Your brain does not process information, retrieve knowledge or store memories. In short: your brain is not a computer. <a href="https://aeon.co/users/robert-epstein">Robert Epstein</a> is a senior research psychologist at the American Institute for Behavioral Research and Technology in California. He is the author of 15 books, and the former editor-in-chief of Psychology Today.

Brain is not a Computer

No matter how hard they try, brain scientists and cognitive psychologists will never find a copy of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony in the brain – or copies of words, pictures, grammatical rules or any other kinds of environmental stimuli.The human brain isn’t really empty, of course. But it does not contain most of the things people think it does – not even simple things such as ‘memories’.

No Memories

Our shoddy thinking about the brain has deep historical roots, but the invention of computers in the 1940s got us especially confused.For more than half a century now, psychologists, linguists, neuroscientists and other experts on human behaviour have been asserting that the human brain works like a computer.To see how vacuous this idea is, consider the brains of babies. Thanks to evolution, human neonates, like the newborns of all other mammalian species, enter the world prepared to interact with it effectively.

Historical Roots

A baby’s vision is blurry, but it pays special attention to faces, and is quickly able to identify its mother’s. It prefers the sound of voices to non-speech sounds, and can distinguish one basic speech sound from another. We are, without doubt, built to make social connections. A healthy newborn is also equipped with more than a dozen reflexes – ready-made reactions to certain stimuli that are important for its survival.It turns its head in the direction of something that brushes its cheek and then sucks whatever enters its mouth.

 Social Connections

It holds its breath when submerged in water. It grasps things placed in its hands so strongly it can nearly support its own weight.Perhaps most important, newborns come equipped with powerful learning mechanisms that allow them to change rapidly so they can interact increasingly effectively with their world, even if that world is unlike the one their distant ancestors faced.Senses, reflexes and learning mechanisms – this is what we start with, and it is quite a lot, when you think about it. If we lacked any of these capabilities at birth, we would probably have trouble surviving.

Learning Mechanisms

But here is what we are not born with: information, data, rules, software, knowledge, lexicons, representations, algorithms, programs, models, memories, images, processors, subroutines, encoders, decoders, symbols, or buffers – design elements that allow digital computers to behave somewhat intelligently. Not only are we not born with such things, we also don’t develop them – ever. We don’t store words or the rules that tell us how to manipulate them.

Not Born With ...

We don’t create representations of visual stimuli, store them in a short-term memory buffer, and then transfer the representation into a long-term memory device. We don’t retrieve information or images or words from memory registers. Computers do all of these things, but organisms do not.Computers, quite literally, process information – numbers, letters, words, formulas, images. The information first has to be encoded into a format computers can use, which means patterns of ones and zeroes (‘bits’) organised into small chunks (‘bytes’).

Bits & Bytes

On my computer, each byte contains 8 bits, and a certain pattern of those bits stands for the letter d, another for the letter o, and another for the letter g. Side by side, those three bytes form the word dog. One single image – say, the photograph of my cat Henry on my desktop – is represented by a very specific pattern of a million of these bytes (‘one megabyte’), surrounded by some special characters that tell the computer to expect an image, not a word.Computers, quite literally, move these patterns from place to place in different physical storage areas etched into electronic components.

Three Bytes Form the Word Dog

Sometimes they also copy the patterns, and sometimes they transform them in various ways – say, when we are correcting errors in a manuscript or when we are touching up a photograph. The rules computers follow for moving, copying and operating on these arrays of data are also stored inside the computer. Together, a set of rules is called a ‘program’ or an ‘algorithm’. A group of algorithms that work together to help us do something (like buy stocks or find a date online) is called an ‘application’ – what most people now call an ‘app’.

App is an Application

Forgive me for this introduction to computing, but I need to be clear: computers really do operate on symbolic representations of the world. They really store and retrieve. They really process. They really have physical memories. They really are guided in everything they do, without exception, by algorithms.Humans, on the other hand, do not – never did, never will. Given this reality, why do so many scientists talk about our mental life as if we were computers?

Our Mental Life

In his book In Our Own Image (2015), the artificial intelligence expert George Zarkadakis describes six different metaphors people have employed over the past 2,000 years to try to explain human intelligence.In the earliest one, eventually preserved in the Bible, humans were formed from clay or dirt, which an intelligent god then infused with its spirit. That spirit ‘explained’ our intelligence – grammatically, at least.

