Category: Science

How Does Laughter Operate?

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Pervasiveness of Laughter

Laughter has been considered one of the primitive emotions recognized in every culture. Of all the different emotional expressions, laughter is one of the few that adults who have been deaf and blind from birth can generate. Although we all have moments of solitary experience, laughter is predominantly a social phenomenon that has its roots both in early human development and also early in the development of our species.

Thinking of Others

We like to laugh and make others laugh. Not only does laughter have a multitude of benefits in terms of coping with stress and illness, but it works to bind individuals together in social coalitions. It is a deeply emotional response activated by the emotional regions of the amygdala and associated with brain networks, but it operates in conjunction with higher-order processes related to social cognition — thinking about others.

The Self Illusion: How the Social Brain Creates Identity
Bruce Hood

What Is The Age Of Science?

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Age of Science

The age of science is the knowledge revolution of the last four centuries.

The scientific revolution was characterized by four traumatic innovations:

  • Discovery of Truth
    A new method for the discovery of truth, which challenged ancestral tradition and folk wisdom by appeal to experimentation and evidence.
  • Origins
    Overthrow of the basic beliefs that most people cherished concerning the origins and nature of the universe, life, and people.
  • Information & Knowledge
    Never-ending surge of new information and knowledge about the world, which was too relentless and too complex for and single individual to master.
  • New Technologies
    Conceiving and producing of new technologies, which gave to humans the power that formerly belonged only to the gods.

Staying Sane in a Crazy World
Sherwin Wine

Miracles Of Life

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Authenticity
.

American Indian Tradition Speaks of Three Miracles

  1. The first miracle is that anything exists at all.
  2. The second miracle is that living things exist.
  3. The third miracle is that living things exist that know they exist.

As human beings conscious of ourselves, we represent the third miracle.

Who Was Pythagoras?

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Pythagoras

Mathematician and Philosopher

Pythagoras (c. 580-500 BC) was an Ionian (Greek) mathematician and philosopher. He was a contemporary of Buddha, Lao Tzu, and Confucius.

Pythagoras is best known for the Pythagorean Theorem, a mathematical theorem which says c2 = a2 + b2. That is, in a right-angled triangle, the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides.

……..Pythagorean Theorem

Pythagorean Theorem

Religious and Philosophical Movement

Pythagoras established the Pythagorean Brotherhood at his academy in Crotone, Italy. This was a religious and philosophical movement that influenced Aristotle and Plato, and made an important contribution to the development of western philosophy. Pythagoras and his followers believed that everything was related to mathematics and everything could be predicted and measured in rhythmic patterns or cycles.

The Pythagoreans were vegetarians and believed in the transmigration of souls. They also, rather curiously, believed beans to be special and would not eat them. Pythagoras is said to have been killed by an angry mob when he refused to run through a bean field to escape their pursuit.

Mathematics: How the World Works
How the World Works: Mathematics: From Creating the Pyramids to Exploring Infinity
Anne Rooney

Background on Anne Rooney