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201). The Impeachment of the President of the USA - Part II AC : “Before I do, allow me just to repeat. To me, there is no moral difference between one lie and another. All lies are loathsome and lead, in the l 202). The Impeachment of the President of the USA - Part III AC : “Dysfunctional partnerships should be dissolved. The President should have divorced prior to indulging his sexual appetite. Sexual exclusivity is 203). The In-Credible Web http://www.webcredibility.org/ People are conditioned to trust written words, not to mention images. "I read it in the paper" or "As seen on TV" are worn out but still effective clichés. The Internet combines both the written and the seen. It is both a textual and a visual (and audio) medium. Do people trust Internet content? Is the in... 204). The Insanity of the Defense I. The Insanity Defense "It is an ill thing to knock against a deaf-mute, an imbecile, or a minor. He that wounds them is culpable, but if they wound him they are not culpable." (Mishna, Babylonian Talmud) If mental illness is culture-dependent and mostly serves as an organizing social principle - what should we make of th... 205). The Intermittent Explosive Narcissist Narcissists invariably react with narcissistic rage to narcissistic injury.These two terms bear clarification:Narcissistic injury 206). The Internet and the Library "In this digital age, the custodians of published works are at the center of a global copyright controversy that casts them as villains simply for doi 207). The Internet in the Countries in Transition Though the countries in transition are far from being an homogeneous lot, there are a few denominators common to their Internet experience hithert 208). The Interrupted Self Also read this - Psychophysics http://samvak.tripod.com/psychophysics.htmlThe fundament of our mind is the mental map we create of our 209). The Invention of Television The transmission of images obsessed inventors as early as 1875 when George Carey of Boston proposed his cumbersome system. Only five years later, the principle of scanning a picture, line by line and frame by frame - still used in modern television sets - was proposed simultaneously in the USA (by W.E. Sawyer) and in France (by Maurice Leblanc). Th... 210). The Inverted Saint - Hitler "My feeling as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter. It points me to the man who once in loneliness, surrounded only by a few foll 211). The Kidnapping of Content http://www.plagiarism.org and http://www.Turnitin.comLatin kidnapped the word "plagion" from ancient Greek and it ended up in English as "plag 212). The Life Cycle of Science "There was a time when the newspapers said that only twelve men understood the theory of relativity. I do not believe that there ever was such a time... On the other hand, I think it is safe to say that no one understands quantum mechanics... Do not keep saying to yourself, if you can possibly avoid it, 'But how can it be like that?', because you w... 213). The Madman and the Iraqi War It is the war of the sated against the famished, the obese against the emaciated, the affluent against the impoverished, the democracies against tyranny, perhaps Christianity against Islam and definitely the West against the Orient. It is the ultimate metaphor, replete with "mass destruction", "collateral damage", and the "will of the international... 214). The Madness of Playing Games If a lone, unkempt, person, standing on a soapbox were to say that he should become the Prime Minister, he would have been diagnosed by a passing psychiatrist as suffering from this or that mental disturbance. But were the same psychiatrist to frequent the same spot and see a crowd of millions saluting the same lonely, shabby figure - what would ha... 215). The Malignant Optimism of the Abused I often come across sad examples of the powers of self-delusion that the narcissist provokes in his victims. It is what I call "malignant optimism". People refuse to believe that some questions are unsolvable, some diseases incurable, some disasters inevitable. They see a sign of hope in every fluctuation. They read meaning and patterns into every ... 216). The Manifold of Sense - Part I "Anthropologists report enormous differences in the ways that different cultures categorize emotions. Some languages, in fact, do not even have a word 217). The Manifold of Sense - Part II To say that emotions are cognitions is to say nothing. We understand cognition even less than we understand emotions (with the exception of the mechan 218). The Manifold of Sense - Part III Feeling is a "hyper-concept" which is made of both sensation and emotion. It describes the ways in which we experience both our world and our selves. 