According to the Dutch Financial Times, the European Commission wants to interfere with Dutch tax laws. Financieele Dagblad, 1 November: The Netherlands must sacrifice its tax allowances for independent contractors and its mortgage interest deduction in order to obtain EU billions. There is some irony in this because our PM has been highly critical towards Hungary...
Tuesday, I was wondering about some other striking examples of the simplicity bias, besides my 2020 blog on routines in our lives. It took me a while to realise that routines are part of the most important example of the simplicity bias: standardisation (eg, internet, language, laws, mass production). Standardisation...
ScienceDaily title: Universal features of music around the world Author: University of Vienna Date of publication: 22 November 2019 Summary: New research supports the idea that music all around the globe shares important commonalities, despite many differences. "Is music really a "universal language"? Two articles in the most recent issue of Science support the...
Phys title: Recursive language and modern imagination were acquired simultaneously 70,000 years ago Publication date: 5 August 2019 "A genetic mutation that slowed down the development of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in two or more children may have triggered a cascade of events leading to acquisition of recursive language and modern imagination 70,000 years ago....
There is little doubt that all life-forms - plants, animals and humans - communicate. There is still, however, quite a scientific debate whether animals have thoughts (eg, Aeon, my 2016 blog, Theory of mind in animals). There is also a scientific debate whether having thoughts is required for using (written) language, or the other way around...
Sunday evening, I watched the entire 3 hour (Dutch) interview with Louis van Gaal in VPRO Zomergasten. At a certain point, Louis van Gaal corrected his interviewer several times. She talked about the personality of soccer players, while he referred to their behaviour. Their discussion struck a nerve as I noticed a parallel with the ancient Zoroastrian concept of...
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