https://www.sott.net/category/20-Science-of-the-Spirit Signs of the Times: The World for People who Think. Featuring independent, unbiased, alternative news and commentary on world events. en-us Original content Copyright 2026 by Signs of the Times/Sott.net. For other content, see our Fair Use Policy at www.sott.net. Sat, 28 Mar 2026 17:42:57 +0000 https://www.sott.net/images/sottlogo_rss.jpg SOTT.net https://www.sott.net https://www.sott.net/article/505398-Should-society-help-you-to-die-The-EU-now-has-a-case-to-answer What the euthanasia of Noelia Castillo reveals about the future of European society. Today in Spain, a 25-year-old woman named Noelia Castillo is scheduled to undergo euthanasia. Born into a dysfunctional family in Barcelona, Noelia spent her childhood in shelters and fell victim to gang rape in 2022. This trauma resulted in severe clinical depression, and she attempted suicide twice. Her second suicide attempt left her paralyzed and confined to a hospital bed. Since 2024, Noelia has been paralyzed. She requested permission for euthanasia, and psychiatrists determined that her case met the necessary criteria for the procedure: the young woman lives in constant pain and has an irreversible medical condition that does not allow her to have a normal life. However, Noelia's father intervened. He vehemently opposed the decision, arguing that his daughter needed assistance, not assisted suicide. Despite their complicated relationship and past parental rights issues, he said that her... https://www.sott.net/article/505398-Should-society-help-you-to-die-The-EU-now-has-a-case-to-answer Sat, 28 Mar 2026 17:36:08 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/505064-Believe-Anything-Believe-Nothing What compels us to believe something is true? In an age where photographs can be fabricated, film can be manipulated, and speeches are crafted to deceive, our traditional markers of truth have lost their footing. So, the question becomes: what do you look to as your measure of what is real? I recently came across a post claiming that the newly released Epstein files prove Donald Trump is a pedophile. It presented what appeared to be a detailed set of documents, emails, perhaps, describing an encounter between Trump and a thirteen-year-old girl allegedly brought to his hotel by Jeffrey Epstein himself. I'll admit I only skimmed it. Reading anything on Facebook demands serious vetting, at least for me. But as I scrolled through, I couldn't help thinking of the Trump haters who would devour it without a second thought, because when it comes to belief, bias often does the heavy lifting. And I'm not exempt from that. I catch myself gravitating toward reports that frame certain Trump... https://www.sott.net/article/505064-Believe-Anything-Believe-Nothing Mon, 09 Mar 2026 16:05:10 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/504795-The-modern-workplace-wasnt-designed-for-humans-and-it-shows Input. Output. Targets met. Value created. Performance delivered. Strip work down to its essentials and for many people, this is what remains: a machine-like focus on producing, performing and optimising. The system keeps moving - often with little concern for the human energy, attention and resilience required to keep it running. Over time, this can lead to stress, ill-health, disengagement and burnout. Almost half of employees worldwide say they're currently burned out and nearly three-quarters of US workers report that workplace stress affects their mental health. But exhaustion isn't a personal failing - it's built into the system. Indeed, this way of organising work is not accidental. It has deep roots in how modern workplaces were designed. https://www.sott.net/article/504795-The-modern-workplace-wasnt-designed-for-humans-and-it-shows Sun, 22 Feb 2026 21:31:12 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/504548-Forewarned-Understanding-the-psychology-of-advertising Great advertisers understand exactly how their audience thinks and what they respond to. Learn how businesses apply psychology to create effective ads. Psychology is not only a tool to better understand those around you — it can also lead to increased influence. And while these persuasion skills are typically put toward research or counseling, they can also be useful in fields outside of the direct psychology world, such as marketing and advertising. Although the methods used in advertising and marketing have changed progressively over the years — from merchants in ancient times screaming in marketplaces to digital marketers buying ads on social media sites — the underlying psychology in marketing and advertising has remained the same. No matter how complex it may seem, psychology truly is an everyday principle. We use it in our relationships, our communication, and we can learn to use it to improve sales in business. https://www.sott.net/article/504548-Forewarned-Understanding-the-psychology-of-advertising Mon, 09 Feb 2026 21:47:52 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/504256-How-your-brain-creates-aha-moments-and-why-they-stick A sudden flash of insight is a product of your brain. Neuroscientists track the neural activity underlying an "aha" and how it might boost memory. Introduction Here are three words: pine, crab, sauce. There's a fourth word that combines with each of the others to create another common word. What is it? When the answer finally comes to you, it'll likely feel instantaneous. You might even say "Aha!" This kind of sudden realization is known as insight, and a research team recently uncovered how the brain produces it, which suggests why insightful ideas tend to stick in our memory. Maxi Becker, a cognitive neuroscientist at Duke University, first got interested in insight after reading the landmark 1962 book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions) by the historian and philosopher of science Thomas Kuhn. "He describes how some ideas are so powerful that they can completely shift the way an entire field thinks," she said. "That got me wondering: How does the brain come up with those... https://www.sott.net/article/504256-How-your-brain-creates-aha-moments-and-why-they-stick Sun, 25 Jan 2026 20:52:26 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/503816-Imagine-All-the-People-Food-freedom-and-what-it-means-to-be-human Fifty-four years ago, John Lennon asked us to imagine a world with no borders. But he did not foresee a world where the only thing left to colonise would be our own humanity. Today, the 'dream' has become a civilisation crisis, a cage of standardisation, designed to strip us of our culture and our biological autonomy (the corporate and geopolitical forces behind this are set out in "Corporate Power, Imperial Capitalism and the Struggle for Food Sovereignty"). Most critiques of the global agrifood system, even those that describe themselves as radical, remain confined within the system's own language. They argue over efficiency versus sustainability and yields versus biodiversity. These debates often assume that the underlying framework of industrial development is given and that the task is to optimise outcomes within it. But what if you refuse this paradigm? What if you expose what is usually kept beyond the bounds of policy debate? What