00096

kathy and ruth

05096

• sama nainen
  same woman
  chisu

  • suomi

    • luvattu on paljon
      rikottu enemmän
      vierelläsi valvon
      ja kauniina sut nään

      sä oot se jonka
      löydän aina uudelleen
      taas tässä oon ja valmis
      uuteen kierrokseen

      mut mussa ei oo mitään
      mussa ei oo mitään uutta
      oon vielä samanlainen
      sama mieli
      sama sydän
      sama nainen

      mä muistan kyllä
      ne kirosanat ja syyttelyn
      ja anteeksi annan
      jopa sen pahoinpitelyn

      mut mä en lupaa mitään
      mä en lupaa mitään muuta
      oon vielä samanlainen
      sama mieli
      sama sydän
      sama nainen

      mä en lupaa mitään
      en enää lupaa mitään muuta
      oon vielä samanlainen
      sama mieli
      sama sydän
      sama nainen

      sanonut oon kaiken
      yö vaihtuu aamuun
      jos sä vielä haluut
      takas mä tuun

  • english

    • luvattu on paljon
      a lot has been promised
      rikottu enemmän
      more has been broken
      vierelläsi valvon
      i’m awake next to you
      ja kauniina sut nään
      and i see you as beautiful

      sä oot se jonka
      you are the one
      löydän aina uudelleen
      i find over and over again
      taas tässä oon ja valmis
      i’m here again and ready
      uuteen kierrokseen
      for the next round

      mut mussa ei oo mitään
      but there’s nothing in me
      mussa ei oo mitään uutta
      there’s nothing new in me
      oon vielä samanlainen
      i’m still the same
      sama mieli
      same mind
      sama sydän
      same heart
      sama nainen
      same woman

      mä muistan kyllä
      i remember
      ne kirosanat ja syyttelyn
      those curses and accusing
      ja anteeksi annan
      and i forgive
      jopa sen pahoinpitelyn
      even that ill–treatment

      mut mä en lupaa mitään
      but i don’t promise anything
      mä en lupaa mitään muuta
      i don’t promise anything else
      oon vielä samanlainen
      i’m still the same
      sama mieli
      same mind
      sama sydän
      same heart
      sama nainen
      same woman

      mä en lupaa mitään
      i don’t promise anything
      en enää lupaa mitään muuta
      i don’t promise anything else anymore
      oon vielä samanlainen
      i’m still the same
      sama mieli
      same mind
      sama sydän
      same heart
      sama nainen
      same woman

      sanonut oon kaiken
      i’ve said everything
      yö vaihtuu aamuun
      the night turns into morning
      jos sä vielä haluut
      if you still want
      takas mä tuun
      i’ll come back

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05696

• the mismeasure of ape social cognition
  david leavens et al. 2017

  • In his classic analysis, Gould (The mismeasure of man, WW Norton, New York, 1981) demolished the idea that intelligence was an inherent, genetic trait of different human groups by emphasizing, among other things, (a) its sensitivity to environmental input, (b) the incommensurate pre-test preparation of different human groups, and (c) the inadequacy of the testing contexts, in many cases. According to Gould, the root cause of these oversights was confirmation bias by psychometricians, an unwarranted commitment to the idea that intelligence was a fixed, immutable quality of people. By virtue of a similar, systemic interpretive bias, in the last two decades, numerous contemporary researchers in comparative psychology have claimed human superiority over apes in social intelligence, based on two-group comparisons between postindustrial, Western Europeans and captive apes, where the apes have been isolated from European styles of social interaction, and tested with radically different procedures. Moreover, direct comparisons of humans with apes suffer from pervasive lapses in argumentation: Research designs in wide contemporary use are inherently mute about the underlying psychological causes of overt behavior. Here we analyze these problems and offer a more fruitful approach to the comparative study of social intelligence, which focuses on specific individual learning histories in specific ecological circumstances.

05796

• some philosophers say that all we see is an illusion. well, I don’t know about that but there is a clear case of a colour that does not exist, magenta/purple (not violet)
  • youtube
  • we have three types of cone cell in our eyes, that broadly correspond to red, green, and blue wavelengths. the electromagnetic spectrum, ordered by wavelength, is increasing frequency from red to blue. violet is a higher frequency than blue.