219). The Matrix It is easy to confuse the concepts of "virtual reality" and a "computerized model of reality (simulation)". The former is a self-contained Universe, replete with its "laws of physics" and "logic". It can bear resemblance to the real world or not. It can be consistent or not. It can interact with the real world or not. In short, it is an arbitrary e... 220). The Measurement Problem in Quantum Mechanics Arguably the most intractable philosophical question attached to Quantum Mechanics (QM) is that of Measurement. The accepted (a.k.a. Copenhagen) Inter 221). The Medium and the Message A debate is raging in e-publishing circles: should content be encrypted and protected (the Barnes and Noble or Digital goods model) - or should it be 222). The Merits of Inflation In a series of speeches designed to defend his record, Alan Greenspan, until recently an icon of both the new economy and stock exchange effervescence, reiterated the orthodoxy of central banking everywhere. His job, he repeated disingenuously, was confined to taming prices and ensuring monetary stability. He could not and, indeed, would not second... 223). The Miraculous Conversion http://www.ideavirus.comThe recent bloodbath among online content peddlers and digital media proselytisers can be traced to two deadly sins. T 224). The Morality of Child Labor From the comfort of their plush offices and five to six figure salaries, self-appointed NGO's often denounce child labor as their employees rush from one five star hotel to another, $3000 subnotebooks and PDA's in hand. The hairsplitting distinction made by the ILO between "child work" and "child labor" conveniently targets impoverished countries w... 225). The Myth of Mental Illness I. Overview Someone is considered mentally "ill" if: His conduct rigidly and consistently deviates from the typical, average behaviour of all other people in his culture and society that fit his profile (whether this conventional behaviour is moral or rational is immaterial), or His judgment and grasp of objec... 226). The Myth of Mental Illness - Part I "You can know the name of a bird in all the languages of the world, but when you're finished, you'll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird… 227). The Myth of Mental Illness - Part II That psychoactive medication alters behaviour and mood is indisputable. So do illicit and legal drugs, certain foods, and all interpersonal interactio 228). The Myth of the Earnings Yield In American novels, well into the 1950's, one finds protagonists using the future stream of dividends emanating from their share holdings to send their kids to college or as collateral. Yet, dividends seemed to have gone the way of the Hula-Hoop. Few companies distribute erratic and ever-declining dividends. The vast majority don't bother. The unfa... 229). The Myth of the Right to Life - Part I I. The Right to Life Generations of malleable Israeli children are brought up on the story of the misnamed Jewish settlement Tel-Hai ("Mount o 230). The Myth of the Right to Life - Part II The Right to Have One's Life Maintained This leads to a more general quandary. To what extent can one use other people's bodies, their propert 231). The Narcissist and His Family Question:Is there a "typical" relationship between the narcissist and his family?Answer:We are all members of a few families i 232). The Narcissist as Eternal Child "Puer Aeternus" – the eternal adolescent, the semipternal Peter pan – is a phenomenon often associated with pathological narcissism. People who refuse to grow up strike others as self-centred and aloof, petulant and brattish, haughty and demanding – in short: as childish or infantile. The narcissist is a partial adult. He seeks to avoi... 233). The Narcissist's Confabulated Life Confabulations are an important part of life. They serve to heal emotional wounds or to prevent ones from being inflicted in the first place. They prop-up the confabulator's self-esteem, regulate his (or her) sense of self-worth, and buttress his (or her) self-image. They serve as organizing principles in social interactions. Father's ... 234). The Natural Roots of Sexuality Recent studies in animal sexuality serve to dispel two common myths: that sex is exclusively about reproduction and that homosexuality is an unnatural sexual preference. It now appears that sex is also about recreation as it frequently occurs out of the mating season. And same-sex copulation and bonding are common in hundreds of species, from bonob... 235). The New Politics Politics, in all its forms, is bankrupt. The notion that we can safely and successfully hand over the management of our daily lives and the setting of priorities to a political class or elite is thoroughly discredited. Politicians cannot be trusted, regardless of the system in which they operate. No set of constraints, checks, and balances, is prov... 236). The Origins of Biological and Chemical Warfare Chemical and biological warfare are not an invention of the 20th century. Solon (638-559 BC) used a strong purgative, the herb hellebore, in the siege of Krissa. During the 6th century BC, the Assyrians poisoned enemy wells with rye ergot. In the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC), the Spartans flung sulfur and pitch at the Athenians and ... 