if you argue that the crisis of food and... https://www.sott.net/article/503816-Imagine-All-the-People-Food-freedom-and-what-it-means-to-be-human Sat, 03 Jan 2026 20:45:22 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/503756-Your-mind-can-bend-time-Heres-how A minute is always a minute, except when it isn't. This idea was put to the test in a 2023 Harvard study. Researchers induced minor bruising on participants' forearms and then had them sit in rooms where the clocks ran at normal speed, half-speed, or double-speed. Crucially, the actual elapsed time was identical across all conditions — 28 minutes — but the clocks ticked at different rates. The results surprised the researchers. Wounds healed faster when people thought more time had passed, and slower when they thought less time had passed. "Personally, I didn't think it would work," lead author Peter Aungle told The Epoch Times. "And then it did work!" A century ago, Albert Einstein demonstrated that time is relative — not fixed. He explained the idea with a simple, humorous example: "Put your hand on a hot stove for a minute, and it seems like an hour. Sit with a pretty girl for an hour, and it seems like a minute. That's relativity." Now, psychologists and neuroscientists are... https://www.sott.net/article/503756-Your-mind-can-bend-time-Heres-how Wed, 31 Dec 2025 19:28:15 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/503161-The-brilliance-of-boredom A couple weeks ago I wandered into a digression about toxic workplaces. Consider this week's Nightcrawler another small detour into the forgotten value of boredom. Last Saturday, our four-year-old didn't sleep well. So on Sunday morning, I did what many semi-desperate parents have done for generations: I loaded her into her carseat, and set out for a long, pointless drive to get her to fall asleep. Thankfully, the ruse worked. As we wound our way toward the Oregon coast, she nodded off after a promised donut. I reached for my headphones, ready to salvage my odyssey with a podcast or something vaguely productive. And then: disaster. I realized I'd forgotten them. At first, I was bored. My brain, conditioned by a decade of smartphone use, kept reaching for the familiar dopamine drip of constant input. And I know I'm not unique in this. Most of us have become habitual grazers of digital noise... which is the polite way of saying we've become information junkies, always craving our... https://www.sott.net/article/503161-The-brilliance-of-boredom Tue, 25 Nov 2025 19:57:18 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/502987-Discover-your-destiny The only way to know what to do People are talking endlessly not only about morality and moral rules in general, but about what they think you should do specifically. Date? Not date? Get married or not? Have children or not? Hustle hard and get rich — or lay low and get out of the hamster wheel? Do the responsible corporate job or quit and open your weird startup? Escape to the countryside or create a futuristic metropolitan enclave? Everybody seems to have their answers, trying to impose them on the rest of us. We are surrounded by a shrill new Heideggerian "they" that never shuts up, forever tugging us here and there, and once we have regained balance, again comes at us with the worst advice at the worst possible moment. https://www.sott.net/article/502987-Discover-your-destiny Mon, 17 Nov 2025 15:04:20 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/502896-Democracys-fatal-flaw-and-more-on-forgiveness Logocratic principles on display in Tucker Carlson's recent interview with George Santos In our latest ponerology meetup for paid subscribers we discussed Lobaczewski's criticisms of modern democracy in his book Logocracy. There, he lists the main flaws as he sees them, and what they inevitably lead to in practice. This culminates in the following statement: Every candidate for election in a democratic country must reckon with these defects of public opinion and must be able to satisfy them with appropriate promises. It is difficult for persons of high values of mind and character to do this, so they lose to candidates with an inferior sense of responsibility, or they withdraw discouraged by such demands. ... That is why democracy has a constant tendency to elevate to legislative and leadership positions persons who are not well qualified, but who are eloquent and relatable. This is the case in the state as a whole and similarly within individual parties, where their leaders are... https://www.sott.net/article/502896-Democracys-fatal-flaw-and-more-on-forgiveness Tue, 11 Nov 2025 23:21:59 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/502880-How-it-feels-to-live-as-an-academic-in-exile-while-Gaza-burns As a graduate student from Gaza studying in Wyoming, I live in two dimensions: one where life moves peacefully forward, and another where everything I love is collapsing. I live in both worlds at once, holding grief and strength in the same breath. In the fall of 2023, as snow fell softly outside a classroom in Wyoming, I stood at the front of the room preparing to give a presentation about the First Amendment. The course was called Free Speech, and I had been looking forward to this discussion. Moments before I began, a message appeared on my phone: my friend and teacher, Dr. Refaat Alareer, had been killed in Gaza. I froze. My body turned cold, as if the snow had found its way inside me. My classmate Zakaria, from Morocco, sat beside me. When I told him what had happened, he whispered, "You should tell the professor. You can't give the presentation now." But I couldn't stop. I told him, I have to do it. Maybe it was denial, maybe it was duty. I stood in front of my classmates and... https://www.sott.net/article/502880-How-it-feels-to-live-as-an-academic-in-exile-while-Gaza-burns Mon, 10 Nov 2025 20:57:10 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/502597-The-Dunning-Kruger-effect-has-been-cited-for-26-years-but-ironically-most-people-still-misunderstand-it The lesson isn't that dumb people are overconfident, according to its co-creator. It's that you are. Few psychological rules have as high a public profile as the Dunning-Kruger effect. Way back in 1999, David Dunning and Justin Kruger showed that the people who were least competent at a given task were also the most confident in their abilities. Meanwhile, the most skilled are the most unsure. In the 26 years since Dunning and Kruger published their landmark paper, scientists have debated the details of the findings. But the public has run with it. It's not hard to see why. A theory that states the dumbest among are often the loudest and most overconfident seems to explain so much about modern life. Plus, it's a handy grenade to throw in a social-media fight. Search "Dunning-Kruger Effect" online and you'll find huge numbers of people labeling those they disagree as obvious cases of the effect in action. It's a satisfying way to dunk on your opponents. But there's one big problem... https://www.sott.net/article/502597-The-Dunning-Kruger-effect-has-been-cited-for-26-years-but-ironically-most-people-still-misunderstand-it Sun, 26 Oct 2025 21:00:01 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/502594-The-Quest-for-Truth-The-Tangled-Web-of-Epistemology