Category: decision making
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Life in a Petri dish
On January 20, 2025, shortly after his inauguration, President Trump signed an executive order to withdraw the United States a second time from the 2015 Paris Agreement, an international treaty on climate change mitigation, adaptation, and finance. This is another high-level example of how we humans are incapable to act in the face of overwhelming…
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On meaning (Part 2): the hedonistic altruist
This is the second part of a series of three posts on meaning, like the meaning we could give to things or which we aim to find in life. Part 1 discussed absolute limits to meaning. Here we consider philosophical views, and Part 3 looks at the role communities can play, and how these can…
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On meaning (Part 1): nothing really matters
This is the first part of a series of three posts on meaning, like the meaning we could give to things or which we aim to find in life. It discusses absolute limits to meaning. Part 2 considers philosophical views. Part 3 looks at the role communuties can play, and how these can reconcile the…
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Understanding modern AI intuitively
Mysterious stuff When talking to people about machine learning (ML) or artificial intelligence (AI), I often have the impression that those are perceived as either something mythical or at least very abstract for my counterpart. Such feelings can be justified because ML&AI often are not clearly defined in the given context and, more importantly in…
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The survival problems of homo economicus
All humans today are homo sapiens, the wise man – I know, unbelievable. Archaeology tells us that there have been multiple human species in the last two million plus years. Our last cohabitating cousin was homo neanderthalensis – a couple of tens of thousands years back. This is not that long ago in archaeological terms.…
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The Venn diagram of life
We live in a competitive society. Young people are told about the importance of education and hard work, and how this will enable them to have the career, or even the life they want to have. Such advice is arguably quite vague and certainly does not capture all which is important. I grappled – and…
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You versus society: how to better talk about problems
Here is the recent case. It’s a global pandemic of a potentially deadly virus which can spread through air. Wearing a facemask covering your mouth and nose can suppress transmission protecting you, if you are not sick, or others, if you are. However, you find it uncomfortable breathing with this thing in your face, think…