For a long time, scientists sought to find the “secret” that allows the cement used by the Romans 2,000 years ago to be more effective and durable than modern cement. And only now, it seems, have researchers from the United States, Italy and Switzerland found the answer, but they found it in the lea…
Blog posts : "General"
What is the future? ChatGPT provides an answer
I (Francisco) asked the now well-known AI ChatGPT one question: What is the future? This was the answer:
The future is an exciting and mysterious time that is filled with endless possibilities. As we look ahead, we can only imagine what new technologies, advancements, and discoveries will arise a…
In this culture of memelogy, we are moving away from the ineffable
Not all methods of conveying ideas are suitable for conveying the same level of ideas. Certain ideas, certain conversations, and certain topics require a certain depth of language that precisely allows sharing “deep” ideas (not to be confused with “academic” ideas), that is, that which is the source…
In everything we do, our face is there, seen or not
In everything we do and what we create, whether we are aware of it or not, and regardless of whether it is something good or bad, something sublime or something detestable, in all our works we are indelibly there, with our faces there engravings and stampings, sometimes hidden and sometimes in plain…
We are at the beginning of history, but it is not our history
The well-known author Herbert George (H.G.) Wells once wrote (I can’t remember where) that we, in our time, are closer to the caveman than to the real human being. That phrase came to mind when reading a thought recently expressed by the neuroscientist Anders Sandberg, who maintains that we are only…
What is the opposite state of full and constant awareness (mindfulness)?
Many years ago, I learned that the opposite of love is not hate, but indifference, because in hate there is still a (negative and destructive) relationship between the people involved, while in indifference there is no longer any relationship. For this reason, among the daily expressions there is th…
Let's spread our wings and fly as high and as far as we can
I recently read a scientific report about a small bird, only five months old, that flew non-stop from Alaska to Tasmania (South Australia), that is, about 13,000 kilometers that the bird traveled in about 13 days. According to scientists, this is the longest distance ever recorded traveled by a bird…
Goodbye, human journalism! It was very good to meet you
Over the past three and a half decades I have devoted countless hours to one of the most enjoyable tasks one can engage in: storytelling. In fact, I have had the privilege of writing thousands and thousands of stories for local, national, and international news outlets every day. But everything come…
The new future requires a serious expansion of self and global consciousness
I recently had to change one of the outlets in my basement, a quick and easy task that I had done many times before. I removed the old plug and put in the new one, paying attention to see that each wire was in the correct connection. However, to my astonishment and annoyance, there was no electricit…
If we just stopped obsessing over copies, maybe we'd see the original
More than a decade ago, when my daughter was beginning her studies in art history at a renowned university, one day she explained to me that her professors, when they taught about certain works, never did so based on copies, reproductions, or photographs, but only in the originals. That way, knowled…
The future changed and we continued to act as if nothing had happened
One of the defense mechanisms enumerated and explained by Freud consists in simply denying that something that is happening or has happened has really happened. In this way, hiding behind that refusal to see reality, the affected person continues to act as if nothing had happened, thus avoiding assu…
The global epidemic of silent despair cannot be cured with vaccines
In the middle of the 19th century, in his famous work Walden, the transcendental essayist and philosopher Henry David Thoreau wrote the following: "The mass of men live lives of quiet desperation." And although many years have passed since 1854 to date, that despair has not only deepened, but has be…
Can we please stop confusing the brain with a computer?
The announcement of a science segment on a well-known public radio program in the United States immediately caught my attention: "Today we are going to talk about the human mind," said the announcer. Since that topic is not only interesting, but also constantly changing and always important, I decid…
It's time to leave behind our childhood, both personal and global
In the third paragraph of her story Transformation, Mary Shelley (author of Frankenstein and The Last Man) aptly describes a personal and social situation that, almost two centuries after its original publication in 1831, continues to affect us in our time: immaturity, both at a personal level and a…
If the science fiction of the past is already real, will a past Utopia become our future?
Many years ago, I read in a sci-fi anthology (but I can't remember any other details) a short story about some "wonderful" shoes that could be worn for a long time without wearing out and then, when you stopped wearing them, they just dissolved. It turns out that now that kind of shoes, or something…
Can intelligence be understood mostly as speaking properly and clearly?
I recently read an article (on TechXplore) about a robot, called Epi, who was taught by experts at Lund University in Sweden to speak in less robotic and more human tones, and using words and phrases from everyday life. As a result, humans consider Epi more intelligent and reliable than other robots…
Earth has its own electrical grid (but we are offline)
A recent study published by scientists from the prestigious Yale University indicates that our planet has its own electricity network, a global network of nanowires or biofilms generated by bacteria, both on land and in the sea, thus allowing circulation of electricity.
According to the scientist…
Certain metals have their own memory. And perhaps their own consciousness?
Recently (end of August), scientists from the Federal Polytechnic School (Switzerland) announced the discovery of non-living, brainless materials that can remember previous external stimuli. That is, they have memory. The question then arises if they also have their own consciousness and notion of t…
The current crisis reveals what remained hidden for a long time
One must really question whether it is not that nature (or the universe, or some other type of presence) is using one crisis after another (pandemic, drought) to practically force us to remember everything that we would like to leave submerged in the unconscious and, that way, become aware of our ac…
We are neither the best nor the only ones nor the most powerful
At the end of the Star Trek episode "Errand of Mercy" (S1-Ep26, March 1967), the famous Captain Kirk reflects on how difficult it is to accept that, despite what one may believe, humans are neither the best, neither the only ones, nor the most powerful ones in the universe.
In the Star Trek fanta…
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