From ancient philosophers to modern crises, how do we know what we know? I'm pretty sure I've mentioned once or twice in my recent posts that I've been planning to write about epistemology. It sure has been on my mind a lot for the past few weeks and the more I look into it and think about it, the more complicated it seems. We recently had guests - a young couple - and, over supper, I was asked what I was working on. I said that I was thinking about - not actually working on - epistemology. The husband and wife looked at each other and exchanged some sort of silent communication which she then explained. Apparently, her father, a professor at a university, has been writing a book about epistemology for the past 40 years. I thought, 'holy frijoles!' I worked on the research for my book on early Christianity - off and on - from about 1982 until it was finally completed in 2020. That's only 38 years and I'm satisfied with the work I did on that. But this poor guy -the father of our... https://www.sott.net/article/502594-The-Quest-for-Truth-The-Tangled-Web-of-Epistemology Sun, 26 Oct 2025 18:33:35 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/502408-What-chickens-can-teach-business-about-the-too-much-talent-personnel-problem We've all internalized destructive logic about team success and pecking orders. In 1983, William Muir took on a challenge that would not only redefine his entire industry but also the way we think about work. But oddly, as an evolutionary biologist at Purdue University, Muir wasn't studying people; he was studying chickens. At the time, the poultry industry had its Ferrari: the Dekalb XL. These birds were bred for one thing and one thing only: raw speed in egg production. They could outlay anything else in the barnyard. But there was a problem. The very trait that made them prolific also made them destructive. They were aggressive, territorial, and prone to pecking one another to death. The industry's fix was crude and cruel: trim their beaks so they couldn't do as much damage. Muir wondered if there was a more humane way. What if, instead of breeding for pure productivity, you bred for teamwork? https://www.sott.net/article/502408-What-chickens-can-teach-business-about-the-too-much-talent-personnel-problem Thu, 16 Oct 2025 17:43:00 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/502386-The-True-Meaning-of-Stoicism Self-discipline isn't supposed to be punishing. Rather, it's friendly and encouraging. The encouraging Master is strict only in holding fast to moderation. Today, "stoicism" means weathering adversity without complaint. There is much more to the philosophy of stoicism than that. In its entirety, stoicism is a philosophy of wisdom much like Buddhism in its emphasis on virtue, self-control, renunciation of excess, self-improvement, detachment, cause and effect (The Four Noble Truths) and the cessation of suffering though understanding. It also shares many similarities with Taoism in its view of living within Nature, accepting the limits of our control, rejecting wealth, status and power, and like Buddhism, finding liberation through practice, insight and understanding. Here are some succinct excerpts on Stoicism from orionphilosophy.com: https://www.sott.net/article/502386-The-True-Meaning-of-Stoicism Wed, 15 Oct 2025 17:22:37 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/502109-Watch-Pastor-Joshua-Mhlakelas-Reaction-To-The-Failed-Rapture-2025-It-Was-Awkward Pop star Chappell Roan also made a reference to the 'Rapture' during her show. On 23 September, 2025, South African pastor Joshua Mhlakela told his followers with full confidence, 'This day we will be raptured. I give you his word and I give you my word.' He promised the faithful that Jesus would return, backed by 'a host of angels,' to take believers to heaven in what TikTok had already dubbed #RaptureTok. The date was tied to Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which is sometimes symbolically connected with the End Times in certain Christian circles. But as the hours passed and nothing happened, Mhlakela's livestream turned awkward. First came reassurances, 'God does not lie,' then nervous adjustments to the timeline, '23rd, 24th, one of these two days.' Finally, after midnight, he signed off by asking followers to 'please keep waiting with us.' The rapture, of course, never came. https://www.sott.net/article/502109-Watch-Pastor-Joshua-Mhlakelas-Reaction-To-The-Failed-Rapture-2025-It-Was-Awkward Wed, 01 Oct 2025 13:32:08 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/502056-When-political-violence-becomes-a-signal The assassination of Charlie Kirk is a tragedy on several levels. It robs his family and friends of the time they would otherwise have had with Charlie, especially his young children and wife. It is a tragedy to Charlie — his life was cut prematurely short. And it is a tragic signal that the wrong words spoken, even in a liberal democracy, can get you killed. As an academic and public intellectual, I find that chilling. It is also, unsettlingly, a case study in how democratic incentives can corrode political life. For all the shock and horror surrounding the killing, its logic is not entirely mysterious. The tools of political economy and philosophy, especially concepts like rational irrationality and theories like costly signaling theory, can aid our understanding why political violence sometimes emerges from within democracy itself. Economists and philosophers have long puzzled over a simple question: Why do citizens participate in politics when their individual actions are... https://www.sott.net/article/502056-When-political-violence-becomes-a-signal Sun, 28 Sep 2025 18:28:21 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/502027-The-marketplace-of-ideas-is-bullsh-t Author's note: Why is it that people live in different thought universes that no rational argument can penetrate? In light of recent debates about cancel culture and free speech, I de-paywalled this piece from May of this year. You'll also get a short introduction to Heidegger along the way. Heidegger has entered the chat There's little doubt we are living in Babel-land. Discourse seems to produce a set of irreconcilable camps more or less shouting at each other, hearing what they want to hear, supporting their teams no matter what, desperately clinging to some hard belief in an attempt to escape madness as history is reaching a breaking point. A look at some of the recent outrage cycles should be enough to make the point: Darryl Cooper questioning aspects of the WWII narrative, Douglas Murray debating Dave Smith over Israel, James Lindsay calling everybody and their grandma "woke right," someone using the n-word and getting cancelled... All of these dramas have led to rivers of... https://www.sott.net/article/502027-The-marketplace-of-ideas-is-bullsh-t Fri, 26 Sep 2025 19:13:45 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/501972-Personal-Note "I've never talked to a Democrat who ever wanted to listen. They start to glitch out if you try." — Sasha Stone This past summer, I tried to open a line of communication with a West Coast relative. We exchanged a few letters. I tactically steered the conversation away from the political. Here was