Six Different Metaphors

The invention of hydraulic engineering in the 3rd century BCE led to the popularity of a hydraulic model of human intelligence, the idea that the flow of different fluids in the body – the ‘humours’ – accounted for both our physical and mental functioning. The hydraulic metaphor persisted for more than 1,600 years, handicapping medical practice all the while.By the 1500s, automata powered by springs and gears had been devised, eventually inspiring leading thinkers such as René Descartes to assert that humans are complex machines.

Humans Are Complex Machines

In the 1600s, the British philosopher Thomas Hobbes suggested that thinking arose from small mechanical motions in the brain. By the 1700s, discoveries about electricity and chemistry led to new theories of human intelligence – again, largely metaphorical in nature. In the mid-1800s, inspired by recent advances in communications, the German physicist Hermann von Helmholtz compared the brain to a telegraph.

The Brain Like a Telegraph

The mathematician John von Neumann stated flatly that the function of the human nervous system is ‘prima facie digital’, drawing parallel after parallel between the components of the computing machines of the day and the components of the human brain.Each metaphor reflected the most advanced thinking of the era that spawned it. Predictably, just a few years after the dawn of computer technology in the 1940s, the brain was said to operate like a computer, with the role of physical hardware played by the brain itself and our thoughts serving as software.

Prima Facie Digital

The landmark event that launched what is now broadly called ‘cognitive science’ was the publication of Language and Communication (1951) by the psychologist George Miller. Miller proposed that the mental world could be studied rigorously using concepts from information theory, computation and linguistics.This kind of thinking was taken to its ultimate expression in the short book The Computer and the Brain (1958), in which the mathematician John von Neumann stated flatly that the function of the human nervous system is ‘prima facie digital’.

Cognitive Science

Although he acknowledged that little was actually known about the role the brain played in human reasoning and memory, he drew parallel after parallel between the components of the computing machines of the day and the components of the human brain.

The Role of the Brain

Your brain does not process information, retrieve knowledge or store memories. In short: your brain is not a computer

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Science Fiction

problemsolving

Problem Solving

creativity

Creativity

artificialintelligence

Artificial Intelligence

scienceandnature

Science & Nature

Your brain does not process information and it is not a computer | Aeon Essays

For some years now, <a href="https://www.gq.co.za/wealth/5-books-that-bill-gates-wants-you-to-read-to-expand-your-mind-and-knowledge-b23053ae-351d-4e98-9d26-58c1413abfff">Bill Gates </a>has managed to maintain a place near the top of the list of the richest people in the world, but, more importantly, he has also managed to have a successful and remarkable career. Even now that he is no longer the CEO of his company, he is one of those people who seem to have the ability to turn everything they touch into gold.

Bill Gates’s habits to increase your brain power: 

And how has he achieved all that he has? Gates knows very well that, to be successful, to age well, and to maintain your good memory over time, you first need to have a sharp and powerful brain.The brain is a muscle and that means you have to look after it and exercise it. You have to make sure your cognitive abilities are kept in good shape and that you protect your memory and your ability to react and think.You need those<a href="https://www.gq.co.za/wealth/the-soft-skills-you-need-to-get-a-good-job-e47dd09f-d278-4ffe-97a4-78652e3a7b74">skills </a>to do all sorts of things, like making better decisions or finding the right solution to a business challenge.

And it’s not just about excelling at Sudoku or Wordle, you need to have good habits that help protect, strengthen, and empower your brain, and Bill Gates has some of the most important ones.

Many studies talk about the importance of getting enough sleep, because the brain needs time to recover, consolidate memories, and store the information it has absorbed during the day. Lack of sleep is a major factor in cognitive decline.Bill Gates once said that, early in his career, he slept very little and thought it was not a priority, but he soon realised that lack of sleep was affecting his <a href="https://www.gq.co.za/culture/4-ways-to-be-more-productive-according-to-experts-22609f53-19f2-4128-87b3-609c94feb6bd">creativity, productivity </a>, and more, so he decided to have a nightly routine (starting with washing dishes to relax his brain) to get adequate rest and sleep each night.

1. Sleep at least 8 hours

A powerful brain needs to be learning and discovering new things, and reading is ideal for this. Bill Gates recommends reading around 50 <a href="https://www.gq.co.za/culture/sport/the-20-best-sport-books-to-read-right-now-281c0745-5a77-4f18-b2ea-9731afb63c66">books </a>every year and his lists of suggestions always consist of books that he has read, and that have taught him important things about success, business, and much more. Reading leads to learning, improves your writing and vocabulary, can inspire you, and keeps your brain from getting rusty and sluggish.