05896

05996

• the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible
  charles eisenstein 2013
  charleseisenstein.org

06096

• etsijät
  searchers
  chisu

  • suomi

    • mä näin jo kaukaa kun hän saapui
      mun oven viereen
      ja sitoi hevosen mun puiseen kaiteeseen
      eikä hän peremmälle tullut,
      katseli siinä vain,
      kun hänen vaatteet hain eteiseen

      hän sanoi;
      “elämä on lyhyt,
      eikä hän ollut vielä löytänyt
      sitä mitä hän on etsinyt”

      häl’ oli silmissänsä jano
      ja vaikka mä näinkin sen,
      otin hänet vierellein mun elämään
      ja siinä seistessäni viel' kuulin,
      kun preeria kauemmas
      häntä kutsui tuonnemmas etelään

      ja elämä on lyhyt
      eikä hän ollut vielä löytänyt
      sitä mitä hän on etsinyt

      ennenkuin nousi ratsuillensa
      laski käden poskellein
      ja kysyi: “oi, tyttösein, mua ootathan?”
      ja vaikka sydämeni viel’ toivoi
      järkeni ennusti: on tuol’ joku vielä
      varmasti
      munkaltaista ilman

      mä sanoin:
      “elämä on lyhyt
      enkä mä oottaa enää pystynyt
      päivä laskee pian, lähde nyt!”

      niin lähti hän ja rakkautensa
      vei kauas mukanaan,
      rinnan alla suurempaan maailmaan
      mä siinä lakaisin kuistin ja oven
      auki jätin toiselle, etsijälle uudelle,
      joka jo kotiin kaipaa

      mä mietin:
      “elämä on lyhyt
      mut onko vielä koskaan kukaan löytänyt
      sitä mitä hän on etsinyt?”

  • english

    • mä näin jo kaukaa kun hän saapui
      i saw from far away when he arrived
      mun oven viereen
      beside my door
      ja sitoi hevosen mun puiseen kaiteeseen
      he didn’t come in
      eikä hän peremmälle tullut,
      and hitched his horse on my wooden rail
      katseli siinä vain,
      just looked from there
      kun hänen vaatteet hain eteiseen
      when i retrieved his clothes into the hallway

      hän sanoi;
      he said
      “elämä on lyhyt,
      life is short
      eikä hän ollut vielä löytänyt
      and i haven’t found
      sitä mitä hän on etsinyt”
      what i’m looking for

      häl’ oli silmissänsä jano
      he had thirsty eyes
      ja vaikka mä näinkin sen,
      and even though i saw it
      otin hänet vierellein mun elämään
      i took him beside me in my life
      ja siinä seistessäni viel’ kuulin,
      and standing there i heard
      kun preeria kauemmas
      as the prairie called him
      häntä kutsui tuonnemmas etelään
      further to south

      ja elämä on lyhyt
      life is short
      eikä hän ollut vielä löytänyt
      and he hadn't yet found
      sitä mitä hän on etsinyt
      what he was looking for

      ennenkuin nousi ratsuillensa
      before he mounted his horse
      laski käden poskellein
      he laid a hand on my cheek
      ja kysyi: “oi, tyttösein, mua ootathan?”
      and asked, oh girl, will you wait for me?
      ja vaikka sydämeni viel’ toivoi
      and although my heart still hoped
      järkeni ennusti: on tuol’ joku vielä
      my sense predicted: there’s still someone
      varmasti munkaltaista ilman
      without someone like me

      mä sanoin:
      i said
      “elämä on lyhyt
      life is short
      enkä mä oottaa enää pystynyt
      and i cannot wait
      päivä laskee pian, lähde nyt!”
      the day is setting soon, go now!

      niin lähti hän ja rakkautensa
      so he went and took his love
      vei kauas mukanaan,
      far away with him
      rinnan alla suurempaan maailmaan
      under his chest to a bigger world
      mä siinä lakaisin kuistin ja oven
      i swept the porch and left the door open
      auki jätin toiselle, etsijälle uudelle,
      for another, a new searcher
      joka jo kotiin kaipaa
      who already misses home

      mä mietin:
      i think
      “elämä on lyhyt
      life is short
      mut onko vielä koskaan kukaan löytänyt
      but has anyone yet still found
      sitä mitä hän on etsinyt?”
      what they've been looking for?

