In the last two and a half millennia we have gone from living in a small universe (about 40 miles in diameter) to living in a huge universe that is perhaps part of an infinite multiverse. And I went from assuming that our city was the navel of the universe to accepting that the center is everywhere …
Blog posts : "General"
How long will we insist on the crazy claim to be the only and the best?
When I was still in elementary school (not that many decades ago) we were taught that one of the differences between humans and "animals" was the ability of humans to create and use tools. Later, with greater knowledge and with advances in zoology and biology, that "difference" disappeared, since th…
Blindly trusting AI deprives us from telling and sharing our own stories
Last week, according to newspaper reports, two sisters who were visiting an area to the west of the Island of Hawaii as tourists, unaware of both the route and the place of destination, decided to follow the instructions of the satellite navigator (GPS). And they did it so well that they ended up si…
The galaxies form an immense cosmic river, to the delight of Heraclitus
A recent announcement (April 24, 2023) by NASA indicates that the James Webb Space Telescope revealed that galaxies form an immense river of cosmic proportions, a finding that would have delighted the Greek philosopher Heraclitus, who 2,500 years ago expressed a similar concept.
More precisely, a…
Disconnection from the other leads to the dangerous path of aggressive irrationality
In recent days, there have been events in different cities in the United States that exemplify the disconnection between human beings (we no longer see the other as “another one like myself”) and, therefore, highlight the dangers of falling into irrational aggressiveness, that is, seeing another hum…
Careful! What we think of as “junk” may be something of real value
For many decades modern researchers have wondered how the cement used by the Romans two millennia ago could last longer than the cement of our time, since Roman cement contains a not insignificant amount of rubbish. Answer: that "garbage", far from being it, was the key ingredient to give cement dur…
Careful! What we think of as “junk” may be something of real value
For many decades modern researchers have wondered how the cement used by the Romans two millennia ago could last longer than the cement of our time, since Roman cement contains a not insignificant amount of rubbish. Answer: that "garbage", far from being it, was the key ingredient to give cement dur…
Nothing works when the lie enjoys greater credibility than the truth
I recently needed some rather urgent electrical repairs at my home. The electrician I hired told me that he was half an hour late because I was at the wrong address. In fact, he suggested that I should check the title of my property because, he said, surely that important document was wrong.
I ex…
What will be the last truly human element to disappear?
I can't find any other way to start this column than by sharing a question that is being heard more and more frequently, but to which little attention is paid and which, in my opinion, continues to be ignored by most people: which truly human element will be the last one to disappear? And what is th…
How much confusion can we accept before seeking clarity?
Although all the evidence indicates that the future is no longer a continuity of the past and that we are not prepared for this new future, even so, there is an insistence on returning to a "normality" that was never normal because, if it had been, it would have allowed us to build a future, instead…
At what point does technology become magic? When we become irrational
Although only a few decades have really passed, I remember those now prehistoric and obsolete times when I first saw a color television, used a photocopier, enjoyed a hologram, and held a cell phone in my hand (which was the size and the weight of a brick).
But none of those advances, which at the …
We no longer know or cannot distinguish the true from the false
I remember reading some time ago the story about Dolly Parton entering one day a Dolly Parton look-alike contest. She lost. In fact, they told her that she didn't imitate Dolly Parton well enough and gave the award to a man dressed like her. That story illustrates a key element of our times: we pref…
In this hyper-connected age, we are more isolated than ever
South Korean philosopher Byun-Chul Han affirms that we live in a time in which we exploit ourselves and, moreover, we do it with pleasure. Therefore, we live continuously stressed, overwhelmed, and exhausted. A recent study, prepared by Hapi.com, adds details to that observation.
According to tha…
We only have a decade left before we lose our decision-making capacity
News about the new future breaks so fast that it feels like you're speeding through one sci-fi movie after another. But it is neither a movie nor fiction, rather it is a new reality that we still do not fully see or understand, but that already affects us.
For example, Australian soldiers can alr…
How long can we assume things and delude ourselves without accepting reality?
I recently needed the services of an electrician and when I called him, he told me he would come the next day at 10 am. More than half an hour later, the man called me saying that during all this time he had been standing in front of my house and that he had knocked on the door and rang the bell, bu…
The impossible is only impossible for those who believe so
A little over a decade ago, in the context of a philosophy class focused on technological change, I indicated to my students that quantum computing would arrive in a short time and, with its arrival, would cause a revolution in our lives. I remember the incident from the reaction of the students: th…
Order is just the chaos we became used to
A professor I once met in college repeated quite often that order is just the chaos we are used to. In other words, what we consider "normal" is "normal" only because we see it that way or accept it, although it may not be something so "normal" or "ordered" for other people.
For example, I rememb…
When virtual reality surpasses real reality, little remains of the real reality
Recent scientific reports are interesting and at the same time truly alarming because, although they seem to be taken from a science fiction movie, they are real situations that blur the boundaries between reality and illusion or fantasy
For example, the wildly successful artificial intelligence …
We are more concerned with what a singer does not say than with WHAT A philosopher SAYS
On social networks I recently found (and without looking for it) a post that included a phrase about friendship, attributing it to Aristotle. The point is that Aristotle never said that phrase. To my astonishment, the next message was a phrase attributed to a well-known singer. Underneath the phrase…
The creator of new technologies does not always understand their uses and consequences
When Philo Farnsworth invented television at the turn of the last century, he did so with the goal of educating those who couldn't attend classes in person, not broadcasting soap operas. And when Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook, his purpose was to share stories and photos with family and friends, n…
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