Sam Harris – Free Will

By: The Inspiration Journey
Source: http://bit.ly/2aqNa7O

Losing a belief in free will has not made me a fatalist – in fact, it has increased my feelings of freedom. My hopes, fears, and neuroses seem less personal and indelible. There is no telling how much I might change in the future. Just as one wouldn’t draw a lasting conclusion about oneself on the basis of a brief experience of indigestion, one needn’t do so on a basis of how one has thought or behaved for vast stretches of time in the past. A creative change of inputs to the system – learning new skills, forming new relationships, adopting new habits of attention – may radically transform one’s life. Becoming sensitive to the background causes of one’s thoughts and feelings can -paradoxically- allow for greater creative control over one’s life. This understanding reveals you to be a biochemical puppet, of course, but it also allows you to grab hold of one of your strings.

Sam Harris

 

Wired people should know something about wires

Een prachtig persoonlijk verhaal van Andrew Blum over de lichtdraden die de hele wereld over gaan.

Zelf in mijn begin jaren van het internet in de hosting gezeten omdat dat de beste manier was om je internetplannen te realiseren. Heb dus veel datacenters van binnen mogen bekijken en gezien dat internet buitengewoon fysiek, kwetsbaar en complex is.
Heel menselijk eigenlijk :) En daar moeten we ons, zoals Andrew terecht bepleit, bewust van zijn.

Link: Andrew Blum: What is the Internet, really?

Recordings

Recordings is a new program from the VPRO Dutch public television. Every episode there are about 6 folk-songs to listen to preformed by people from all kinds of ethnic backgrounds living in Holland.

By singing their personal song (often with tears in their hart) I’m invited to connect though music, the universal language. This program tells the stories I tend to forget, but refers even more to the things we share. Society needs this, more then ever.

Link: vpro.nl