  • chords

    • verse (x2): Em G Am Em Am Em B
      chorus: Em G Am - C D Em
      interlude: Em G Am Em C G D

06196

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07296

• I don’t mean to be harsh on the authors of the paper — it is just an ordinary example of what we are all accepting as truth, when reality is still hidden from our awareness

  • washing away your sins: threatened morality and physical cleansing
    chen-bo zhong and katie liljenquist 2006
    http://doi.org/10.1126/science.1130726
    Link: doi.org/10.1126/science.1130726

    • “Physical cleansing may wash away moral sins through symbolic self-completion (10); that is, people are motivated to complete their self-definitions (e.g., musicians) when indicators or symbols of this definition are lacking (e.g., skills) by engaging in activities that complete the symbols (e.g., training). Thus, when moral self-definition is at stake, such as when one has indulged in morally questionable activities, one should naturally be motivated to engage in activities that will restore moral integrity. For instance, Tetlock and colleagues (11) have shown that the mere contemplation of violating one’s core values spurs intent to take actions that will restore and protect those values. The restoration or completion of the moral self can be achieved through direct restitution, but it may also be achieved through substitutable symbols or activities that are not directly related (10, 11). Given the demonstrated association between physical cleansing and moral purity, cleansing activities that improve physical cleanliness may also compensate for moral impurity. Thus, we expected that a threat to the moral self would motivate the restoration of moral purity through direct compensatory behaviors (e.g., volunteering to help). If, however, physical cleansing restores the moral self, then individuals should have less need to engage in direct compensatory behaviors after physically cleansing themselves. This is indeed what we found. In Study 4, participants described an unethical deed from their past (the same recall task as in Study 1). Afterwards, they either cleansed their hands with an antiseptic wipe or not. Then they completed a survey regarding their current emotional state (9). After completing the survey, participants were asked if they would volunteer without pay for another research study to help out a desperate graduate student. Presumably, participants who had cleansed their hands before being solicited for help would be less motivated to volunteer because the sanitation wipes had already washed away their moral stains and restored a suitable moral self. As predicted, physical cleansing significant-ly reduced volunteerism: 74% of those in the not-cleansed condition offered help, whereas only 41% of participants who had a chance to cleanse their hands offered help (c2 0 5.02, P 0 0.025). Thus, the direct compensatory behavior (i.e., volunteering) dropped by almost 50% when participants had a chance to physically cleanse after recalling an unethical behavior.”
    • related to lakoff and johnson’s notion of “purity”
      metaphors we live by
      lakoff, g., & johnson, m. 1980

  • “Thus, the direct compensatory behavior (i.e., volunteering) dropped by almost 50% when participants had a chance to physically cleanse after recalling an unethical behavior.”

    this is just wrong science. it should read “if participants cleansed after recalling an unethical behaviour, compared to those who did not cleanse, the likelihood of a number of participants accepting to volunteer was less, by 50%.”

    this is important, because their phrasing implies each participant encountered both conditions, cleansed and not cleansed. they also lacked a control condition, where a different intervention is applied. this is understandable as their sample size is so small — max 23 for each condition, cleansed or uncleansed, so for a 50% difference, that is from 74% of 23 = 17 people offering help compared to 41% of 22 = 9 people. 8 people being more different in one measure just due to the extra not–controlled–for step, random chance or publication bias (good results published) rather than as the result of the experiment is easily within the bounds of possibility. the experiment needs repeating many times with better control conditions and many replications, including negative results, before the conclusions they express can be justified. moreover, even if their theory was correct, there is no direct correspondence between “volunteering” and “direct compensatory behaviour” — individual people may vary in their interpretation of whether volunteering counts towards compensating behaviour — the paper trumpets their conclusions based on sparse uncertain evidence

  • what is interesting to me in this study is those 26 of 55 people who accepted to volunteer, and especially those 9 people who the “cleansing” did not stop their accepting to help — is their moral compass stronger? we can’t tell from this data, but it is a question much more interesting to me

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08296

• bike helmet logic
  howiechong

08396

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09096

• probability of precipitation

  • POP is the probability of exceedance that more than a certain amount of precipitation, e.g. 0.01 inches(USA NWS) or 0.1mm(UK MetOffice), will fall in a single spot, averaged over the forecast area. This can be expressed mathematically:

    PoP = C x A

    C = the confidence that precipitation will occur somewhere in the forecast area.
    A = the percent of the area that will receive measurable precipitation, if it occurs at all.
    For instance, if there is a 100% probability of rain covering one half of a city, and a 0% probability of rain on the other half of the city, the POP for the city would be 50%. A 50% chance of a rainstorm covering the entire city would also lead to a POP of 50%. The POP thus usually expresses a combination of degree of confidence and geographic coverage.