2. Never stop reading

According to some studies, people in the world’s so-called “blue zones” live longer and better for several reasons, one of which is that they don’t stop working.This doesn’t mean that you have to stay at your job until you die, but rather that you have to find activities that make your brain feel useful and like you are constantly challenging it so that you don’t stop using it and the “muscle” is lost.Finding an activity or pastime you like (which can be things like gardening or remodelling your home) helps prevent cognitive decline and can even reduce the symptoms of some mental conditions.

3. Don't stop working

This is not simply about sleeping, but also setting aside time for yourself, to do the things you like, and simply to take a break from thinking when you relax and have fun. Downtime is important for physical and <a href="https://www.gq.co.za/culture/5-questions-you-should-ask-yourself-to-have-good-mental-health-57f2fb92-d055-4de0-9f42-7e54cd48b980">mental health </a>, it restores your energy, can provide motivation to keep going, and helps clear one’s mind and reduce stress, which can be dangerous if it is at very high levels or if it becomes chronic.

4. Find time to rest

Many experts agree: Physical exercise is important to strengthen the brain, but that doesn’t mean hours and hours of weight training every day. Any kind of exercise is good, especially when you do it outdoors and surrounded by nature, which has also been shown to be very good for brain health.

5. Work out, even if it's just light exercise

Bill Gates 5 Habits that'll Help You Think Smarter 

You’re not going to be successful or smart if your brain isn’t up to the challenge. Here’s what you can learn from Bill Gates.

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Personal Development

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Health

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Habits

Bill Gates’s 5 habits that'll help you think smarter

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2326098.The_How_of_Happiness">The How of Happiness </a>describes a scientific approach to being happier by giving you a short quiz to determine your “happiness set point,” followed by various tools and tactics to help you take control of the large chunk of happiness that’s fully within your grasp.

Book Summary 

"Happiness is not out there for us to find. The reason that it's not out there is that it's inside us."-Sonja Lyubomirsky

Author Quote 

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2326098.The_How_of_Happiness">The How of Happiness </a>provides an overview of what we know about how to increase happiness through our thoughts, feelings, and behavior. It covers topics such as mindfulness meditation, gratitude exercises, self-compassion practices, and more. If you’ve been looking for advice on how to apply these principles in real life—you’re in the right place.

Book Overview 

The book will teach you how to become more mindful when interacting with others or by adopting positive habits that will lead to lasting changes. Author <a href="https://sonjalyubomirsky.com/">Sonja Lyubomirsky </a>bases her advice in the latest scientific research, showing that while we do have a baseline level of happiness (our “happiness set point”), we control a large chunk of our happiness, up to 40% in fact!

<ol><li>Our thoughts and genes influence our happiness levels in life.  </li><li>Practicing gratitude can indeed make you happier.  </li><li>You can become happier by doing a series of activities that make people happy in general.  </li> </ol>

Top 3 Lessons From The Book 

Our genetic makeup creates a baseline for <a href="https://fourminutebooks.com/happiness-summary/">happiness </a>. Additionally, our DNA determines whether we’re more likely to be more optimistic or pessimistic, for example, and whether we’re more likely to be <a href="https://fourminutebooks.com/how-to-talk-to-anyone-anytime-anywhere-summary/">extroverted or introverted </a>.  Our parents pass these traits down to us. And we can’t change it through any kind of intervention. Although our genes play a huge role in our natural dopamine levels, our thoughts are what really make us feel happy or sad.

Lesson 1:  Genes play a huge role in our optimism levels, but our thoughts can make or break our happiness  .

For example, if you think you’re prone to bad luck or let life’s usual challenges bring you down—a fight with your best friend, failure to get into your dream college, and so on—you might become depressed even though there’s nothing wrong with your genes. Thoughts and hormones affect our outlook on life. If you’re always thinking negatively, your body gets the message to release cortisol, also known as the stress hormone. This leads to an overall state of anxiety, and your happiness is suppressed.

The good news is that once you understand how your brain works, you can learn how to overcome those negative experiences and create new thoughts that will make you happier instead!

Happiness is a subjective experience that can be influenced by external factors, such as the events of your life. Researchers believe that happiness is an internal process, which means it starts with you.  Studies have shown that when we’re grateful, we tend to be happier because it reminds us of how much we have to be thankful for! But there’s a fine line between feeling <a href="https://fourminutebooks.com/the-art-of-living-summary/">grateful </a>and overwhelmed.

