Category: Dasein Philosophy

  • Old mummy… Silent voices…

    The sound of a vocal tract from a 3,000-year-old mummy has been recreated using CT scans, a 3D-printer, and a voice synthesizer. Details of this achievement—such as it is—were published in Scientific Reports. (1) Old voices. Lost voices. Meaning nothing now. Frightening isn’t it? Why don’t we understand those voices? Why do we need to? […]

  • Coincidences. Noise. Systems. Predictions.

    Coincidences. Noise. Systems. Predictions.

    When we predict future climate, it is important to understand the climate of the past. We do. Mostly. Some details are still debatable. An example of that are the periodicities of ice ages – that is, how ice ages come and go. This is described in a theory developed by amongst others the astronomer Milankovitch […]

  • AI not explaining it self… Scary AI… Scary humans…

    AI not explaining it self… Scary AI… Scary humans…

    Upol Ehsan once took a test ride in an Uber self-driving car. Instead of fretting about the empty driver’s seat, anxious passengers were encouraged to watch a “pacifier” screen that showed a car’s-eye view of the road: hazards picked out in orange and red, safe zones in cool blue. For Ehsan, who studies the way […]

  • Afraid.

    Afraid.

    Afraid? Presence of a stranger can have a calming effect. (1) We are never alone. But we are afraid when we believe we are alone. Look around you. Talk to the forest. Shhhhhh… You do not need any reassurance. It is the forest that is terrified! Tell the cosmos not to be afraid. You are […]

  • Cutting skin… Moving cells…

    Cutting skin… Moving cells…

    When we cut our skin, groups of cells rush en masse to the site to heal the wound. But the complicated mechanics of this collective cell movement — which are facilitated by rearrangements between each cell and its neighbors — have made it challenging for researchers to decipher what’s actually driving it. Notbohm and doctoral […]