November 30, 2002

Alter Ego: Want to Relive Your Life? http://www.theblackforge.net/ If you could, would you want to live your life over again, this time making different choices? This game is a life simulator where you go through it facing many different scenarios and asked to make decisions in each of them on how you are to respond. I haven't got past infancy yet, but it is quite interesting so far. Perhaps there will be more simulators like this in the future; I wonder if such programs could be used for therapeutic purposes? 9:40:06 PM    comment []

November 29, 2002

One View of Paganism The Kansan Article Very often we use a term without really understanding what it is about. It is especially difficult with words that are difficult to define. "Paganism" is one such term, and this article gives one person's general view of what paganism is about. Such articles help us understand the groups better that we find ourselves talking about. Do you often refer to a religious group without really knowing what they believe? Though more educated than many about religions, I am still somewhat guilty of this. 8:38:47 PM    comment []

November 27, 2002

The Genetic Basis of Personality http://www.apa.org/monitor/sep02/genes.html Is your personality genetically determined? This article nicely sums up the research to date on this question. I think some parts of personality are more genetically influenced than others, but I don't think genetics plays as great a role as one might think. I think we are more a product of our environment and our choices. But I still think we are still early in definitively answering exactly where our personalities come from. Heck, we don't even have an agreed upon definition of personality yet! 8:47:12 PM    comment []

November 26, 2002

Attachment Therapy Orange County Register Pro Article Quackery Watch Attachment Therapy is a controversial therapy for yet another newly invented disorder, Reactive Attachment Disorder. The disorder may eventually gain wider acceptance and the therapy may gain wisdom to not do stupid things. But in the meantime I wonder at people's blind acceptance of untested things even to the extent of putting their children at physical and emotional risk. Or am I just being to much of a skeptic, again? 9:44:38 PM    comment []

November 25, 2002

Seeking Behaviour http://www.msnbc.com/news/829644.asp?cp1=1 This article, which in my opinion unsuccessfully attempts to justify some of Freud's theories, is interesting nonetheless. The idea of "seeking" as a central drive, backed by particular brain structures that promote it, is compelling. How often do you find yourself with the "urge to do stuff" with no particular focus? I've noticed that and it could be the seeking drive at work. 10:29:56 AM    comment []

November 24, 2002

Talking to Yourself Talking Loudly to Yourself Talking Deeply to Yourself Here are two different ideas regarding the benefits of talking to oneself. I like the distinction in the second article between "low level thinking" and "high level thinking"; it seems the low level thinking is pretty useless and problemmatic. But good deep thinking about our issues is very therapeutic, whether it be with a therapist, to our dog, to God, or in our private journals. Do you do enough therapeutic talking to yourself, or is your self-talk restricted to mostly unproductive chatter? Personally, I'm trying a few methods to see where they will lead -- it should be an interesting experiment. 6:50:54 PM    comment []

November 23, 2002

Eye Contact Encourages You to Speak Queens University Article Psychology is full of interesting little tidbits, many of which have direct applications to our lives. This results shows that more eye contact in group conversations makes people talk more. I've noticed that while in groups of people I am usually quite a bit more quiet than in one-to-one conversations. Perhaps it is because I do not get sufficient eye contact in groups to keep me feeling involved. On the flip side, if someone is quiet in the group I am talking in, this result maybe shows me to give more eye contact to them if I want to hear their ideas. 4:39:31 PM    comment []

November 22, 2002

God: The Computer, Computation or the Programmer? Wired article: God Is the Machine Scientists are rapidly converging in on the idea that reality is a giant digital computation. This excellent article by Kevin Kelly relates some of the thinking in this area and poses the question of the nature of God: "There's still confusion. Is God the Word itself, the Ultimate Software and Source Code, or is God the Ultimate Programmer? Or is God the necessary Other, the off-universe platform where this universe is computed?" What do you think? 4:32:43 PM    comment []

November 21, 2002

Become Ordained http://www.spiritualhumanism.org/ http://www.ulc.org/ Here's a couple of places you can become easily ordained as a minister, should that strike your fancy. I had heard of the ULC before, but not the Spiritual Humanism site (thanks metafilter I think). Each has a simple set of beliefs to more or less assent to before you get ordained: "Believe Religion should be based on Reason", "Believe in Freedom of Religion", etc. Wouldn't it be cool to be called "Reverend"? (I'm sure I'd get quickly bored of it.) 7:45:50 PM    comment []