the closer salvo from my relative: Jimmy, on a completely personal level, and in different times, I think we could have been very good friends. At this point in our history, I find what you say in your blogs and Kunstlercast to be outrageous, deceptive, and ugly. I disagree with almost everything you hold dear politically, and even if, for instance, we agree about the horrors of Big Pharma, your worship of Kennedy makes me ill. Your language falls right into all the clichés of the far right ideologies I loathe. Maybe someday things will change. For now, this is the last you'll be hearing from me. Frankly, what stung most keenly was the accusation that my language fell "into all the clichés... https://www.sott.net/article/501972-Personal-Note Tue, 23 Sep 2025 18:10:04 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/501970-How-Democracy-fuels-senseless-violence "...that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." — Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address, 1863 Democratic governments are most often promoted as being governed by the people as a whole rather than a monarch, dictator, or tyrant. Instead of being accountable only to God, a representative is said to be exactly that — a representative — acting on behalf of the people. With these representatives come committees, commissions, and departments making their own decisions, recommendations, and other forms of influence. But even among this mass of bureaucracy, it is still "the people" who supposedly wield authority. With authority comes responsibility as well as moral blame. It is straightforward to blame a monarch for poor governance. He is the head of his government in theory and in practice. In Western monarchies, the king was understood to be an authority bound by divine law, and thus assassination (regicide) was generally considered to be... https://www.sott.net/article/501970-How-Democracy-fuels-senseless-violence Tue, 23 Sep 2025 18:09:18 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/501406-What-your-favorite-movie-says-about-your-personality-and-mindset Are you more into horror, comedy, or romance? Movies are one of the most popular forms of entertainment, so it may be no surprise that your favorite genre can reveal something about who you are. While it's certainly not the only thing that determines what movies you watch, your personality and other traits can go a long way toward explaining your preferences. Throughout this article, I've dug into available research on personality and the movies to explore some of the reasoning behind why certain people like comedy, sci-fi, horror, or other genres. This is primarily based on the Big Five Personality Test traits. https://www.sott.net/article/501406-What-your-favorite-movie-says-about-your-personality-and-mindset Sat, 23 Aug 2025 12:21:06 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/501397-Psychopaths-Money-and-Social-Media Psychopathy in the news I am reposting two recent articles on psychopathy with some commentary. The first comes from Finlay Macdonald for The Conversation and was published back in April. The headline: "Why a psychopath wouldn't hesitate to cause another global financial crisis - if there was something in it for them." Would you want a psychopath looking after your pension? Or what about your shares? In a recent talk at the Cambridge Festival of Science, I spoke about the latest research relating to a psychopath's love of money, greed for power, and willingness to harm other people financially for personal gain. It is fashionable in some circles to argue that the psychopath's lack of empathy is an asset in certain professions. For example, they will be cool surgeons under pressure, task-oriented soldiers unhindered by fear or remorse, ruthless businessmen willing to take risks that will benefit shareholders. In reality, they're just as likely to kill you under the knife and not... https://www.sott.net/article/501397-Psychopaths-Money-and-Social-Media Fri, 22 Aug 2025 20:49:23 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/501296-Marwan-Barghouti-Itamar-Ben-Gvir-and-the-Israeli-need-to-humiliate Itamar Ben-Gvir's staged attempt at humiliating Marwan Barghouti exposed the impotence of the Palestinian political order — but it also laid bare the insecurities and anxieties that fuel Israel's need to publicly subjugate Palestinians. Itamar Ben-Gvir staged his attempted humiliation of Marwan Barghouti with the precision of a political set-piece. Entering the prison flanked by cameras, the Israeli National Security Minister confronted the imprisoned Palestinian Fatah leader in his cell, issuing a blunt threat that those who harm Israel will be "wiped out." The scene was later broadcast on Ben-Gvir's social media. Barghouti, gaunt yet composed, appeared as both a captive and a symbol, his mere presence transforming the prison corridor into a stage where national myths and antagonisms could be rehearsed for the audience beyond the walls. The encounter unfolded within a wider theater of humiliation over the past two years: Men stripped and marched toward arrest, starving Gazans... https://www.sott.net/article/501296-Marwan-Barghouti-Itamar-Ben-Gvir-and-the-Israeli-need-to-humiliate Sun, 17 Aug 2025 17:28:30 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/501212-The-Emotional-Code-of-Cinema-What-Your-Genre-Choices-Say-About-You Have you ever wondered why some movies capture your attention while others do not? Your movie choices might reveal more than just your taste. Recent neuroscience research shows that the genres you like are closely linked to how your brain processes emotions. This discovery helps us understand more about media. Moreover, it offers insight into how our brains influence our preferences. Note: This article is intended for general information and educational purposes. It summarizes scientific research in accessible language for a broad audience and is not an official scientific press release. https://www.sott.net/article/501212-The-Emotional-Code-of-Cinema-What-Your-Genre-Choices-Say-About-You Wed, 13 Aug 2025 16:36:47 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/501198-Equality-under-the-Hayekian-Rule-of-Law Friedrich von Hayek considered the rule of law to be essential in minimizing coercion and enhancing individual liberty. In this context, he regarded "equality before the law" (formal equality) as essential to the rule of law. However, he emphasized that formal equality is the only concept of equality that is compatible with the rule of law. He criticized socialist and progressive attempts to theorize further notions of equality, which they package as "social justice," as disguised attacks on liberty. In the Constitution of Liberty, he explains: "Equality of the general rules of law and conduct, however, is the only kind of equality conducive to liberty and the only equality which we can secure without destroying liberty. Not only has liberty nothing to do with any other sort of equality, but it is even bound to produce inequality in many respects. This is the necessary result and part of the justification of individual liberty: if the result of individual liberty did not... https://www.sott.net/article/501198-Equality-under-the-Hayekian-Rule-of-Law Tue, 12 Aug 2025 19:03:32 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/500977-AI-for-dummies-AI-turns-us-into-dummies Given that AI is fundamentally incapable of performing the tasks required for authentic innovation, we're de-learning how to innovate. CHS's note: I just got called out by a programmer who uses AI who was furious and wrote "students cheat, always have, tell us something we don't already know". I responded: "did you read the MIT paper or the other link?" Of course he didn't: TL/DR, which proves my point. Even the programmer admitted he has to check AI's work. The point here is *those who received real educations can use AI because they know enough to double-check it, but the kids using AI as a substitute for real learning will never develop this capacity.