Lesson 2:  Certain practices can make you happier  —  and  science proves it  .

It’s easy for us humans to get caught up in thinking about all the things we don’t have instead of appreciating all the things we do have (and there are many).  That’s why researchers suggest practicing gratitude regularly, but with a limit. Researchers found that the focus group who journaled once per week felt the happiest among all participants.

Why? Because the others were made to do it too often or not at all. Therefore, doing too much of one thing can strip the joy away from it. Stick to whatever feels good for you, but don’t overdo it. Practice it regularly and be consistent, otherwise, you’ll always start from zero.  You need to find a balance in your life where you still practice what you love, but not in a way that makes you bored of it. Also, make sure to practice gratitude one way or another, as it increases happiness levels (a lot)!

Many people think that <a href="https://fourminutebooks.com/the-happy-mind-summary/">happiness is a state of mind </a>that can be achieved through positive thinking, but research has shown that it’s more complicated than that. Happiness is a combination of circumstances, experiences, and even genetics, which means there are many things you can do to increase your level of happiness in your life.

Lesson 3:  There is a scientific way to become happier, and it includes a series of activities to pursue  .

<ul><li>Doing physical exercise –  Studies show that regular exercise can be just as effective at relieving depression symptoms as antidepressant drugs. </li><li>Practicing meditation – Research shows that meditation can increase activity in the left prefrontal cortex, which is associated with positive thoughts, feelings, and emotions. It also decreases activity in the right amygdala, which is associated with negative thoughts and emotions. </li></ul>

There Are Many Ways To Become Happier. Some Effective Ways.

<ul><li>Engaging in religious or spiritual observance – Religious people have been shown to have better mental health than nonreligious people. They also tend to be happier overall than nonreligious people. </li><li>Improving your relationships – Friendships can improve your happiness by making you feel more accepted by others and providing support when things aren’t going well for you. </li></ul>The next time you feel down, try one of these strategies, and see if you can’t turn the day around!

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2326098.The_How_of_Happiness">The How of Happiness </a>presents a scientific way to becoming happier. The book’s premise is that the key to happiness lies in understanding how we can actively change our own mindsets and behaviors, rather than simply waiting for good things to happen. Lyubomirsky’s book presents a step-by-step method for increasing one’s level of happiness, including techniques such as gratitude journaling, savoring small pleasures and positive activities and cultivating optimism.

The How of Happiness - Book Review

This book provides an excellent overview of happiness research and how it can be used to improve your life. I highly recommend this lecture.

The 37-year-old person who feels burnt out and wants to regain joy in their life, the 45-year-old person who is going through a tough period and wants to find their light again, or the 67-year-old retired person who doesn’t know how to relax and feel happy after years of hard work in life.

Who would I recommend The How of Happiness to?

Read our summary of The How of Happiness to discover science-backed strategies to become happier, including "the 40% rule" and others.

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Mental Health

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Books

meditation

Meditation

The How of Happiness Summary

Use These 7 Daily Habits to Boost Your Mental Health in 2023:
<ol>
<li>Make relaxation a routine</li>
<li>Practice gratitude</li>
<li>Value social interaction</li>
<li>Take care of your physical health</li>
<li>Monitor your social media intake</li>
<li>Journal your feelings</li>
<li>Make yourself laugh</li>
</ol>

Simple mental health habits to boost your mental health:

Very few things in life are promised. Times of stress are, unfortunately, one of them. There will be times when you feel overwhelmed or stressed out. However, you can control how you respond to the strain by implementing relaxation techniques into your daily routine.
Meditation is a popular way to relax as it can help reach a state of calm, decrease stress and improve your mood. Some people even use music to guide them through their meditation sessions. If meditation isn't your thing, deep breathing, reading or taking a bubble bath are also popular techniques to relax.

1. Make relaxation a routine

Including gratitude in your life is a way to create a positive outlook on your life. More than that, it has tangible benefits for your mental health, including reducing stress, lessening depression symptoms and boosting your mood.
Gratitude is a simple concept, but sometimes difficult to keep up with. In 2023, take time for self-reflection and share your gratitude with the people around you. If you like to journal, regularly write down a list of things you're grateful for.