November 20, 2002

Neuroethics Decoding the secrets of your brain This is a good little MSNBC article found via Neuroprosthesis News that I wanted to repeat here. I'm sorry to say I haven't really investigated before the ethical side of the field of neuroscience that I eagerly support. This article gives me a start. It makes me wonder if there are many other things that I should be thinking ethically about that I haven't? One side of me says I can't be informed about everything, but another side says it should be a major concern regarding everything I do and am connected with. Have you found sufficient ethical consideration in your life? I don't think I have. 10:35:04 PM    comment []

November 19, 2002

Memory is Fickle Ananova article More evidence that memory is not as reliable as it seems. The researchers (led by Elizabeth Loftus) also show the power of some types of advertising to even affect our memories. It makes me wonder how much of my childhood memories were of something that actually happened, and how much was from later constructions. Or even what I remember of yesterday. 11:39:23 PM    comment []

November 18, 2002

Another  Odd Practice Ananova article Another one from the what people will do in the name of their religion file. While sucking goats blood is something few of us would do, it does suggest that we have a probably limitless capacity for doing anything based on strong convictions. Thank goodness there is probably something like a well developed superego in most of us that limits us in our range of activities -- else this planet would be even more of a madhouse than it already is! 5:23:44 PM    comment []

November 17, 2002

Relationships with Man-Made Objects http://www.mindjack.com/feature/emachines.html Do you have a relationship with a man-made object? I've known people to have talked to their cars, computers, washing machines and so on. But this article focuses on the Japanese emotional relationship with their robotic pets. Particularly interesting to me was the notion that Japanese religions (Shinto, Buddhism) open up the way for people to ascribe souls to such objects, very unlike the Christian viewpoint and certainly the atheists/materialists. 4:02:49 PM    comment []

November 16, 2002

Deja Vu for You http://www.6u.com/dejavu/ Not much of an entry today, but I experienced a little deja vu today, so I thought I'd share this link. Do you experience deja vu? If so, do you feel like the universe is repeating itself, or do you just feel your mind is playing tricks on you? 10:33:37 PM    comment []

November 15, 2002

Antipsychiatry http://www.antipsychiatry.org/ I see much good that has come out of modern psychiatry -- many people's lives have been changed for the better due to psychoactive medications. But I realize that there are two sides to everything, and I usually try to find out what the other side is saying in the process of justifying or refuting my beliefs. This site of the Antipsychiatry Coalition has many articles speaking of the problems and horrors of the psychiatric practice. Some of it I think is nonsense, but much of it has grains of truth. But that's just my opinion. Do you have an informed opinion about this or are you a bit too accepting of your psychiatrist? 6:33:56 PM    comment []

November 14, 2002

Neuroscience and Free Will Boston Globe Article When it comes to the issue of free will vs determinism, I am a complete fence sitter, though I allow myself at times to think like a strong determinist or a free-willer. I just can't make up my mind. This article pushes me toward determinism again, as it gives me some awfully convincing neuroscientific evidence that free will may be an illusion. (via Both2And) 9:51:19 PM    comment []

November 13, 2002

Good People and Bad People http://sprott.physics.wisc.edu/pickover/good.html This link provides a list of famous bad people and a list of famous good people, and has a lot of good discussion around the issues of creating such a list. I wonder if we are really applying any deep sense of morality when we talk about bad/good people or if we simply have learned by rote "Hitler bad, Gandhi good". It particularly is the case with self-evaluations where when we say we are bad, it often is simply because others have repeatedly told us that in the past. Is your sense of morality well developed, or do you sort the bad from the good automatically from rote learning? Maybe it really isn't an issue, anyways: as long as we can tell the difference between bad and good, does it matter how we arrive at that discrimination? 9:07:01 PM    comment []

November 12, 2002

Developing Virtue http://www.virtuescience.com/ One thing that religions seem to have in common is the pursuit of virtue. Unfortunately, I think most focus on a few virtues or have an incomplete theory of virtue. This site offers a little more complete treatment of virtues and how to develop them. There's lots of enigmatic stuff to peruse on this very interesting site. Be sure to find the long list of virtues and take notice of which virtues you wish to develop yourself. 9:55:14 AM    comment []

November 11, 2002

Loss Aversion and Behavioral Finance NY Times Article on Kahneman Behavioral Finance Tutorial (PDF) Psychologist Daniel Kahneman recently won the Nobel Prize in Economic Science for his work in Behavioral Finance.  He came up with the interesting notion of Loss Aversion, among other things, that suggests that we are much more concerned about losing things than we are about gaining things. While directly applicable to your buying and selling stocks, for instance, it also has applications throughout our lives. To what extent do you see yourself as Loss-Averse? How afraid are you of losing what you currently have? 10:09:37 AM    comment []

