Experience and consciousness are largely unrelated

We owe a lot to the rationalists of the eighteen century. In particular to Descartes and his "cogito ergo sum". Still I would like to set asides catchy phrases and concentrate a bit more on the notion of experience. Experience could be defined as simply as preserving for a given period of time the effect of an factor. Preserving somehow the producing event, in any form, can be regarded as experience. Western civilization poses a great deal on the individual and the centrality of the man as the subject and the actor of the experience. But if experience is just sharing on something we have felt and kept inside, i like to think that seashells have quietly experienced the miracle of the sea, and they are happy to tell us this story every time we put them next to our hears.

Can estetics be the foundation of analytical sciences

Dirac used to say that formulas must be beautiful and elegant. He was convinced that beautiful formula's have a better chance in providing an analytical frame for physical phenomena. I have to say that Dirac's equation is indeed very beautiful. As a side effect, it was the first equation to provide a theoretical framework for antimatter and it the first equation to join quantum mechanics, special relativity, and classic electromagnetism. Not bad for a beautiful equation.

We are the tools of our tools

A tool exists for the sole purpose of being used. Hence the existence of the tool implies an entity who uses the tool to perform a task. We, humans, are great inventors of tools but also great users of tools. In a way we depend on our tools. So our existence depends on those tools as much as the existence of those tools depend from us. So at the end, who and what is the tool?

Love costs all we are and will be

In the flush of love's light
we dare be brave
And suddenly we see
that love costs all we are
and will ever be.
Yet it is only love
which sets us free.

Maya Angelou - Touched by An Angel

God is symmetry

Perfect symmetries are uncommon in nature. Though, through repetition and the everaging process of our mind, we all develop an instinctive notion of what a perfect symmetry is. When this is embodied in a person, it is at the same time real and unnatural, appealing and revolting.

A truly disturbing and yet intriguing experience for the viewer. The veneration of beauty, long from being a primitive cult, is a wonderful path to get to the essence of things.

There is always room for improvement

Aiming for perfection in many cases means to invest increasingly more for steadily smaller returns. What usually distinguishes business men from mathematicians is that the first ones eventually stop and collect the rewards, sometimes regretting the limits of their solution, while the second ones obtain true perfection but usually in infinite time. Which approach would you follow?

Are exponential schemes applicable in real world scenarios?

Today, many of the models we are confronted with have an exponential growth nature. Starting from the explosion in communication, to the computing power of microchips, from power grids to ponzi schemes, the world seems to be driven by a constant acceleration. How far can we push the exponential paradigm in our lives and in actual real-world models (economy, transportation, communication, relations, information, production, etc) ?

Scarcity is getting scarcer

In today's society, there are less and less products and services which are scarce. Are we reaching a new tipping point in our civilization?

Trust is good

Being born in catania (Italy), I have always found fascinating that, in flourishing countries, trust is embedded in business transactions, and generally taken as granted by both parties. As a result of that you might think that in such a framework there would be plenty of opportunities for a ruthless person to exploit the situation. In reality, the fact is that being nice and trusting delivers a much higher payoff. It promotes industriousness and increase the number of interactions among business companies. In an iterated prisoner dilemma distrusting is a logical option (the so called Nash equilibrium), but trusting is a winning option. Morality and super-rationality (against the rational behavior of always mistrust) can lead to very positive outcomes, even in social science and economics.

Think positive

When confronted with what-if scenario's, the underdog could kick in. Since we act on our own assumptions it's quite probable that if you prospect a negative outcome, it might turn true. Imagination shapes the world. Think positive and beautiful, inspiring things will happen. Believe in your dreams. Fight for them. Ride life and steer it to your own golden road. Do it everyday.

Change is immutable

Time is embedded in everything we do. Especially nowadays it seems that everything is changing continuously. It's exciting for some, alarming for others. Nevertheless, change and novelty are not necessarily related. Change is a fact of life, just like time, it exists and it has its own intrinsic properties. This gives rest to the spirit, at least to mine. Searching for an immutable and inherent  interpretation of the human discourse in an era centered on transformations and evolutions, thanks to Eraclitus, Parmenides and Severino.

Just blend it

When I was part of the opus dei, I once learned about two activities which are part of the learning process. "Studiositas" and "Curiositas".  In the medieval time it was believed that curiosity was a vice, causing distraction and lack of focus, and corruption of the spiritual being. While Tommaso might have been right on some points, he was definitely bound to a framwork which did not leave much space to imagination. While I am aware of the risk of curiosity, I do also believe that imagination and mental flexibility are a necessary condition for further in-depth study and that without curiosity there is no exploration beyond the boundary of the defined study field. Hence, the ability to investigate is just as important as the ability to space within a given matter. Blending knowledge and different skills is the base of modern engineering, and I will never stop to awe the magnificent work and example given by Leonardo da Vinci. It's not surprising that curiosity was reduced to a vice and a sin in an historical period dominated by a very strict and gloomy church. Still Tommaso provides us a good lesson: select carefully what you feed to your intellect, since knowledge gluttony and soul corruption are indeed serious and very real threats.

Just jump

Sometimes you must keep going. Slow opting does not necessarily improve the outcome of the taken choice. I guess.

Life is a journey

Either you go, or everything around you goes. Independently from your point of view and your approach to life, our lives are based on movement and change. They are based on vague memories, and foggy predictions. More or less just like snakes and ladders. Just Fabulous.

Truth is a logical construction

Giambattista Vico was one of the first to state that truth was a product of history and civilization. In few words a worldly, human creation. This was the beginning of the constructivism. And this was huge. Since truth is one of the main traditional attributes of god. If "Verum ipsum factum" and "Verbum Caro Factum Est" are combined something beautiful comes out. It would imply that the world, the factuality of the objects is a product of a logical construction of our own minds. Ideas and facts are the same thing. Wow. Have we created a god in our own image? We can build reality to our own goals. Is god a model for our future selves? Good job Vico.

Work is contextual

The definition of work depends on the contest where this notion is applied. Work depends on the cultural connotations associated with labor and the perceived value of the action on its own as well as its results. In order to have work you need an observer. English people, for instance, are very good at work but they are even better at observing it.

Youth is appealing

... though an old chicken makes a tasty broth.

Memory is the fundation of reasoning

This is a no-brainer to me. If you can reason and discuss without using your memory, please let me know (albeit, if you can still remember this after reading it).

Life is mechanical

Tough to swallow. But I can't see a way out. I don't believe life is "transcendental" and can't be artificially synthesized in laboratory. I even can't believe that our way of reasoning (biologically determined with layers covering more primitive brain cores)  is the only way possible. By this I am not saying that life is either simple or deterministic.

Our capacity to feel is finite

We are limited spatially and temporally. We are also limited in what we can take in (input), in how much we can feel (state), and in what we can express (output). How this will affect us? I am not very sure, since "Infinity " is a finite concept, and we still are able to exceed our own barriers. What are the intrinsic limits about what we can feel?