Big Think
- Posted on Sunday October 13, 2024
In 2023, the U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy released an advisory about a new public health crisis: the loneliness epidemic. According to Murthy, people of every age and background across the country told him they have grown disconnected from others. Given the harms associated with chronic loneliness — both emotional and physical — the Surgeon General put forth a national strategy to combat the problem.
As if on cue, that same year saw the release of GPT-4, the fourth of OpenAI’s ... Continue Reading » - Posted on Saturday October 12, 2024
Short answer: Less than you think.
That’s despite the piece in the NY Post that asks, “Are Americans Playing with their Kids Enough?” (And seems to imply no!)
When our kids were toddlers my husband vowed he was going to write a book, “How to Play with Your Kids Without Getting off the Couch.” It would be filled with ideas for playing with kids like Bus Driver: “Sit on the couch and say, ‘Everybody on the bus!’” And Shoe Store: “Sit on the couch and say, ‘I’d like to ... Continue Reading » - Posted on Saturday October 12, 2024
This article is an installment of Future Explored, Freethink’s weekly guide to world-changing technology. You can get stories like this one straight to your inbox every Saturday morning by subscribing above.
It’s 2028. It’s been one year since you bought your first electric vehicle, and the transition has gone far smoother than you expected. You’ve never come close to having your battery die on the road, and any time you’ve needed to power up, you’ve had your pick of convenient charging stations, thanks ... Continue Reading » - Posted on Friday October 11, 2024
When does detachment cross the healthy border? People often say, “Don’t take things to heart.” “Accept without pride. “Let go.” But at some point, this becomes too much. But where? How do we know?
– Jiri, Czechia
A fantastic question, Jiri, and one that has been on my mind recently. If you spend any time around the philosophical sort, you will usually find a healthy majority of people flirting with Stoicism or dabbling in Buddhist literature. Of course, in many ways, the two are ... Continue Reading » - Posted on Friday October 11, 2024
Here on Earth, all living organisms obey certain rules and laws, and are subject to the phenomenon of evolution, including (and often, primarily) through the process of natural selection. Organisms, in terms of:
the functions they can perform,
the structures they possess,
and the underlying genetic sequences that encode them,
all of which largely determine their biology, all change over time, or evolve. Some organisms, or even entire groups of organisms, will go extinct when resources run scarce or competitors arise, while others will ... Continue Reading »
|