    Note that the POP measure is meaningless unless it is associated with a period of time. NWS forecasts commonly use POP defined over 12-hour periods (POP12), though 6-hour periods (POP6) and other measures are also published. A "daytime" POP12 means from 6 am to 6 pm.2
    wikipedia

09196

09296

• the unapologetic case for bullshit
  stefano zorzi 2018
  ribbonfarm.com/2018/01/18/the–unapologetic–case–for–bullshit/

• the ascent of humanity
  charles eisenstein 2007

09396

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09596

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09796

• not yet read

  • on bullshit
    harry frankfurt 1986

  • faking it
    wiliam miller 2003

    • “truth is an offense” p142

  • eye for an eye
    wiliam miller 2005

  • the mystery of courage
    wiliam miller 2000

  • the anatomy of disgust
    wiliam miller 1998

  • your call is important to us: the truth about bullshit
    laura penny 2005

09896

09996

• not recommended

  • bullshit and philosophy: guaranteed to get perfect results every time
    george reisch, gary hardcastle eds 2006

    • mistakes bullshit for politeness, believes politeness is untruth
    • we are different from people who believe that lying is a necessary part of life, because we understand and do really feel sorry rather than faking an apology, actually apply principles rather than faking a belief in them etc.

04996

• we are blessed and cursed at the same time. by being able to see through some of the illusions that flow round us. through false illusions and false comfort. to love dearly with all our hearts yet to be forever apart.
  • the reason we seem to be different from the norm is that we do not believe in the sanctity of what they tell us. so we are often closer to reality than their static descriptions of things–as–they–may–have–been.
• being acutely aware and at the same time being easygoing may seem impossible, but it is actually possible, and is actually much easier than is generally believed
• "to lie it in" — use a lie to make something happen, e.g. tony blair and iraq war, george w. bush and u.s. presidency. c.f. "to swear in".
• hallelulie — v. to use lie in religious argument to manipulate public opinion.

04896

• most people think they don't form an attachment to a place or person until they have shared many moments and memories together. but like many things we believe, this isn't often true.

04796

• life on earth is just a fragile thin layer, like neocortex. may seem permanent like civilisation but actually ephemeral.
• the problem with economists’ “sunk cost” is that it is about money and not about resources. wasted resources have an environmental cost which we need to understand if we want to make decisions based in reality

04696

• assuming that just because something is common and negative, that we should also feel negative. example: abusive behaviour. this is because we assume what we know is true, and that it will continue to be true — the denial of change.

04596

• we may believe our lives are full of logic or reason, but viscerally we know this is not as we believe.
• reasons are bullshit: “we need reasons so we appear reasonable, yet when we use reasons we are not taking full responsibility for our behavior.”

04496

• just because some things we observe seem incorrect, does not imply that all things we think are incorrect are actually incorrect.

04396

• by their very nature, the most difficult problems are those at which we are most likely to fail. not the most severe, or even the most common, but those where there are more opportunities for us to make mistakes.

04296

• i don't believe in the "10000 hours to mastery" meme because it is a myth. yes there are people who have spent ten thousand hours towards some things but that does not mean that all people need to spend ten thousand hours in the same way, or that they must do so. that is another old spell, the spell of specialisation, dedication and concentration.

04196

• misusing kuhn’s paradigm model, we could say that paradigms must necessarily exist by definition because for a paradigm to exist then most people (at some point) must not understand the issue, and so there is a paradigm to overturn, ad infinitum.

04096

• last christmas
  wham
  makiaea

  • ☆last christmas, i gave you my heart
    　but the very next day, you gave it away
    　this year to save me from tears
    　i’ll give it to someone special

    once bitten and twice shy
    i keep my distance but you still catch my eye
    tell me, baby, do you recognize me?
    well, it’s been a year, it doesn’t surprise me

    merry christmas, i wrapped it up and sent it
    with a note saying, “i love you”, i meant it
    now i know what a fool i’ve been
    but if you kissed me now i know you’d fool me again

    ☆repeat x2

    a crowded room and friends with tired eyes
    i’m hiding from you and your soul of ice
    my god, i thought you were someone to rely on
    me? i guess i was a shoulder to cry on

    a face on a lover with a fire in his heart
    a girl undercover but you tore her apart
    maybe this year, maybe this year
    i’ll give it to someone special
    ’cause

    ☆repeat x2

    and last christmas
    and this year won’t be anything like
    anything like

    ☆repeat

    • last christmas piano tutorial

      • YouTube
        Link: youtube.com/watch

      • piato
        Link: piano-play-it.com/last-christmas.html

03996

03896

• chicken–and–egg problems are actually very common, we just don’t know it because we don’t fully understand the issues involved.
  • fortunately, they are often solvable from both ends, even if it doesn't seem so at first. small changes in any aspect of the issue can lead to reinforced changes in the other aspects.