2. Practice gratitude

<ul>
<li>Sharing our time with others is sometimes just what we need to boost our mood or change our perspective on things. </li>
<li>By making time for friends and family, you will decrease feelings of loneliness and ensure you have an emotional support system at your fingertips. If you can't regularly meet in person, text messages and zoom calls are all meaningful ways to connect with others without actually seeing each other. </li>
<li>Boundaries are an essential part of mental health that help you from pushing yourself too far. Feel empowered to say no or move plans around when your body tells you to.</li>
</ul>

3. Value social interaction

Mental health is directly tied to physical health - one cannot flourish without the other. The three main areas to target are:
<ul>
<li>Sleep: If you don't get enough sleep, your brain doesn't have the chance to rest and recover.</li>
<li>Food and hydration: Giving your body the nutrients and hydration it needs to function is another essential part of mental health. In addition to eating well-balanced meals, try adding foods to your diet that boost happiness.</li>
<li>Exercise: Being active is another way to boost your mood and make you feel good. Adding exercise to your routine gives you a chance to bond with others, reduce anxiety and boost your confidence.</li>
</ul>

4. Take care of your physical health

Our phones are our lifelines. Most of the time, they're beside us, keeping us connected to the outside world through calls, texts and social media. 
The hours spent scrolling through social media, comparing ourselves to the snapshot of perfection people post, can seriously impact our self-view and stain our mental health. 
Constant social media use has been linked to worsened anxiety and depression symptoms, feelings of inadequacy and unhealthy sleeping habits.

5. Monitor your social media intake

Journaling is a powerful tool to cope with mental health disorders by working through emotions and channeling thoughts. 
A 2018 study found that journaling for 15 minutes each day significantly reduced stress and feelings of anxiety. Other research has linked it to helping work through PTSD symptoms or depression.

6. Journal your feelings

Sometimes, laughter is the best medicine:
<ul>
<li>When you're feeling stressed or down, do things that will make you laugh to reduce anxiety and stress. </li>
<li>Watch your favorite TV show or movie to give your mood a boost. Or find the source within yourself. </li>
<li>Sing while you're in the shower </li>
<li>Dance while cleaning your home. Dancing reduces the stress hormone cortisol in the body.</li>
</ul>

7. Make yourself laugh

Improving your mental health is a journey; it doesn't happen overnight. You can make lasting tweaks to your well-being by intentionally adding habits to your routine.

For overall well being and balanced mental equilibrium, it is necessary to work on your habits to keep you in shape mentally

Aiming for healthy daily habits this year will improve your mental health.

mindfulness

Mindfulness

7 Daily Habits to Boost Your Mental Health in 2023

<ul><li class="ql-align-justify">Hormones are chemicals produced by different glands across your body. </li><li class="ql-align-justify">They travel through the bloodstream, acting as messengers and playing a part in many bodily processes.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Certain hormones are known to help promote positive feelings, including happiness and pleasure. These are referred to as the "Happy Hormones".</li></ul>

What Are Hormones?

<ol><li class="ql-align-justify">Dopamine: “Feel-good” hormone, a neurotransmitter - important part of brain’s reward system - associated with pleasurable sensations, learning, memory.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Serotonin: Help regulate mood, sleep, appetite, digestion, learning ability, memory.</li></ol><ul><li class="ql-align-justify">Oxytocin: “<a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/love-hormone">Love hormone</a>”, essential for childbirth, breastfeeding & strong parent-child bonding, promote trust, empathy & bonding in relationships.</li><li class="ql-align-justify">Endorphins: Body’s natural pain reliever, produced in response to stress or discomfort. Levels may also increase when engage in reward-producing activities such as eating, working out or having sex.</li></ul>

What Are Happy Hormones 

<ul><li>Spend time outdoors, <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/depression/benefits-sunlight">in sunlight</a>. </li><li>According to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306987716303966">research </a>, exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun can increase the production of serotonin.</li><li>You can try spending about 15 minutes outside a few times a week. Try exploring a new neighborhood or park if you’re tired of the same old sights. </li><li>Just be aware that UV exposure can also increase the risk of <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/skin-cancer">skin cancer</a>, so don’t forget <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/beauty-skin-care/sunscreen-guide">sunscreen</a>. </li></ul>

How to Boost Your Serotonin Level? 

