Our lives seem to oscillate between what we do every day because we cannot find a way to stop doing it and that which, although distant and poorly understood, appears as something both mysterious and transformative. Yet, as I see it, everyday life overwhelms us to such an extent that we often fail…
Human beings celebrate births, birthdays, and weddings, as well as graduations, promotions, and even championships. Countries also celebrate their independence days and their heroes. Some celebrations are repeated once a year, and others never occur. But what are we celebrating when we celebrate…
Recently, I decided to purchase a new version of a software program that I have been using on my computer for years. After completing the payment, I downloaded the new version, but when I tried to install it, I received a warning message informing me that the program contained a virus. I co…
In this time of transition from one historical era to another, when truth no longer seems to matter and, at the same time, nothing appears to carry enough gravity, in both senses of the word, and almost everything becomes superficial, I cannot help thinking about Metamorphoses (or The Golden Ass),…
Recently, on one of those afternoons when I wander aimlessly through the radio dial looking for something interesting to listen to in the car on my way home, I came across a conversation about The Name of the Rose, the well-known book by Italian philosopher and novelist Umberto Eco. Once I got h…
Recently, I ran into a problem that, I assumed, would be resolved quickly and easily within a few minutes. But it soon became clear that this would not be the case. After several unsuccessful attempts to solve the issue, I finally realized that I was trying to fix a problem that did not actually…
I still remember a time (actually, not that long ago) when these weekly commentaries were mostly based on topics that emerged from everyday events and experiences, such as a funny misunderstanding between two people because their cars looked almost identical, or a serious neighborhood mobilizati…
Recently, on my way to work, I passed by a neighbor’s house and noticed that, out front that morning, there was a huge waste container where two or three men were throwing away furniture, tools, decorations, electronic equipment, and many other items—all in good condition. The destination was ob…
A recently published paper in Cell Reports explored a question that sounds almost like science fiction, but it is not: Can the human brain begin to treat virtual wings as if they were part of the body? If so, is this experiment an anticipation of humanity moving into a virtual world?
In the e…
Dinosaurs ruled the Earth for hundreds of millions of years, and, according to one scientist, that reign still affects all human beings today in an incredible and almost unimaginable way: one of the direct consequences of the existence of dinosaurs is that humans have shorter lifespans than we o…
The request was clear and direct: “Please don’t talk about philosophy!” Then, as if to emphasize the urgency and importance of what she was asking, she added, “Philosophy is bad for my son!” And just in case I hadn’t understood, this mother continued, “Ever since my son started reading philosoph…
Last week, two people (a young man and an older woman) told me separately that they had lived for a long time inside “a bubble.” Life circumstances (an unexpected and positive trip for the young man, a tragic loss for the woman) led them to leave that “bubble.” Many others, however, never do.
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The news is alarming not only at a global level, but even locally, as shown by recent incidents occurring over the past few weeks in the city where I live, all of them involving children and teenagers.
In one case, a 16-year-old teenager was arrested by police for driving at over 100 mph…
Undoubtedly, one of the great technological achievements of our time is the resumption of travel to the Moon—whether to observe it up close or, eventually, to visit it in person. In that context, one of the most astonishing images is seeing Earth from space, an image not seen since 1972. But unl…
When I was still in elementary school, philosophy crossed my path in the form of a history of philosophy book and a copy of Meditations on First Philosophy by René Descartes. Five decades later, that calling still calls me each day to find my best ideas in the minds and books of great thinkers, whet…
Years, centuries, and millennia pass, and it becomes clear that humanity has neither learned the lessons of the past nor grasped the opportunities of the future. Instead, we insist on returning to —or remaining in— an irrecoverable past, while narrowing the horizon of the future by forgetting (inten…
It has been said that soccer is the most important of the least important things in life. For that reason, soccer can sometimes teach us lessons about life. That happened to me recently when, after a match that Boca Juniors should have won but did not, a well-known sports journalist wrote, “This…
Recently I came across the following question, “Quo vadis, humanitas?” (“Where are you going, humanity?”), which appeared as the title of an article inviting readers to rethink the future of humanity from a philosophical, theological, and anthropological perspective—without delegating …
Recent experiences have led me to ask how it is possible that the more connected we are, the less connected we are with others in real life, and the more superficial and irrelevant our conversations become. Clearly, we are in a stage of cognitive transition in which the old forms of so…
I must confess that the beginning of the message left me confused: “Your lifetime subscription is about to expire.” If I activated a subscription (with a certain company) trusting that it truly was “for life,” how is it possible that, without prior notice or any alternative offer, the compa…
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