father of the sick man also have the virus and is dying of it, because he is old and fragile.  Of course Im now afraid to get the virus too, but I think I will survive it.  Mostly elderly or sick people die of it. But the next pandemic can be worse The good thing is ; we now learn to fight back the next virus. And that one can be dangerous even for young people.  About Trump it is harder to say what is good.  Well, democracy seems to stand strong in the US and so the free press.  In Turkey, China and even in Poland the free press is suppressed.  Sometimes it seems that different people lives in different worlds and goes to information sources that fit their opinions.  Qbism, an interpretation of quantum physics, is into this.  Qbism. answer to the Schrödinger's cat thought experiment is that if you think that the cat will be dead when you open th

 The best things are free. Yes, but you protect them. There is a small nature reserve near my home.  Many spend their free time in this time of Corona.  There you can walk by yourself and do walking meditation when you coordinate the breath with your steps.  Nature can be like a church with or without music.  But its better to not listen to music all  the time there.  I prefer to just be in contact with the sounds of nature, as the wind, the birds and maybe some kids laughing far away,  But when I meet adults who speaks with each other I put on my headphones and listen to music like Pergolesi's Stabat Mater.