<ul><li>Exercise has multiple physical <a href="https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/10-benefits-of-exercise">health benefits</a>. It can also have a positive impact on emotional well-being.</li><li>If you’ve heard of a “<a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/runners-high">runner’s high </a>,” you might already know about the link between exercise and endorphin release.</li><li>But exercise doesn’t just work on endorphins. Regular physical activity can also increase your dopamine and serotonin levels, making it a great option to boost your happy hormones.</li></ul>

Physical Exercise As Happy Hormones Booster

To see even more benefits from exercise:<ul><li>Include a few friends : A small <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/10/171030092917.htm">2017 study </a>of medical students found evidence to suggest group exercise offers more significant benefits than solo exercise.</li><li>Get some sun : Move your workout outdoors to maximize your serotonin boost.</li><li>Time it : Aim for at least 30 minutes of <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/fitness-exercise/aerobic-exercise-examples">aerobic exercise </a>at a time. Any amount of physical activity has health benefits, but <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35195103/">research </a> associates higher-intensity workouts with a greater release of endorphins.</li></ul>Laughter can help relieve feelings of <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/anxiety">anxiety</a> or stress, and improve mood by boosting dopamine and endorphin levels.

Maximize your workout

<ul><li>Social laughter triggered endorphin release. <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27439375/">Research </a></li><li>So, share that funny video, dust off your joke book, or watch a comedy special with a friend or partner.</li><li>An added bonus? Bonding over something hilarious with a loved one might even trigger oxytocin release.</li><li>This tip could — in theory — boost all four of your happy hormones.</li></ul>

Add More Social Laughter

The enjoyment you get from eating something delicious can trigger the release of dopamine & endorphins. <ul><li>Sharing the meal with someone you love, and bonding over meal preparation, can boost oxytocin levels.</li></ul>Certain food can also have an impact on hormone levels :<ul><li>spicy foods may trigger endorphin release,</li><li>yogurt, beans, eggs, meats with low-fat content, and almonds are linked to dopamine release,</li><li>foods high in tryptophan have been linked to increased serotonin levels,</li><li>foods containing probiotics such as yogurt, kimchi & sauerkraut, can influence the release of happy hormones</li></ul>

Eat Your Way To Happiness 

<ul><li>Music can give more than one of your happy hormones a boost.</li><li>Listening to instrumental music, especially music that gives you chills, can <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1811878116">increase </a>dopamine production in your brain.</li><li>But if you enjoy music, simply listening to any music you enjoy may help put you in a good mood. This positive change in your mood can increase serotonin production.</li><li>You may also experience an endorphin release while performing music, especially in a large group. </li></ul>

Listen To, Or Perform Music

To get started with meditation:<ul><li>Choose a quiet, comfortable place to sit.</li><li>Get comfortable, whether that’s standing, sitting, or lying down.</li><li>Let all your thoughts — positive or negative — rise and pass you by.</li><li>As thoughts come up, try not to judge them, cling to them, or push them away. Simply acknowledge them.</li></ul>Start out by doing this for 5 minutes and work your way up to longer sessions over time.If you’re familiar with <a href="https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/12-benefits-of-meditation">meditation</a>, you might already know of its many wellness benefits — from improving sleep to reducing stress.

Meditate Your Way To Happiness 

<ul><li>Oxytocin’s reputation as the “love hormone” is well earned.</li><li>Simply being attracted to someone can lead to the production of oxytocin. But physical affection, including kissing, <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/hugging-benefits">cuddling </a>, or having sex, <a href="https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/oxytocin-the-love-hormone">also contributes </a>to increased oxytocin production.</li><li>Just spending time with someone you care about can also help boost oxytocin production. This can help increase closeness and positive relationship feelings, making you feel happy, blissful, or even euphoric.</li><li>If you really want to feel those happy hormones, note that dancing & sex lead to endorphin release, while orgasm triggers dopamine release<warningtag>.</warningtag></li></ul>

Boost Your Love Hormone! 

<ul><li>If you have a dog, giving your furry friend some affection is a great way to boost oxytocin levels for you and your dog. </li><li>Dog owners as well as their dogs see an increase in oxytocin when interacting.</li><li>Even if you don’t own a dog, you might also experience an oxytocin boost when you see a dog you know and like. If you’re a dog lover, this might happen when you get a chance to pet any dog at all.</li><li>So, find your favorite canine and give it a good ear scratch or lap cuddle.</li></ul>

Furry Friends Affection

<ul><li>Not getting enough <a href="https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/10-reasons-why-good-sleep-is-important">quality sleep</a> can affect your health in multiple ways.</li><li>Setting aside <a href="https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/how-much-sleep-you-need">7 to 9 hours</a> each night for sleep can help restore the balance of hormones in your body, which will likely help you feel better.</li></ul>If you find it difficult to get a good night’s sleep, try:<ul><li>going to bed and getting up around the same time every day, </li><li>creating a quiet, restful sleeping environment (try reducing light, noise, and screens), </li><li>decreasing <a href="https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/what-is-caffeine">caffeine</a> intake, especially in the afternoon and evening</li></ul>