* Those who actually have mastery can use AI and not realize the point I'm making isn't that AI is useless, the point is it fatally undermines real learning and thinking. https://www.sott.net/article/500977-AI-for-dummies-AI-turns-us-into-dummies Fri, 01 Aug 2025 19:43:54 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/500767-War-is-the-worst-thing-in-the-world War is the worst thing in the world. It is the single craziest behaviour exhibited by humans. The most destructive. The most traumatising. The least sustainable. The least conducive to human thriving. All the things we fear most become the norm in a land ravaged by war. Death. Pain. Suffering. Rape. Chaos. Uncertainty. Losing loved ones. Losing homes. Losing limbs. Living in terror. Being attacked. Being brain damaged. Being faced with impossible choices. All the things we frighten ourselves with by watching horror movies become a reality from which there is no escape. War creates a waking nightmare which any sensible person would want to avoid except in the direst necessity. And yet, we are ruled by people who actively seek it out. Who will lie and manipulate to make wars happen. Who will smear and slander anyone who resists in the name of peace. Who will actively fight against every healthy impulse in everybody in their society to push their war agenda forward. https://www.sott.net/article/500767-War-is-the-worst-thing-in-the-world Mon, 21 Jul 2025 19:42:55 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/500585-Trust-No-One The title of today's post is not meant to be taken literally. I trust plenty of people. I trust friends who've demonstrated their trustworthiness over the years. I trust my family. Having people in my life I love and trust makes everything far more meaningful and pleasant. I hope people reading this likewise have a circle of trust they've built over the years. On the other hand, you should never trust anyone or anything that hasn't given you good reason to do so, and if someone or something gives you good reason not to trust them, you should never forget that. The more power a person or institution has in society, the less trustworthy they tend to be. I don't say this because it's fun to be cynical, I say this because my life experience has demonstrated its accuracy. In the 21st century alone, I've been given good reason to distrust all sorts of things around me, including the U.S. government (all governments really), intelligence agencies, politicians, mass media, Wall Street and... https://www.sott.net/article/500585-Trust-No-One Fri, 11 Jul 2025 16:44:19 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/500407-Gen-Z-women-are-booking-convents-embracing-vows-of-silence-instead-of-beach-houses-this-summer Move over, shared beach houses and Aperol spritzes. This summer, a growing number of Gen Z women are checking into Catholic convents and monasteries instead — on purpose. In an unexpected pivot from rooftop parties and dating app exhaustion, young women are opting for peace and quiet. Literal quiet. The latest trend, dubbed "vow of silence summer," has people voluntarily giving up speaking for days at a time, communicating only by writing or gestures while living alongside nuns. And demand is high. "I booked a vow of silence at a Catholic monastery late last year, and the booking process is really straightforward — you just email the nuns," said TikToker @mc667868 in a video that's now been viewed over 700,000 times. "When I went to book again for this summer, they were fully booked for the next three months." https://www.sott.net/article/500407-Gen-Z-women-are-booking-convents-embracing-vows-of-silence-instead-of-beach-houses-this-summer Tue, 01 Jul 2025 14:21:54 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/499854-Psywar-AI-bots-manipulate-your-feelings The next chapter in the Social Media battle to splinter reality, the internet, and your own mind Splinternet (as defined per Grok): The splinternet refers to the fragmentation of the internet into separate, often isolated networks due to political, cultural, technological, or commercial reasons. It describes a scenario where the internet is no longer a unified global system but is instead divided into distinct "splinters" or subnetworks. This can happen through government censorship (like China's Great Firewall), regional regulations (such as the EU's GDPR), or tech companies creating walled gardens (e.g., Apple's ecosystem). The term highlights how these divisions limit universal access to information and create digital borders, often reflecting real-world geopolitical tensions or differing values on privacy, security, and free expression. Elon asked a key question. This is not dark humor or sarcasm; this is today's reality: https://www.sott.net/article/499854-Psywar-AI-bots-manipulate-your-feelings Fri, 30 May 2025 22:24:30 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/499704-Mikhail-Bulgakov-How-a-terrible-Russian-tragedy-shaped-this-legendary-writers-fate From saving lives in the trenches to capturing Russia's tragedy in timeless novels - here's how the chaos of revolution and civil war shaped one of Russia's greatest writers On May 15, 2025, we commemorate the 134th anniversary of the birth of Mikhail Bulgakov, one of the most enigmatic and precise chroniclers of the Russian tragedy of the twentieth century. Today, he stands as a literary giant, but in 1919, Bulgakov was merely a young military doctor, wading through blood, mud, and despair. His journey into literature didn't begin quietly in an office, but amid the chaos and flames of Russia's Civil War. In the twilight of a collapsing empire, Bulgakov the writer was forged. https://www.sott.net/article/499704-Mikhail-Bulgakov-How-a-terrible-Russian-tragedy-shaped-this-legendary-writers-fate Thu, 22 May 2025 11:44:41 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/499211-The-unique-parenting-philosophy-of-the-Arctic-Sami-people For centuries, reindeer herders have used a unique parenting philosophy to prepare their children for survival in the Arctic. Here's what we can learn from them. Every year in June or July, under the Arctic midnight sun, Sámi reindeer-herding families in northern Finland, Norway and Sweden come together for one of the biggest social events of the year: "earmarking", which involves marking the new reindeer calves to identify them. On foot, in all-terrain vehicles and even helicopters, they gather the semi-wild reindeer from vast areas stretching out dozens of square