A Hopefully Understandable Explanation of the Future Doom of the Universe
If you’ve been reading the news, you probably know our universe is unstable and is likely to be swallowed by an alternate one, some time in the next 20 billion years. If this is a shocking revelation...
View ArticlePhilosophical Sundays: Why We Are All the Same Person
Lately I’ve been writing a lot of science popularization, but today I want to get dirty with philosophy by defending a view that I’m convinced will make most of you disagree with me, which will be...
View ArticleNewspapers: How Long until They Are Gone?
I recently read a brief article by Ross Dawson in which he not only foresees the death of newspapers, but actually gives a timeline (by country) in which he specifies the year in which newspapers will...
View ArticleThe Path Towards Immortality
I am a bit obsessed about immortality. It is probably due to the fact that I don’t want to die, ever. I have given plenty of reasons why here. I have also discussed the possibility that we are already...
View ArticleYou’re Not as Smart as You Thought
When I was little I thought I was a genius. By the age of seven I could write almost like an adult and knew things such as the definition of square root, Pythagoras’s theorem or what an electron was....
View ArticleDo You Really Want to Be Happy?
In my brief period in the blogosphere I have come across hundreds, if not thousands, of blogs about happiness. Some of them are amazing, some of them are not so amazing. But the fact that there is such...
View ArticleExperimental Democracy?
We learn things by doing experiments. We make predictions, we try things out and see how it goes. We haven’t always done this and progress has suffered for it. The discovery of the scientific method is...
View ArticlePhilosophical Sundays: Evolving Morality
Rationally-minded people have a problem. They are forced to make choices: what to study, where to work, what to do with their lives; how to treat their friends, how to treat their enemies, how to treat...
View ArticleWhy the Standard Model Is the Ugliest Theory Ever Made
You’ve probably heard about the standard model (SM). Actually, the acronym, which sounds a little like S&M, is pretty justified. If you have not heard about it, let me give you a brief summary: the...
View ArticleOn Faith
I consider myself a man of faith. This may come as a shock: after all, I am an atheist and a hyper-rationalist. I am a skeptic. I will argue that it is precisely because I have faith that I can be all...
View ArticleNew “like” buttons
Many people have been complaining I don’t have a “like” button. I kept telling them I wasn’t allowed to have one because I run a self-hosted WordPress site. However, I was wrong. I am able to get a...
View ArticleOn Acceptance and Desire
In the last few months I feel as if I have experienced more personal growth than in the last two years. The reason for that, believe it or not, has been the constant exchange of opinions between myself...
View ArticleA Science of Morality?
I recently read an article by Sean Carroll arguing about the possibility of having a scientific morality. His take, with which I agree, is that such a thing is not only practically impossible, but...
View ArticleThe War between Mind and Matter
There is a war going on. It is a silent, victimless war. It is a war that started long ago, before there were any humans on Earth. Before there were living organisms. It is the war between mind and...
View ArticleThe Wonder of Mathematics: non-Euclidean Geometry I
The beauty of mathematics lies in unification: in the taking of two completely unrelated concepts and merging them into a deeper, superior whole. A perfect example of this is Riemannian geometry. In...
View ArticleMind Enhancement, Sooner than You Think
I just read this amazing article at H+ magazine. It explains that there is a new family of cognition-enhancing drugs (nootropics) with no side-effects. You heard it right: more intelligence, better...
View ArticleWhy the New Pope Sounds Like a Really Nice Guy
Why should you care about the new Pope? You may ask. After all, if you’re reading this, you’re probably an atheist or an agnostic. Or maybe you’re a theist or a pagan or who knows what. Maybe you...
View ArticleFractals Made Easy, Kind Of
You’ve probably heard of fractals. Most of us have at least seen one: they are these funny-looking pictures with lots of edges, colors and complexity. One example is depicted below. Fractal (Photo...
View ArticleLook Mommy, I Made Poo-Poo!
Yesterday I wrote a new song that was quite OK. Then I felt an irresistible urge to show it to someone. Then things got weird: I started imagining myself playing in front of a huge audience, basking in...
View ArticleSome Advice on Advice
One thing that has shocked me of my short stage in cyberspace is how quick some people are to give advice on all sort of topics. I have also noticed that, when disagreeing, many commenters will use the...
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