Greetings everyone,
Better late than never! A short one today. Please enjoy!
Today At A Glance
Why we can’t achieve happiness
Are thoughts real?
Classical Music for Writing, AI vs Human Consciousness & Liberal Education
The responsibility of any creator is to do the work, not judge it. Your job is to fall in love with the process, not grade the outcome.
—James Clear (1986-)
✏️ Waiting Out The Rain
To be happy is a wish that we all have for ourselves. But what does that mean, and is that really achievable?
The more I experience life the more I realize that happiness is only possible in the absence of suffering. And the absence of suffering does not guarantee happiness, it merely creates the conditions for it to exist. Happiness is an emotion, and emotions are like the weather. To wish to be happy all the time is to wish for beautiful weather every day.
What’s more realistic is to create the conditions in life so that, when the sun comes out, you are in the right frame of mind to enjoy its love. And when the clouds roll in and the rain is unleashed, you don’t sulk or feel sorry. You accept the weather for what it is, know the sun will come out again one day.
ignis aurum probat — fire tests gold.
💡 Food for Thought
Are thoughts part of reality?
They are real in the sense that we experience them, but often aren’t based on material sensory experience…
🔗 Sunday Best
Classical Music for Writing
Listening to this right now!
Productivity tip: want to know how much you are actually working? Put on a playlist that’s long like this one and pause it every time you stop. You’ll realize how inefficient you really are.
AI versus Human Consciousness: A Future with Machines as Our Masters?
An Article by Muhammad U. Faruque, Professor at University of Cincinnati.
the proponents of Dataism begin with the assumption that empirical and experimental science is the only genuine method of explaining the nature of reality, a highly controversial metaphysical presupposition not shared by all scientists. In this paradigm, consciousness is seen as another scientific problem to be solved scientifically. Such attitudes align well with the prevailing global tendency to ignore nonmodern, traditional philosophies, which developed highly sophisticated methods and theories to investigate the nature of consciousness over the course of thousands of years.
The Egalitarian Objection to Liberal Education
An Article by Thomas Hibbs, Sr. Professor at Baylor University
The proper use of language is to communicate with others about what matters most, about how we understand ourselves and others. Language is the vehicle for deliberation about better and worse ways of living together. The expansion of our vocabulary, through the sharing and reading of stories and the weighing of better and worse arguments, enables us to discern virtuous uses of our freedom from vicious ones.
When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you.
—Isaiah 43:2
Thanks for coming!
AT