kilometres. Even young children are expected to join in. The youngest boys and girls help catch the calves. From the age of about 10, they take their own earmarking knives, grab a calf, and mark both ears with a unique pattern of notches. Children receive their own personal earmark pattern at birth, and use it to mark their herds for the rest of their lives. Among the Sámi, an indigenous people spread across the... https://www.sott.net/article/499211-The-unique-parenting-philosophy-of-the-Arctic-Sami-people Wed, 23 Apr 2025 21:28:20 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/499182-From-red-flag-to-red-line-What-is-the-limit Announcement: On May 3rd, we will have a special guest for our paid-subscriber Zoom meetup: Ilya Khotimsky, translator of Russian economist Mikhail Khazin's Recollections of the Future: Modern Economic Ideas. I wrote about his summary of the book here. If you want to the chance to ask Ilya about the book, and Khazin's economics, you know what to do! I recently watched Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets (1973), in which Robert DeNiro plays a low-life psychopathic mafia parasite, Johnny Boy, who is coddled and protected by his friend Charlie, played by Harvey Keitel, past the point where any sane person would've broken Johnny Boy's legs purely out of principle. For those who haven't seen the film and don't want to, here's the plot summary: low-level mobster doesn't pay his boss, doesn't do anything of substance for the next couple weeks, then gets shot in the neck after telling said boss to his face that he's a sucker who's easy to rip off, and no, he's not going to pay him. Charlie, the... https://www.sott.net/article/499182-From-red-flag-to-red-line-What-is-the-limit Tue, 22 Apr 2025 19:23:01 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/499145-A-psychopath-wouldnt-hesitate-to-cause-another-global-financial-crisis-if-there-was-something-in-it-for-them Would you want a psychopath looking after your pension? Or what about your shares? In a recent talk at the Cambridge Festival of Science, I spoke about the latest research relating to a psychopath's love of money, greed for power, and willingness to harm other people financially for personal gain. Since I began researching corporate psychopaths and the global financial crisis, the idea of the financial psychopath, an employee in the financial sector acting ruthlessly, recklessly, greedily and selfishly with other people's money, has gained traction. The theory won support because psychopaths are more commonly found in financial services than in other sectors. It has even been argued that up to 10% of employees in financial services could be psychopathic. That is to say they have no empathy, care for other people, conscience or regrets for any damage they do. These traits make them ruthless in pursuit of their own agendas and entirely focused on self-promotion and self-advancement. https://www.sott.net/article/499145-A-psychopath-wouldnt-hesitate-to-cause-another-global-financial-crisis-if-there-was-something-in-it-for-them Sun, 20 Apr 2025 19:45:45 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/499142-Handwriting-Lights-Up-Your-Brain-Heres-How Pick up a pen to activate neural pathways that might otherwise remain dormant. Picture two brains: one buzzing with activity, connections firing across regions in a synchronized neural ballet. The other shows only scattered flickers of engagement — isolated islands of electrical activation. Both belong to university students sitting in the same lecture trying to capture the same ideas. The difference between them isn't intelligence, attention span, or interest in the subject — but the tools in their hands. One holds a trusty pen poised over lined paper, while the other's fingers hover over a laptop keyboard. This neural contrast, shown in a study in Frontiers in Psychology, is just one piece of mounting evidence suggesting that our rush toward digital convenience may be coupled with significant cognitive costs. From neuroscience labs to classrooms, research comparing traditional and digital learning tools finds that pens are not quite yet old school. https://www.sott.net/article/499142-Handwriting-Lights-Up-Your-Brain-Heres-How Sun, 20 Apr 2025 13:44:02 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/499131-The-NWO-religion-How-the-woke-postmodern-faith-glorifies-evil It's not as if it was ever a secret: The very core of the woke movement is fundamentally rooted in evil. The general definition of "evil" being a conscious act of deception and destruction, the deliberate victimization of others for the sake of personal power, pleasure and gain. When I try to imagine what a religion of evil might look like I consistently come back to the far-left woke movement along with its rabid mantras, agendas and self righteous narcissism. The majority of human beings have an inherent sense of good and evil; we often refer to this condition as conscience or moral compass. The intuitive inner voice that guides us and warns us when we stray into "the dark side" is a product of archetypal knowledge - What psychologist Carl Jung described as a set of inborn complexes or symbols that tap into our deepest emotions and sense of identity. All our social interactions are in some way affected by these archetypes. These ideas are universal, present in nearly every... https://www.sott.net/article/499131-The-NWO-religion-How-the-woke-postmodern-faith-glorifies-evil Sat, 19 Apr 2025 17:54:56 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/498919-Meet-the-man-who-taught-Russia-to-fear How Nikolay Gogol invented Russian horror Nikolay Gogol invented the horror story - or at least Russian horror. This statement might seem bold, but it's not far from the truth. As we celebrate his birthday this week, [Born March 20 (Old Calendar)/April1 1809] it's fitting to reflect on how his literary legacy shaped the genre in Russia. The first work that inevitably springs to mind is Gogol's "Viy," along with its chilling Soviet adaptation. Let's set aside the questionable quality of the modern remake; I vividly remember a school tour to Mosfilm studios, where merely glimpsing the sets from the original film gave me goosebumps. But "Viy" is not only about witches, devils, or other folkloric creatures. Indeed, much of horror literature draws from such themes - from Hoffmann's unsettling tales of monsters and demons to the contemporary, predictable vampire stories. Folklore, after all, prepares us to confront death and the afterlife. https://www.sott.net/article/498919-Meet-the-man-who-taught-Russia-to-fear Wed, 09 Apr 2025 13:09:16 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/498703-Jesus-Face-on-a-Potato You've all heard tales of the face of Jesus, the Virgin Mary, the Pope, or maybe even Trump, showing up on the surface of a potato, on a burnt piece of toast, or even a kumquat or some other odd fruit, implying their likeness. Then, when you actually see such a manifestation, you wonder how in the hell anyone could mistake some weird burn mark, growth malformity, or whatnot for the face of any human, let alone Jesus, Mary, or Trump. But there 'ya have it. People love to manufacture reality from non-reality. And they do this with little provocation. If