Mind Beyond Matter | Book
Mind Beyond Matter
Reviews
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22.01.2022 Tunneling seems to be incurably, robustly superluminal
22.01.2022 Mental illness is often neglected because it is less well understood than physical illness. But I tend to think that mental illness has much greater implications for the future of our world than does physical. For example, young men with externalising mental illness are easily radicalised into terrorists. And in the US (which has a poor record of public mental health investment) 70 million citizens just voted to return their obviously mentally ill President to office. I find it worrying that Trump’s behaviour was considered ‘sane enough’ by so many Americans. Does this mean that externalising behaviour is becoming acceptable or even ‘normal’ in America?
18.01.2022 Here is an example of the weak arguments evolutionary psychologists make when they try to paint mental disorders as evolved. They avoid the question of consciousness entirely, and when talking about mental illness, stick to the mild end of the spectrum. So many questions I could pose to them - If you are talking about this being an evolved response, how do you know genes have anything to do with it? How do adverse experiences interact with the brain? How well does severe mental illness fit with your views?
17.01.2022 A good article on slime moulds. These single called organisms seem to show learning, decision making and memory. Begs the question why so many people hold out hope for a good explanation for consciousness from neuroscience, when these organisms don’t even have a single neuron!
15.01.2022 Currently I’m reading The Origins if You and I can already tell it is going to be one of my favourite books on psychology. The authors are world leaders in studies that follow mental health from preschool age to adulthood. These studies took decades and are now bearing fruit. The book is written for interested readers without training in psychology. I like the way they explore ideas. For example, they describe the two main spectrums of mental illness (generally known as internalising and externalising) as moving away from the world and moving against the world respectively. In Mind Beyond Matter I described the two as keeping negativity to oneself or projecting it onto external reality. Whichever way you look at it, these are the two (and only) options for the mentally unwell.
12.01.2022 A good article with the latest on black holes and dark matter. Not to be confused with dark energy!
