Late 2021, a member of Dutch Parliament submitted a vote for an inquiry in the prolonged Dutch excess mortality. His motion received the full support of Dutch Parliament (source). Other countries have similar questions, like the UK and USA. So far, nobody has found a satisfactory explanation. Some explanations are more political than scientific. Hence, my adding of...
Assumptions
Free will: no one can predict what you’ll do. Seriously?
4 May, 2023
People who know me well will claim that they can predict my choices. I think, feel and believe their view is valid. Nevertheless, neuroscientist Stanislas Dehaene claims that ‘Free will is real. No one can predict what you are going to do’ (El Pais-2023). The explanation may be in statistics. Knowing someone well implies that you've witnessed many events, in which...
Confusion: reality vs beliefs
2 May, 2023
When reality is different from our assumptions, beliefs, or expectations then we will get confused. A recent and excellent Aeon-Psyche article argues that Confusion is a symptom of learning. In my view, our confusion will either result in (internal) curiosity, a prerequisite for learning, or be ignored. In "2003, the psychologists Paul Rozin and Adam Cohen asked...
AI: artificial intelligence or artificial idiocy?
20 Apr, 2023
Recently, I have noticed many articles on Artificial Intelligence (AI), including this one: Artificial Idiocy. It was written by Slavoj Žižek, Professor of Philosophy at the European Graduate School, and International Director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities at the University of London. I also noticed an excellent article by Wim Naudé (b.1968), an...
Why do we expect reciprocal friendships?
20 Mar, 2023
The notion of (full) reciprocity in friendships will create false expectations because it's an illusion. Some friendships may indeed come quite close to reciprocity. In most friendships, someone is leading (eg, pull & push) the friendship. The other friends are more responsive. Hence, my blog title's question. Many articles claim reciprocity is a cornerstone of...
Is it better being alone than being with the wrong one?
14 Mar, 2023
I heard the phrase above ("it's better being alone than being with with wrong one") in Cold Feet, a series rated 8.2 in IMDb. This phrase has quite some hits on the internet. Nevertheless, a recent scientific study disagrees: "Even an unhappy marriage is better for you than being alone" (Times-2023). This remarkable difference may well relate to the difference...
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