Years ago, my uncle told me, “I told you a million times not to exaggerate.” It was, of course, a joke based in the obvious self-contradiction of the thought expressed in that statement. But it is not a joke the increasing number of people using similar expressions and fully unaware of the self-cont…
Blog posts : "General"
The undeniable problem of our anxious, distracted, and empty minds
There should be no doubts that we live at a time when our prehistorical brain can hardly handle the multiple and unexpected challenges we now face and that we were not designed to face. We were designed to light a fire inside a cave, not to save a techno-globalized, overpopulated planet from self-de…
What does it mean to live in a post-planet era?
I have a limited understanding of what it means to live in a post-truth era, that is, at a time when we only pay attention to our own ideas and never analyze them. And I also have some understanding of what it means to live in a post-democracy world (many examples around us.) But, what does it mean …
Sometimes, the universe hears our thoughts
A few days ago, a good friend of mine invited me to have lunch with him because he wanted to share information about the important progress he was making in a community-oriented project he began decades ago. I immediately accepted the invitation, but I didn’t like the restaurant he selected, because…
In this life, we are all just beginners
I recently enrolled in an online course because I liked the key question of the course: If you are so intelligent, why aren’t you happy? I decided to jump right away into the first video, but there was a problem: no audio. The professor was clearly speaking, but I couldn’t hear a word. I was frustra…
What should we do when our own leaders become our worst enemies?
I recently met by chance with a local community leader recognized for his many years of working supposedly “for the benefit” of the local community. I said “supposedly” because, according to this person, we (our community) deserves to live in poverty and ignorance. Hence, the question of the title: …
It’s not me: it’s the old virus infecting my brain (and yours)
Francisco Miraval
Some time ago, when I was given the opportunity of teaching philosophy, I asked my students to tell me what the did the day before the class, and then two days before, and we kept going until we found a day where nobody in the room remembered what we did on that day. We have rea…
What should we talk about when we are told “not to talk about that”?
I was recently invited to talk to a group of community leaders and I decided to talk about one of the topics that I have been studying for many years: the emerging future. The presentation and the dialogue went well, even when of the participants said, “We shouldn’t be talking about that”.
There is no room for experts in a narcissistic society (and that’s dangerous)
Francisco Miraval
Several years ago, when my son was still in high school, one day he returned home with a very low grade in his Spanish test, a language that represents no problems for him and that it is also my native tongue. Intrigued and upset, I asked him to show me the test. I saw it and I wa…
El narcisismo colectivo acabó con los expertos (y eso es peligroso)
Francisco Miraval
Hace ya varios años, cuando mi hijo aún estaba en la escuela secundaria, un día él regresó a la casa con una calificación muy baja en su examen de español, un idioma que, además de ser mi idioma natal, él domina sin problemas. Intrigado y algo enojado, le pedí revisar el examen y …
Individual and collective immaturity prevent us from solving our problems
Francisco Miraval
I have been observing people and myself for many years and I honestly believe there are to main reasons why we, humans, face the problems and challenges we face: either we are not living the life we have been called to live according to our talents and passion, or we never assume o…
La inmadurez individual y colectiva acrecienta las dificultades para resolver problemas
Francisco Miraval
Tras años de observación y autoobservación, honestamente creo que en muchas ocasiones los seres humanos enfrentamos problemas por una de dos razones básicas: o vivimos una vida que no se basa en nuestros sueños, talentos y llamado, o no asumimos la responsabilidad que nos correspon…
Keeping obsolete ideas prevents me from seeing the present and building the future
Francisco Miraval
I recently had a problem with my car insurance company. I needed a certain document from them, but they never returned my calls. As expected, my frustration began to grow, and it did intensify with each unanswered call or message.
Since nobody returned my calls, I went to the compa…
Aferrarme a creencias obsoletas me impide ver el presente y construir el futuro
Francisco Miraval
Recientemente tuve un problema con la compañía de seguros de mis automóviles: necesitaba que me enviasen un documento, pero ni siquiera me respondían. Y, como era de esperar, mi frustración comenzó a intensificarse con cada llamado y mensaje sin respuesta.
Básicamente, los ll…
Ancient Greeks traveled to America and Mayans built a megalopolis in the jungle
Francisco Miraval
When I was still a college student, a History professor said many times that, according to Ptolemy, Phoenicians and Romans frequently came to the Americas, either to Brazil or to Ecuador (in this case, looking for minerals.) To that list of transatlantic travelers, we should now ad…
Los griegos antiguos viajaban a América y los mayas rivalizaban a los griegos
Francisco Miraval
Cuando yo todavía estaba tomando clases en la universidad, un profesor de historia insistía que, según Ptolomeo, los fenicios y los romanos frecuentemente viajaban a las Américas, los unos a lo que hoy es Brasil y los otros a lo que hoy es Ecuador. Y a esa lista ahora habría que ag…
I don’t like when science fiction becomes reality (but I am not sure why)
Francisco Miraval
Every time I read a report or press release about something that it was just science fiction and now it is real I feel uneasy, but I am not sure why. It is a kind of existential uneasiness created, I think, because each time one of those stories is published, it increases the fluid…
Me molesta cuando la ficción se hace realidad (pero no sé bien por qué)
Francisco Miraval
Cada vez que leo una historia sobre algo que antes era sólo ficción convirtiéndose en realidad siento en mí un cierto escozor de impreciso origen, una especie de molestia existencial, generada, quizá, por el hecho que cada una de esas historias confirma la fluidez entre lo que cons…
Let’s not confuse “reinventing ourselves” with “becoming truly human”
Dr. Francisco Miraval
Somebody recently told me that, because everything is changing so fast and those changes are so deep, it is time for us, humans, to re-invent ourselves and, more specifically, we need to âre-engineeringâ ourselves to change what we should change and to improve what we shoul…
¿Reinventarnos o rehumanizarnos? ¿O son lo mismo?
Francisco Miraval
Recientemente alguien me sugirió que, en el marco de los constantes y profundos cambios que experimenta el mundo, había llegado la hora de âreinventarnosâ a nosotros mismos y, más específicamente, hacer una âreingeniería personalâ para cambiar todo lo que debamos cambiar y …
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