03796

• they believe that what they can know is all there is to reality.

03696

• self help is a misnomer. what we need to do is learn and implement ways of helping each other. we need to learn how to be friends and neighbours and members of society.

03596

• what history can tell us of what happened, and what actually happened, are two different but related things.

03496

• science unfortunately is not able to give much guidance on things like how thinking "I have such and such disease or ailment" increases the very likelihood of that occurrence — not by some mystical power but just by reinforcing the very conditions that lead to the symptoms of our arbitrary definition of that condition. it is a reinforcement of our definition rather than a reinforcement of fact.

03396

• in a distorted and distorting society we can expect that concepts go astray. a doctor is meant to heal, a religion meant to be how to live a good life together, a school is meant to help people learn, leaders are meant to show the right path for all. but many concepts like these have been corrupted to become paths to power for abusive people.

03296

• myth: misunderstanding will (to choose), value (of chosen actions), and ability (to do chosen action).

03196

• illusion: we can only expect of people what they can give, and no more.
  • if this is true, how would we ever improve?

03096

• 幻影
  illusion
  譚詠麟
  alan tam

  • 漢字

    • 怎去開始解釋這段情
      寫一首關於你的詩
      胡言亂語心思交瘁
      仍未帶出合意字

      假若可接觸鏡中影像
      也許一切可以留得住
      紫色的小盒子裡
      盡藏著許多未了事

      燦爛的晶瑩
      代表絲絲愛意
      暗裡隨著閃閃光輝
      映照得奪目耀眼

      ☆幻像似的愛情
      　始終會消失去
      　那幻影卻一一再現我心底

      怎去開始接觸這段情
      彷彿知道不會容易
      睡夢裡
      追憶裡
      在尋覓你的影子

      你在我的心靈
      泛起絲絲愛意
      你卻無法停留讓我
      捉摸留住你

      ☆repeat

      幻像似的愛情
      埋藏我心深處
      每個泠冰的晚上
      那溫暖都在我心

      幻像似的愛情
      埋藏我心深處
      叫我每一個晚上
      也可抱擁著你

  • english

    • 怎去開始解釋這段情
      zam2 heoi3 hoi1 ci2 / gaai2 sik1 ze3 dyun6 cing4
      how to explain, how to begin
      寫一首關於你的詩
      se2 jat1 sau2 gwaan1 jyu1 nei5 dik1 si1
      wrote a poem about you
      胡言亂語心思交瘁
      wu4 jin4 lyun4 jyu5 / sam1 si1 gaau1 seui(?)
      nonsense thoughts devastated
      仍未帶出合意字
      jing4 mei6 daai3 ceot1 hap6 ji3 zi6
      yet to bring out the desired word

      假若可接觸鏡中影像
      gaa2 joek6 ho2 zip3 zuk1 geng3 zung1 jing2 zoeng6
      if i reach through the mirror
      也許一切可以留得住
      jaa5 heoi2 jat1 cai3 / ho2 ji5 lau4 dak1 zyu6
      perhaps everything can remain
      紫色的小盒子裡
      zi2 sik1 dik1 / siu2 hap6 zi2 leoi5
      a little purple box
      盡藏著許多未了事
      zeon6 cong4 zoek3 heoi2 do1 mei6 liu5 si6
      hide not your troubles

      燦爛的晶瑩
      caan3 laan6 dik1 zing1 jing4
      a shining jewel
      代表絲絲愛意
      doi6 biu2 si1 si1 ngoi3 ji3
      for a gentle love
      暗裡隨著閃閃光輝
      ngam3 leoi5 ceoi4 zoek3 sim2 sim2 gwong1 fai1
      secretly, brilliantly it shines
      映照得奪目耀眼
      jing2 ziu3 dak1 dyut6 muk6 jiu6 ngaan5
      too bright for our eyes

      ☆幻像似的愛情
      　waan6 zoeng6 ci5 dik1 ngoi3 cing4
      　loving an illusion
      　始終會消失去
      　ci2 zung1 wui6 siu1 sat1 heoi3
      　fated to disappear
      　那幻影卻一一再現我心底
      　naa5 waan6 jing2 / koek3 jat1 jat1 zoi3 jin6 / ngo5 sam1 dai2
      　a mirage envelops my heart