Quality Sleep Is Important 

It’s normal to experience some <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/stress">stress </a>from time to time. <ul><li>But living with regular stress or dealing with highly stressful life events can cause drops in dopamine and serotonin production. </li><li>This can negatively affect your health and mood, making it harder to deal with stress.</li></ul>If you’re under a lot of stress, the <a href="https://www.apa.org/helpcenter/manage-stress">American Psychological Association </a>recommends:<ul><li>taking a brief break from the source of stress</li><li>laughter</li><li>taking 20 minutes for a walk, run, bike ride, or other <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/heart-disease/exercise-stress-relief">physical activity </a></li><li>meditation</li><li>social interaction</li></ul>

Reduce Stress

If you enjoy a <a href="https://www.healthline.com/health/types-of-massage">massage</a>, here’s one more reason to get one: <ul><li>massage can boost all four of your happy hormones.</li></ul>

Massage

<ul><li>When dopamine is released in large amounts, it creates feelings of pleasure and reward, which motivate you to repeat a specific behavior. </li><li>In contrast, low levels of dopamine are linked to reduced motivation and decreased enthusiasm for things that would excite most people. </li></ul>Hence, it benefits us productively too when our happy hormones are high.

Feelings of Pleasure and Reward Motivates Repetition 

Boosting our happy hormones keep us healthy and productive. ❤️

Certain hormones may help you feel happier. We'll break down what they are and how to increase them naturally.

Happy Hormones: What They Are and How to Boost Them

Mimetism was not Rene Girard original idea. It can be traced to David Hume who observed one's actions reverberates to the rest like the strings of a violin. It describes humans as a social specie, prone to co-vibrations aka under the influence of other people's actions.<ul><li>Mimetism is a social technology to get to the subjectivity of others. But ...</li><li>Mimetism is a tendency, but also a capacity. It leaves room for individual agency. At any time, you, the player, can choose the next string to pluck.</li></ul>

Mimetism as the Strings of a Violin

The basic mimetic behaviour manifests in society in more meaningful ways:<ul><li>Through prestige. The respect, admiration, and high regard that is accorded to someone has less to do with the objective qualities of the person and more with the adherence to normative values.</li><li>A step higher is the real of the sacred. For Girard this is just a dial up of mimesis. The power of a sacred relic lies just with the collective admiration that one feels compelled to mimic. Gods live only as long as there are rituals of belief.</li></ul>

Normative Evolution, Prestige and Gods

Mimesis is both the strongest and necessary authority for us to hold normative values. It more than any faculty decides what we think of beautiful, as good ... what laws we think of just or what sexual relationships we think of as legitimate or depraved. Even what we strive to be like.

Mimetic desire can be separated in:<ul><li>a desire to experience (physical desire)</li><li>a desire to be (metaphysical desire). We chase objects for what they say about us on for the fullness of being that we expect them to confer upon us.</li></ul>ex: We may chase a sexual partner for how they make us feel or for the social status of being with them. We may start a company for the thrill of the struggle or because we want to be like like the Silicon Valley tech bros. The balance of the 2 will vary from person to person, but pride and ambition are strongly correlated with metaphysical desire.

The 2 twin components of mimetic desire

Metaphysical desire is focused on our identity, our ego, our spirit ... the core of what we are. This itself can be broken down into 3 components:<ol><li>Reality. We want our existence to be observed and noticed by others. What really matters is not the physical experience but what others think it's real.</li><li>Persistence. We want our identities to last through time. We are obsessed with achieving some immortality. </li><li>Self-sufficiency: Deals with having the power of the social realm to fulfil our thirsts. It's what Nietzsche calls "the will to power". It has a lot to do with domination over others.</li></ol>

The 3 Components of Being

We crave objects because other people we look up are associated with those objects: a celebrity, a parent, a colleague etc... The faulty logic being that our acquisition of the object will grant us the same sense of being as our role-model. Desire is not a straight line from subject to object, but a triangular path to object through the role model.

The Faulty logic of Object Acquisition

Not all our actions will be motivated by metaphysical desire, but out of the possible motivations ... it is the strongest. In commercial terms it means products that focus on it will command the most value. It explains the success of branding, the celebrity culture and consumerism as a whole.