237). The Pathology of Love Recent studies buttress the unpalatable truth that falling in love is, in some ways, indistinguishable from a severe pathology. Behavior changes are reminiscent of psychosis and, biochemically speaking, passionate love closely imitates substance abuse. Appearing in the BBC series Body Hits on December 4, Dr. John Marsden, the head of the British Na... 238). The Process of Due Diligence A business which wants to attract foreign investments must present a business plan. But a business plan is the equivalent of a visit card. The introduction is very important - but, once the foreign investor has expressed interest, a second, more serious, more onerous and more tedious process commences: Due Diligence. "Due Diligence" is... 239). The Psychology of Torture There is one place in which one's privacy, intimacy, integrity and inviolability are guaranteed – one's body, a unique temple and a familiar territory of sensa and personal history. The torturer invades, defiles and desecrates this shrine. He does so publicly, deliberately, repeatedly and, often, sadistically and sexually, with undisguised pleasure... 240). The Psychology of Torture - Part I There is one place in which one's privacy, intimacy, integrity and inviolability are guaranteed – one's body, a unique temple and a familiar territory 241). The Psychology of Torture - Part II Sometimes the victim comes to crave pain – very much as self-mutilators do – because it is a proof and a reminder of his individuated existence otherw 242). The Revolution of Psychoanalysis "The more I became interested in psychoanalysis, the more I saw it as a road to the same kind of broad and deep understanding of human nature that writers possess." Anna Freud Towards the end of the 19th century, the new discipline of psychology became entrenched in both Europe and America. The study of the human mind, h... 243). The Revolution of Symbols Five thousand years ago, people were still roaming the earth as nomads. They carried along their few precious possessions in their hands and on their backs. They hunted and gathered food at random. Then came the Agricultural Revolution: people settled down and got attached - physically, emotionally and legally - to specific plots of la... 244). The Roman Family The father in the Roman family (paterfamilias) exercised absolute and lifelong power over all other family members (patria potestas): his wife, children, and slaves. If the father's father was alive - then he was the supreme authority in the household. Fathers were even allowed to execute their grown sons for serious offenses like treason. 245). The Roots of Anti-Americanism The United States is one of the last remaining land empires. That it is made the butt of opprobrium and odium is hardly surprising, or unprecedented. 246). The Roots of Pedophilia Pedophiles are attracted to prepubescent children and act on their sexual fantasies. It is a startling fact that the etiology of this paraphilia is un 247). The Savings and Loans Associations Bailout Asset bubbles - in the stock exchange, in the real estate or the commodity markets - invariably burst and often lead to banking crises. One such calamity struck the USA in 1986-1989. It is instructive to study the decisive reaction of the administration and Congress alike. They tackled both the ensuing liquidity crunch and the structural flaws expo... 248). The Science of Superstitions "The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science." Albert Einstein, The World as I See It, 1931 The debate between realism and anti-realism is, at least, a century old. Does Science describe the real world - or are its theories tru... 249). The Semi-failed State The US State Department's designation of "rogue state" periodically falls in and out of favor. It is used to refer to countries hostile to the United States, with authoritarian, brutal, and venal regimes, and a predilection to ignore international law and conventions, encourage global or local terrorism and the manufacture and proliferation of weap... 250). The Shattered Identity I. Exposition In the movie "Shattered" (1991), Dan Merrick survives an accident and develops total amnesia regarding his past. His battered face is reconstructed by plastic surgeons and, with the help of his loving wife, he gradually recovers his will to live. But he never develops a proper sense of identity. It is as though he is cons... Browse Pages: [1] [2] [3] [4] 5 [6]