Category: quotes

The winning combination:

• Nice
• Forgiving
• Retaliatory
• Clear

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-01518-2

The prevalence of myopia is increasing rapidly, with projections indicating that by 2050, around half of the global population could be affected. This surge is largely attributed to lifestyle changes, such as increased time spent indoors and on screens, and decreased outdoor activities, starting with the Covid lock down.

To combat this epidemic, researchers are advocating for more outdoor exposure for children, as natural light is beneficial in slowing the progression of myopia. They also emphasize the importance of regular eye check-ups and early interventions. Additionally, innovative treatments such as specially designed contact lenses and low-dose atropine eye drops are being explored to manage and reduce the progression of myopia.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/confirmed-we-live-in-a-simulation/

Ever since the philosopher Nick Bostrom proposed in the Philosophical Quarterly that the universe and everything in it might be a simulation, there has been intense public speculation and debate about the nature of reality.

Yet there have been skeptics. Physicist Frank Wilczek has argued that there’s too much wasted complexity in our universe for it to be simulated. Building complexity requires energy and time.

To understand if we live in a simulation we need to start by looking at the fact that we already have computers running all kinds of simulations for lower level “intelligences” or algorithms.

All computing hardware leaves an artifact of its existence within the world of the simulation it is running. This artifact is the processor speed.
No matter how complete the simulation is, the processor speed would intervene in the operations of the simulation.

If we live in a simulation, then our universe should also have such an artifact. We can now begin to articulate some properties of this artifact that would help us in our search for such an artifact in our universe.
The artifact presents itself in the simulated world as an upper limit.

Now that we have some defining features of the artifact, of course it becomes clear what the artifact manifests itself as within our universe. The artifact is manifested as the speed of light.
This maximum speed is the speed of light. We don’t know what hardware is running the simulation of our universe or what properties it has, but one thing we can say now is that the memory container size for the variable space would be about 300,000 kilometers if the processor performed one operation per second.

We can see now that the speed of light meets all the criteria of a hardware artifact identified in our observation of our own computer builds. It remains the same irrespective of observer (simulated) speed, it is observed as a maximum limit, it is unexplainable by the physics of the universe, and it is absolute. The speed of light is a hardware artifact showing we live in a simulated universe.

Consciousness is an integrated (combining five senses) subjective interface between the self and the rest of the universe. The only reasonable explanation for its existence is that it is there to be an “experience”.

So here we are generating this product called consciousness that we apparently don’t have a use for, that is an experience and hence must serve as an experience. The only logical next step is to surmise that this product serves someone else.

1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world.
2. Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.
3. Name the last five winners of the Miss America pageant.
4.  Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize.
5. Name the last half dozen Academy Award winners for best actor and actress.
6. Name the last decade’s worth of World Series winners.

How did you do?
The point is, none of us remember the headliners of yesterday.
These are no second-rate achievers.

They are the best in their fields.
But the applause dies.
Awards tarnish …
Achievements are forgotten.
Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners.

Here’s another quiz. See how you do on this one:

1. List a few teachers who aided your journey through school.
2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.
3. Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile.
4. Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special.
5. Think of five people you enjoy spending time with.

Easier?

“The real problem is trying to formulate a question for something we do not know already”

https://mindmatters.ai/2024/01/the-theory-that-consciousness-is-a-quantum-system-gains-support/

In short, it says that consciousness arises when gravitational instabilities in the fundamental structure of space-time collapse quantum wave functions in tiny structures called microtubules that are found inside neurons – and, in fact, in all complex cells.

In quantum theory, a particle does not really exist as a tiny bit of matter located somewhere but rather as a cloud of probabilities. If observed, it collapses into the state in which it was observed. Penrose has postulated that “each time a quantum wave function collapses in this way in the brain, it gives rise to a moment of conscious experience.”

Hameroff has been studying proteins known as tubulins inside the microtubules of neurons. He postulates that “microtubules inside neurons could be exploiting quantum effects, somehow translating gravitationally induced wave function collapse into consciousness, as Penrose had suggested.” Thus was born a collaboration, though their seminal 1996 paper failed to gain much traction.

https://climatelabbook.substack.com/p/mapping-changes-in-temperature-every

Capitalism is the root cause of our ecological crisis and the key barrier to solving it.

There are two reasons for this. Firstly, capitalism cannot exist without economic growth, and economic growth is the main reason why our emissions have been increasing over the last 30 years and further growth will make it impossible to decarbonise in time to avoid activating tipping points.

Secondly, our minds have been shaped by capitalism and it is stopping us from seeing both the role capitalism plays in the cause of climate change and the full scope of solutions available to address the crisis. Social psychologist, Professor Harald Welzer, sums this up well, describing economic growth of industrial societies as “enshrined in business and politics, but also in the psychological structure of the people who grow up in such societies.”

https://erinremblance.substack.com/p/decapitalising-our-minds-the-key

There are six key ways in which capitalism shapes our minds. Under capitalism we, collectively, believe:

1. Nature is nothing more than a ‘resource’ to be exploited
2. Our power lies in either our consumption habits or our employment
3. Success lies in evermore material items and novel experiences
4. People are a ‘resource’ and must earn their living
5. Money is scarce and the government must make choices
6. We must compete with others

This ‘capitalisation’ of our minds creates a barrier to solving the climate crisis in many ways, including:

• denial that the crisis exists because the solutions don’t fit one’s capitalistic ideology;
• disinterest and disengagement with the crisis because nature is for others to focus on;
• unconscious of how our minds are shaped by capitalism, we:
  • champion solutions that are well-intentioned but inadequate because they assume mythical ‘green-growth’;
  • implement targets that aren’t supported by policies to achieve them, instead relying on technology that doesn’t currently exist to cover the gap.

Unsurprisingly, the mindset we need to address the climate crisis is the exact opposite of the mindset described above.