      怎去開始接觸這段情
      zam2 heoi3 hoi1 ci2 zip3 zuk1 ze5 dyun6 cing4
      how can i reach this love
      彷彿知道不會容易
      fong2 fat1 zi1 dou6*3 / bat1 wui5 jung4 ji6
      knew it would not be easy
      睡夢裡
      seoi6 mung6 leoi5
      through dreams
      追憶裡
      zeoi1 jik1 leoi5
      through fantasy
      在尋覓你的影子
      zoi6 cam4 mik6 nei5 dik1 jing2 zi2
      searching for your shadow

      你在我的心靈
      nei5 / zoi6 ngo5 dik1 sam1 ling4
      you are in my soul
      泛起絲絲愛意
      faan3 hei2 si1 si1 ngoi3 ji3
      revealing the slightest love
      你卻無法停留讓我
      nei5 koek3 mou4 faat3 ting4 lau4 joeng6 ngo5
      you cannot make me stay
      捉摸留住你
      zuk1 mo2 lau4 zyu6 nei5
      fathom keep you

      ☆repeat

      幻像似的愛情
      waan6 zoeng6 ci5 dik1 ngoi3 cing4
      loving an illusion
      埋藏我心深處
      maai4 cong4 ngo5 sam1 sam1 cyu3
      buried in the depths of my heart
      每個泠冰的晚上
      mui5 go3 lang2 bing1 dik1 maan5 soeng6
      each cold, cold night
      那溫暖都在我心
      naa5 wan1 nyun5 dou1 / zoi6 ngo5 sam1
      it warms my heart

      幻像似的愛情
      waan6 zoeng6 ci5 dik1 ngoi3 cing4
      loving an illusion
      埋藏我心深處
      maai4 cong4 ngo5 sam1 sam1 cyu3
      deep in my heart
      叫我每一個晚上
      giu3 ngo5 mui5 jat1 go3 maan5 soeng6
      each night it calls
      也可抱擁著你
      jaa5 ho2 pou5 jung2 zoek3 nei5
      please, hold me

      • 20140828

02996

• unique, together
  or: special but not alone

  • reality is that we are all unique. unreality is that being different means we must be lonely.

• complement rather than opposite

02896

• necessity
  • necessity is sometimes not real, rather, it is a value judgement
  • bearing on values, judgement, choosing, direction, deciding/procrastinating, loss/success

02796

• our problems are not as hard to solve as we may believe or have been led to believe
  • practical ways of solving immediate problems
  • pointers to continue solving problems in the future, and also how to avoid/preclude/bypass creating them in the first place; i.e. solving the root of the problem
• collective willpower
  • “do humans have the collective willpower to wean themselves off fossil fuels?”
    • willpower is not the issue, in reality

02696

• regression to the mean is useful only if you are thinking in one dimension. there is no use worrying if your child will be as smart as you because in all likelihood they will be smart in a different way. but if you are just thinking in one dimension, for example number of accidents before and after installing speed cameras in chosen locations (and those locations are chosen by how bad or frequent accidents are) then if we do not take into account regression to the mean then we are very likely to overestimate the impact of our so called intervention.

02596

• the reason we are so resilient, and why abusers are so fragile, is the same — our relation to reality. an abuser’s life is far from reality, so when their illusions are unmasked there is reckoning to pay. we are still far from reality, just not as far as an abuser is, so shocks have less effect on us as there is less perceptual distance to fall

02496

• am slowly coming to the conclusion we are all insane — not more or less, just rather in different ways
  • sanity is a myth

02396

• generalisations are illusory knowledge, like much of our so–called knowledge it seems to work most of the time — at present. it may be that most of our knowledge is this illusory kind — we would do well to understand this

02296

• life not zero sum
  • don't have to lose so someone else can win
  • the world of not zero sum. just because someone cannot see your worth does not mean you are worthless. just because someone else got the opportunity you wanted does not mean that you have lost. the time you used may be gone but you have gained and learned from the experience and possibly also from the relationship you have created.

02196

• people operate from their certainties, that just seems to be the way it is. but if you know otherwise, you will not be able to convince them. what then can you do?

02096

• both sides now
  joni mitchell

01996

• instead of seeing what is there, we mostly see what we want to see, what we expect to see, what the story leads us to believe we should see.