the potato has some sort of malformation, it is easy enough to push that into looking like a nose, a mouth, a cheek, then voila, it's Jesus!! (or Trump!) They aren't lying when they tell you that is what they see. They honestly see it. They would stake their life on it. Sometimes, you may see it, too. Especially if they explain it, "See how this part of the potato turns up, and this little black mark here makes that turn up look like... https://www.sott.net/article/498703-Jesus-Face-on-a-Potato Sat, 29 Mar 2025 14:48:14 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/498610-Alexander-Dugin-and-the-Decline-of-the-West We are rotting. But in the rot, something slithers. Oswald Spengler looked at Europe and saw an old woman, lips painted to hide the cracks. Alexander Dugin looks at the world and sees a battlefield, lines drawn in blood. Faustian man, the one who reaches beyond, the builder of cathedrals, the engineer of apocalypse — he built too much, reached too far, and now he drowns in the very ocean he sought to conquer. What is left? A new war, not just a war of nations, but of Being itself. The Fourth Political Theory does not weep for the West like Spengler does. It laughs. It sharpens its knife. It declares the old ideologies dead and shoves their corpses into the dirt. It calls for something new, something beyond liberalism, beyond communism, beyond fascism — a return, but not to tradition as a museum piece. Tradition as a weapon. Spengler knew. He knew that civilizations, like men, grow old, grow weak, collapse under their own weight. But what happens when an old man refuses to die? Look... https://www.sott.net/article/498610-Alexander-Dugin-and-the-Decline-of-the-West Mon, 24 Mar 2025 20:30:42 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/498577-The-Politics-of-the-Psyche-Part-3-The-Dissident-Right-are-the-Party-of-Oedipal-Man .The Dissident Right are not "Woke Right." "Being American, the neo-Freudians have no such conservative respect for culture; they are all too ready to tinker with its machinery of repression in the name of individual fulfillment." — Rieff: Freud: The Mind of the Moralist. "The elites of the emergent culture--if they do not destroy themselves and all culture with a dynamism they appear unable to control--are being trained in terminologies that have only the most tenuous relation to any historic culture or its incorporative self-interpretations." — Rieff: The Triumph of the Therapeutic The Radical Progressive Party of Narcissus vs. The Dissident Right In Part 1 and Part 2 of the Politics of the Psyche series, I outlined Lasch's use of psychoanalytic concepts as a way to describe the motivations and personality make-up of the political Left and Right and the rise of a third party — the party of Narcissus — which can be seen as the contemporary (and mainstream) progressive radical Left... https://www.sott.net/article/498577-The-Politics-of-the-Psyche-Part-3-The-Dissident-Right-are-the-Party-of-Oedipal-Man Sat, 22 Mar 2025 22:01:41 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/498421-The-cost-of-ignorance-How-gaps-in-understanding-psychopathy-endanger-kids Continuing Chapter 5 of Karen Mitchell's work Parenting and Children For many, direct exposure to the persistent predatory personality (PPP) starts early. Lobaczewski briefly mentions the personality-deforming effects of being raised by a psychopathic or character-disturbed parent. Not having any experience to the contrary, such children imbibe "pathological" material from a young age, instilling in them with various illusions about the world, maladaptive emotional responses, and twisted values. Mitchell adds several of her own observations based on the responses from her study's participants. As one put it: "the children's needs are never put first. They [the predatory parents] always have control." Additionally, such parents "use their children to achieve their own goals." This is rarely observable or visible, however, as [the parents] often invest substantial effort into appearing to be a 'good parent' and grooming others to believe they are committed to their children while... https://www.sott.net/article/498421-The-cost-of-ignorance-How-gaps-in-understanding-psychopathy-endanger-kids Fri, 14 Mar 2025 21:14:26 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/498150-Arthur-Schopenhauer-On-Thinking-for-Yourself This is a translation from scratch of Schopenhauer's short essay, "On Thinking for Yourself" ("Selbstdenken").1 Why? Because I found the existing translations I'm aware of dissatisfying, and because I thought it might be fun. The goal was to convey some of Schopenhauer's raw style by being a bit more literal in some places, while also trying to better preserve his wit for modern readers. Obviously, there is no concession to political correctness here whatsoever (the very thought), and no attempt to simplify anything. It came out a little less cleaned up and less academic than other translations, but hopefully more true to the original spirit and ideas. Translating 19th century German is an interesting exercise. There are many words here with an extremely rich philosophical meaning that are impossible to translate directly without writing whole essays about them. Translating such texts is a game of truly feeling yourself into the author: taking a step back after reading a paragraph... https://www.sott.net/article/498150-Arthur-Schopenhauer-On-Thinking-for-Yourself Thu, 27 Feb 2025 22:11:39 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/498092-Pathocracy-rising-How-economic-systems-breed-deviants Khazin's economics and spreading liberalism, one coup at a time Ilya Khotimsky was kind enough to send me summary of a book he translated: Russian economist Mikhail Khazin's Recollections of the Future: Modern Economic Ideas. (Khotimsky's summary is published here on SOTT.) I'm no economist, but a few of Khazin's ideas stood out to me. First, his book focuses on what Khazin calls "crises of capital effectiveness" (CCEs), examples of which include "the 1900s crisis of banking liquidity, the Great Depression of the 1930s, and the stagflation of the 1970s." The last one erupted in 2008, and these crises only end "when access to new markets [is] achieved." Khazin argues that the current crisis cannot be resolved from within the existing economic model. The only two solutions are to retain the dollar-based system at the expense of losing the American industrial base, and recovering domestic manufacturing but dissolving the current global system. https://www.sott.net/article/498092-Pathocracy-rising-How-economic-systems-breed-deviants Tue, 25 Feb 2025 19:55:24 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/498069-The-three-styles-of-curiosity Curiosity is a strong desire to learn or know something. But according to researcher Perry Zurn, curiosity is not a singular thing. In fact, there may be at least three styles of curiosity that could have different benefits for our well-being and for the societies we live in. In 2019, Zurn analyzed classical texts from the history of philosophy to study the nature of curiosity. Searching for mentions of curiosity in writings by philosophers from Saint Augustine to Friedrich Nietzsche to Jacques Derrida, he uncovered three