November 10, 2002

How to Live in a Simulation http://www.jetpress.org/volume7/simulation.html Suppose we are living in a simulation, like in the movie The Matrix. The question is what difference would it make to living our lives. At first I would have said practically nothing, but after reading this paper by Robin Hanson, I may be changing that view a bit. If you are really into this stuff, be sure to check out the linked page by Nick Bostrom http://www.simulation-argument.com/ (via strange currency) 3:55:52 PM    comment []

November 8, 2002

More Optical Illusions http://www.ritsumei.ac.jp/~akitaoka/index-e.html Akiyoshi's illusion pages include more examples of fascinating optical illusions. I'm not sure why I have always been swept away by them. Perhaps because not only because they show that perception is not reality, but also seem to show that at times reality is even difficult to know. And I go one step further wondering if reality at times is impossible to know. Actually, the thoughts can lead to all sorts of questions about the nature of reality if I let them and they serve as good fodder for a directed meditation or thoughtful hour lying on a couch instead of watching T.V. 9:33:19 PM    comment []

November 7, 2002

The Ooze http://www.theooze.com http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/1031/p14s01-lire.html The Ooze is a community website for the growing number of postmodern Christians to converse and to honestly question aspects of theology and especially the Church. It is quite hard to define this movement, but it seems to be made of individuals who are open in questioning their Christian religion. But this article on the Ooze site gives a description of "post-conservative Evangelicals", one name for a subset of this movement. The Christian Science Monitor article is a good intro to The Ooze. 9:17:53 PM    comment []

November 6, 2002

Authentic Happiness http://www.authentichappiness.org/ Globe and Mail Article A couple of my favourite blogs recently reported on this great book, so I thought it was time to put in my 2 cents. Psychologist Martin Seligman has been promoting a new movement in Psychology he calls "Positive Psychology" which counteracts the focus on abnormal functioning of Psychology in general. This book was my introduction to the area, and I found it enormously exciting. The book is well-argued, and scientific in nature, but easy to read, nonetheless. I highly recommend it, especially for those seeking the secrets of happiness in their lives. (G&M article via Pseudoscience in Mental Health  and HeartMath Report) 9:30:11 AM    comment []

November 5, 2002

God of the Month Club http://community-2.webtv.net/magentashadow/GOMC/ For the past few years I've been visiting the God of the Month Club to see which new God or Goddess was featured, not that I worship them as GOMC suggests. But the idea of changing beliefs periodically and often is an interesting one that many people practice, perhaps not on purpose. Maybe you or someone you know is like this. Does this indicate to you an unstable personality without a solid grounding in anything, or does it suggest to you someone with a curious mind, eager to have an abundance of interesting experiences? I suppose it depends on the person. 4:57:39 PM    comment []

November 4, 2002

A Theory of Happiness http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/health/93188_happy29.shtml Lately I've been investigating theories and ideas about happiness, and really I've just started, since it is quite a deep subject. To some extent, psychology has focussed more on problems than optimal functioning, and so there is no really well developed Psychology of Happiness that I know of. Edward Hallowell's mini-theory of happiness seems also to be narrow and simplistic, though really this article is the only thing so far that I know about him. Nevertheless, it is excellent food for thought, and can have application into our own lives. 10:11:36 PM    comment []

November 3, 2002

Metanexus, Science and Religion http://www.sltrib.com/2002/oct/10192002/saturday/saturday.htm http://www.metanexus.net There seems to be more and more interesting things going on in the area where Science and Religion meet. I think this is a good thing. Check out this article on how the Metanexus Institute is promoting the scientific study of "spiritual transformation". And if you feel like signing up, the Metanexus website has all sorts of goodies to peruse on a wide variety of topics. 8:37:51 PM    comment []

November 2, 2002

An Archetype Catalogue http://www.myss.com/ThreeArchs.asp Caroline Myss, in her recent (2001) bestseller "Sacred Contracts", talks about the role of archetypes in our lives. Part of her book, reproduced at the above page, is an excellent catalogue of over 70 of them. She suggests that each person has at least 12 of them as prominent archetypes, four of which are common to everyone (Child, Victim, Saboteur, Prostitute). Which archetypes are prominent in your life? 8:09:04 PM    comment []

November 1, 2002

Lack of Psychic Abilities? http://gotpsi.org Test out your psychic abilities at this excellent site by The Boundary Institute. It consists of several tests, including a nifty remote viewing test. As I did the tests, and scored at or below chance, I found myself wishing that I had Psi abilities, despite my healthy skepticism. But not only that, I also found myself with the passing thought that I was somehow defective or not a complete human for not having such abilities (or at least not having them reliably). Have you ever thought that about Psi, or any other Spiritual Attainments? Is that thought healthy or true? 3:48:44 PM    comment []