01896

• purity, perfection are myths, and if you want to go that far, so too are independence, fate, belief, necessity, power, values, words, and myth itself. that doesn't mean they are any less important, in some ways we should be striving for more of each myth, not less.
  • memories and habits are spells, as are words and songs and stories and science and myth.
  • so–called perfection is satisficing at a high level
• not perfection doesn't seek to preserve. perfection made as a tool to control and manipulate others, for there is no reason to submit.
• the only escape from tyrants who manipulate our beliefs is to discard our reliance on beliefs.

01796

• things are rarely what we think they are
  • but that is okay unless we insist that what we think is really how things are

01696

• reality is different to what most of society tells us. not so different that we can never reach it —yet what they tell us is sufficiently misleading that as long as we believe it, we will not.

01596

• the issue is not that people are wrong — we are all wrong much of the time and unaware of it… the issue is given this fact, what do we do? one answer is to often review our assumptions, to try to make assumptions that are less wrong.

01496

• causation defines our speech because it is used to define words — it is circular. we define things by what they do but what they do is dependent on causality

01396

• Illusion as what is left when description does not match reality, when a map does not match the territory. So anything can become illusory when the reality it means to describe undergoes change or otherwise no longer matches the description. Accuracy of information is the degree to which it matches reality or the degree to which it minimises illusion.

01296

• mistake militancy for drive, drive for devotion, devotion for righteousness, righteousness for right
• mistake mistakes for weakness, weakness for useless, useless for worthless, worthless for bad, bad for evil, evil for wrong
• Good and Evil are illusions. You will probably already be able to understand why this is.
• Dichotomies are bad because restricting dialogue to two theories, rather than accepting full reality, is not a simplification, it is a falsehood.
  • We should revisit binary decisions. They may not be truly binary anymore, and may never have been so.

01196

01096

Link: 01096-205951b4035f0797acefed51fa6e1dd4.html

• imagine
  john lennon

00996

• self–enhancement bias
  • self
    • ability
      • confirmation bias
        • we remember the instances that agree with our world view and forget those that do not
        • masks delusion of our special ability
  • others
    • control
      • hindsight bias
        • you feel like you always knew what would happen all along, after it has happened
        • we do not record our failures so there is no basis for comparison whether we actually made a correct prediction or not
        • masks delusion of our control over life events
  • future
    • hope
      • self–serving bias
        • provides credit when things go right
        • absolves responsibility when things go wrong
        • masks
          • help of others
          • luck
          • unfair advantage
        • masks delusion that things will turn out in our favour

00896

• illusion, from latin illudere “mock at”, literally “to play with”, from assimilated form of in– “at, upon” and ludere “to play”.

00796

• illusion of readiness
  • there is nothing that can prepare us to face our illusions. to lose one's moorings, bearings, can be bewildering, frightening. but fear is an illusion too.
• illusion of fitting in
  • it does us no favours to question what is, because we can not believe then the illusion of fitting in. a belief in place we belong in the world is a comforting belief, though it is not real.
• illusion of separateness

00696

• illusion of competence
  • competence, like civilisation, is illusory and ephemeral.
  • I have never met anyone who really knew what they were doing. this is not a judgment, it is just a fact. people may believe they know what they do, but it is a belief, not truth.
  • hubris from thinking we know something of reality, when actually we just borrow a little temporary knowledge. origin of this is completion fallacy.
  • mistaking pride or confidence, height or a low voice — physical attributes — for competence or ability
  • perversion of darwin’s theory of evolution, illusion of competence and competition

00596

• illusion of value
  • does truth exist? or is it an illusion too? diversity may be only observable fact.
  • so there wasn't a time when we knew that things were true and when things were not.
  • we must experience the search for truth before we can appreciate that there is no real truth that can be found — otherwise we are unlikely to believe such a thing. “the way that can be described is not the way”

00396

• “protective” delusion
  • delusions are protective, they insulate people from harsh realities that they would otherwise be unable to bear. if you wish to remove your delusions, you also need to prepare yourself to face realities that are harsher than you presently understand.
  • the fact of the matter is, the truth hurts. not because it is inherently painful, but because we are living in denial of reality and to face reality suddenly is shocking.
  • the problem with trying to discuss what reality is with most people is that rather than face reality they instead defend their assumptions based on the belief that they personally will be without worth if their assumptions, upon which they based their lives, are wrong.
  • they behave as if their lives depend on being right — and in a way, they do. any tribe that did not cohere seemed to be outgrown by those that did. laying aside whether that was real, this time growing itself is the problem — our beliefs have led us to outgrow our planet’s ability to indulge us.