different models of curiosity: The busybody: The archetypal gossiper, busybodies like to pick up bits of information about a wide range of topics. They aren't necessarily driven by a particular goal, but just by interest. The hunter: Hunters seek out specific answers, so they follow a targeted path and try to avoid distractions. The dancer: Dancers leap to new ideas, put existing ideas together in new ways, or find new ways of framing information. They don't... https://www.sott.net/article/498069-The-three-styles-of-curiosity Mon, 24 Feb 2025 22:04:09 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/497972-Feel-like-you-re-in-a-funk-What-you-can-do-to-get-out-of-it-and-prevent-it-from-happening-in-the-future Are you feeling worn out? Struggling with lingering sadness, anxiety or feelings of indifference? If so, you might be stuck in a funk. There are many reasons you might find yourself in a funk - including returning home after a holiday, not being sure what your goals in life are and a lack of meaning and purpose driving you forward. Sometimes, there's no clear reason why we find ourselves in a funk. Whatever the cause, don't lose hope. There are many things you can do to turn the way you're feeling around. https://www.sott.net/article/497972-Feel-like-you-re-in-a-funk-What-you-can-do-to-get-out-of-it-and-prevent-it-from-happening-in-the-future Wed, 19 Feb 2025 19:53:19 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/497971-What-makes-us-remember-our-dreams-How-sleep-patterns-and-mindset-shape-recall Some people wake up vividly recalling their dreams from the night, and can tell precise stories experienced during the night, while others struggle to remember even a single detail. Why does this happen? A new study, conducted by researchers at the IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, and published in Communications Psychology explores the factors that influence so-called "dream recall" — the ability to remember dreams upon awakening — and uncovers which individual traits and sleep patterns shape this phenomenon. The reason why there is such a difference in recalling dreams remains a mystery. Some studies found that women, young persons, or people with a tendency to daydream, tend to better recall night dreams. But other studies did not confirm these findings. Other hypotheses, such as that personality traits or cognitive abilities count, received even less support from data. During the recent COVID pandemic, the phenomenon of individual differences in morning dream recall... https://www.sott.net/article/497971-What-makes-us-remember-our-dreams-How-sleep-patterns-and-mindset-shape-recall Wed, 19 Feb 2025 19:07:01 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/497898-Trust-the-Plan Its nature is quite different from what you may think. There's an inherent contradiction looming over grand theories about where we stand in the scheme of history, and what we should do about it. Whether it be Darwinian evolution, cycles of elite overproduction, Strauss-Howe's "turnings" or Spenglerian civilizational souls and destinies, this contradiction presents itself in the following popular motif: "there is this natural historical development because of some hidden law, which dooms us all to a certain outcome. However, by becoming aware of it, we can work against it and change our destiny." Lately, for example, Bret Weinstein has been a strong proponent of such a theory, in his case referring to Darwinian maladaptation to the modern world and how we need to counter it. Postulating the existence of some sort of natural law guiding human destiny, and then advising us to break that law, presents us with an obvious problem. Either this really is a natural law, which means we... https://www.sott.net/article/497898-Trust-the-Plan Sat, 15 Feb 2025 21:55:40 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/497895-An-upward-spiral-how-acts-of-kindness-changes-the-world-around-you Political chasms, wars, oppression... it's easy to feel hopeless and helpless watching these dark forces play out. Could any of us ever really make a meaningful difference in the face of so much devastation? Given the scale of the world's problems, it might feel like the small acts of human connection and solidarity that you do have control over are like putting Band-Aids on bullet wounds. It can feel naive to imagine that small acts could make any global difference. As a psychologist, human connection researcher and audience member, I was inspired to hear musician Hozier offer a counterpoint at a performance this year. "The little acts of love and solidarity that we offer each other can have powerful impact ... " he told the crowd. "I believe the core of people on the whole is good - I genuinely do. I'll die on that hill." https://www.sott.net/article/497895-An-upward-spiral-how-acts-of-kindness-changes-the-world-around-you Sat, 15 Feb 2025 21:15:46 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/497884-Q-A-Does-expressing-love-make-us-feel-more-love Love really is all around us. From the love of romantic partners and family to small acts of kindness borne of love for neighbors or even strangers, all of love falls into one of two dimensions: feeling or experiencing love from someone else and extending or expressing love towards another person. Now, researchers are beginning to understand the nature of how giving love reinforces feeling love. Zita Oravecz, associate professor of human development and family studies and faculty co-hire in the Penn State Institute for Computational and Data Sciences, studies how people feel and express love in our daily lives, as well as how it connects to our mental health and well-being. Oravecz started studying the quantitative dynamics of emotional experiences in daily life in 2005, beginning her focus on everyday experiences of love around 2013. She has published nearly 10 papers based on her love research, much of which is supported by the John Templeton Foundation. https://www.sott.net/article/497884-Q-A-Does-expressing-love-make-us-feel-more-love Sat, 15 Feb 2025 11:25:05 +0000 https://www.sott.net/article/497698-Why-do-people-believe-in-conspiracy-theories Anyone may be susceptible, given the right circumstances. Conspiracy theories lurk all over the internet and cover a dizzying range of topics — from the idea that the moon landings were faked to the belief that Earth is flat. Often, believers will readily dismiss any and all evidence that contradicts such claims, and suggest that witnesses or experts who dispute the ideas are simply part of the conspiracy. As a general rule, people don't like being unable to make sense of things; we are curious, and we want to understand the world around us. In the past, science couldn't explain many of the phenomena humans encountered, and so the easiest and most efficient response to an unanswerable question was to credit an omnipotent, omniscient higher power. Science is now able to answer many of the questions that once stumped us, and while we don't always have the answers, now, more than at any point in our history, we have the capacity to accurately explain and understand all manner of... https://www.sott.net/article/497698-Why-do-people-believe-in-conspiracy-theories Wed, 05 Feb 2025 20:21:55 +0000