In March 2018, I wrote about the simplicity bias, part-1 to part-5. It took me some months before I realised everything is getting more complex (eg, in life, nature, universe). In September 2018, I started writing on the complexity bias (1). Many episodes followed (eg, part-14 in 2024). Today, starts part-15. Early April 2025, Quanta published this article: Why...
Brain vs Universe
An American brain drain
A recent Politico article stated: “Europe seeks to capitalize on America’s Trump-driven brain drain [ ] The EU’s body for scientific research, as well as local, regional and national governments, are mobilizing to poach top U.S. scholars.” Actually, it's tempting to ridicule the possibility of an American brain drain to Europe. Also given this March 5 Dutch article:...
Asteroid Bennu Is Packed with Life’s Building Blocks, New Studies Confirm (SA)
Intro LO: After digesting this recent Scientific American article, the conclusion is simple: it’s (nearly) impossible that life on planet Earth is a singular event within the Universe. There must be other life-forms throughout the Universe. Hence, science-fiction is (much) more like science - and technology - than like fiction. The (alleged) sightings of...
The flatness problem
A recent Quanta Magazine article mentions the “flatness problem”. That remark caught my immediate attention and the 2025 Quanta article reminds me of my 2022 blog: The Universe is flat? Back then, my view was: In my view, a flat Universe defies human logic. It’s like the (disproven) flat Earth hypothesis, and – to some extent – even feels like a...
Genius, evil and insanity
“The notion that genius is only thinly separated from insanity goes back at least to ancient Greece. Aristotle linked the two when he said, “There is no great genius without a touch of madness.” Source: PsychologyToday (2020). A recent comment by former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, on an alleged genius and tech billionaire, calls him a “truly evil person” (eg,...
Brainwave
Mid December 2024, the journal Neuron published a study entitled The unbearable slowness of being: Why do we live at 10 bits/s? I became aware through the NYT: The Speed of Human Thought Lags Far Behind Your Internet Connection, Study Finds. “It’s a bit of a counterweight to the endless hyperbole about how incredibly complex and powerful the human brain is,” said...
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