00496

• illusion of belief, eternity, certainty, perfection, righteousness, truth
  • anyone who doesn’t learn how the world really works is bound to be chained by their beliefs of how the world works
  • the human world is an illusion of belief. everything built on an illusion will fall. faiths, science, nations, institutions.
  • there are always those who take words or other things too literally, fundamentalists, because they do not understand that words, all things, are not perfect — in a sense they are not as real as we imagine them to be, they are an illusory reality. literal understandings of “the world is an illusion” are sometimes unhelpful, because although we world in our understand is an illusion, the world itself is not an illusion — only our understanding of it is an illusion.
  • enemy is false word, thought, belief. but how does the enemy come to be? false belief in eternal rather than change leads us to think there can be a path that never changes, never grows, never dies. our enemy is our belief in an eternal.
  • when you believe you are right, that is precisely the point when you have already fallen into a trap — because there is no absolute right, and so to believe so is to be wrong. right and wrong are not opposites, because right does not exist. to start believing you are right, you have started to fail to maintain connection with reality, where there is no absolute right. there is only a changing reality, and to maintain connection with it is to be temporarily not–wrong.
  • if a belief system aspires to meet changing reality, there is no avoiding this core understanding, which is why we find this deep at the centre of each viable system.
  • just because most people “prefer” to deny this, does not make it less real. the “denial” is an illusion that it is easier or better not to try to understand the reality of whether the belief system aspires to meet changing reality, and the so–called “preference” arises from this illusion. some might want you to believe that it is hard to face a changing reality, but actually we can flow with reality easily — it is the illusion of “truth” that keeps us from flowing with reality.
  • all the same, we need to bear in mind that, at any given time, most people are under the spell of this illusion, and knowing this makes it easier to understand how they will act — and how we will act when we come under that spell. this points the way out — if we know there will be times when we will be under the spell, we can make some preparations to help us break free, and otherwise lessen the consequences of our time while we are bound. the most helpful (but hard–to–understand) concept i have come across so far is “diversity”.
  • and because this concept of “diversity” is so helpful in dealing with the consequences of this core illusion, the concept of “diversity” also is at the core of belief systems which aspire to meet changing reality.

00296

• with words and deeds, song and dance, science and religion, poetry and music, we still can only hint at what reality is — but yet we must try anyway.

• so, knowing that our understanding of the world will always be illusory, how do we live our lives?

• once we understand stochastic nature of reality, understand that diversity is one of few practical methods to face reality, most others are illusions

• flat–earth–turtles–all–the–way–down: flat–turtles
  almost all theories do not have a solid foundation, but some are more solid than others

  • in terms of relation to reality, the class of concepts containing change, evolution, and diversity is “more true” than any class of static concepts. they are all still illusions, just slightly “better” illusions than the static ones.

• when something appears to work, we value it higher and will do it again if the occasion arises. this is how our beliefs calcify as we grow older. the problem is that little concept: the “appears” in “appears to work”. although something can appear to work, often it does not truly work, or not as we believe it does. and in general, life moves on, the world changes, and even things that did truly work will eventually no longer do so. The “appears” is at the heart of what some call illusion, karma, destiny, fate. if we can understand why “appears” is so important, we can change the direction of our lives.

00196

• even the meanings of words change, though we may not notice.

reality, illusion

00096

• curium Cm (curie)
• kathy and ruth
  • organ extraction
  • artwork
• IF
• http link back to 00100

perceptual decisions are biased by the cost to act

nobuhiro hagura, patrick haggard jörn diedrichsen 2017
eLife.18422.001

Perceptual decisions are classically thought to depend mainly on the stimulus characteristics, probability and associated reward. However, in many cases, the motor response is considered to be a neutral output channel that only reflects the upstream decision. Contrary to this view, we show that perceptual decisions can be recursively influenced by the physical resistance applied to the response. When participants reported the direction of the visual motion by left or right manual reaching movement with different resistances, their reports were biased towards the direction associated with less effortful option. Repeated exposure to such resistance on hand during perceptual judgements also biased subsequent judgements using voice, indicating that effector-dependent motor costs not only biases the report at the stage of motor response, but also changed how the sensory inputs are transformed into decisions. This demonstrates that the cost to act can influence our decisions beyond the context of the specific action.