The Power of Metaphysical Desire

<ul><li>Malleability. They are highly dependent on our mediators. If I grew up with a Don Juan father I may seek superficial relationship. </li><li>Power. The more we get motivated by it the more we loose our agency. The tulip buying mania, the 2001 dotcom crash etc.</li><li>Deceitful: We are oblivious that we are confusing an object for a state of being. </li><li>Ungovernable: It is not ruled by reason. Reason becomes a spoke-person to our spirit. Not the source of action, but its justification.</li></ul>

The 4 Qualities of Metaphysical Desires

The second part of the lecture on Girard. More in depth look at desires.

Mimesis, mimetic desire, and metaphysical desire are the fundamental building blocks of Girard’s psychology. They will show us how even the most intimate aspects of our identity can be radically shaped by others and how to distinguish vanity from authenticity. These psychological fundaments are what make humans social animals, why prestige and recognition matter so much to us, and how we are able to form cultures and even language itself. They are responsible for humanity’s greatest achievements, but they also render us helplessly fallen. Under scrutiny, metaphysical desire will reveal itself to be none other than original sin. 00:00:00 Introduction 00:03:51 Mimesis 00:08:16 Mimesis and Normativity 00:17:34 Mimetic Desire 00:29:17 What is Meant by "Being" 00:31:53 The First End of Being: Reality 00:34:38 The Second End of Being: Persistence 00:35:31 The Third End of Being: Self-sufficiency 00:41:36 Metaphysical Desire 00:50:14 The Malleability of Metaphysical Desire 00:52:09 The Power of Metaphysical Desire 00:53:30 The Deceitfulness of Metaphysical Desire 00:58:18 The Ungovernability of Metaphysical Desire 01:00:31 Original Sin

Understand yourself and those around you.

psychology

Psychology

philosophy

Philosophy

religionandspirituality

Religion & Spirituality

history

History

Mimesis, mimetic desire, and metaphysical desire are the fundamental building blocks of Girard’s psychology. They will show us how even the most intimate aspects of our identity can be radically shaped by others and how to distinguish vanity from authenticity. These psychological fundaments are what make humans social animals, why prestige and recognition matter so much to us, and how we are able to form cultures and even language itself. They are responsible for humanity’s greatest achievements, but they also render us helplessly fallen. Under scrutiny, metaphysical desire will reveal itself to be none other than original sin. 

00:00:00 Introduction
00:03:51 Mimesis
00:08:16 Mimesis and Normativity
00:17:34 Mimetic Desire
00:29:17 What is Meant by "Being"
00:31:53 The First End of Being: Reality
00:34:38 The Second End of Being: Persistence
00:35:31 The Third End of Being: Self-sufficiency
00:41:36 Metaphysical Desire
00:50:14 The Malleability of Metaphysical Desire
00:52:09 The Power of Metaphysical Desire
00:53:30 The Deceitfulness of Metaphysical Desire
00:58:18 The Ungovernability of Metaphysical Desire
01:00:31 Original Sin

If I were not Diogenes, I wish I were Alexander.

Johnathan at Limbo

Lecture II: Mimetic Desire and Original Sin | René Girard's Mimetic Theory

René Girard's Mimetic Theory - Lecture 2

ChatGPT is an artificial-intelligence powered chatbot that has taken the world by storm.Using information scraped from the web, ChatGPT can draw conclusions, create novel essays, and even run computer programs.ChatGPT has broken the record for quickest adoption of a technology, surpassing 1 million users in 5 days.

Why ChatGPT will make us Smarter

The rise of the internet and now a highly effective chatbot has led many to question the value of memorization.Perhaps students could be taught critical thinking lessons in school instead of being taught to memorize facts and figures, but this is a misconception.

The End Of Memorization?

People must have accessible facts in order to think. Remembering is the foundational level of Bloom’s taxonomy of learning (pictured above). Facts must be accessed in order to perform higher level tasks like analyzing, evaluating or creating.(Source: Education Week)

Remembering Facts Is Foundational

The human brain stores every fact one knows, mostly in the hippocampus region. It is unknown exactly how facts are physically stored, but brain imaging studies (fMRI) show increased blood flow to the hippocampus region in memorization tasks.(Image source: Wikipedia)

Remembering = Accessing Facts From Memory  

The internet, books, notes, or any record of facts serve as extensions of the human hippocampus.One only needs to store the fact of where to look for information to satisfy the “remembering” tier of Bloom’s taxonomy (e.g. knowing what keywords to Google to access information about a desired subject).

Internet, Books, Notes As Extensions Of The Hippocampus

<ol><li>Delivers astoundingly specific facts in an instant (with few limitations around its bias, accuracy, and ability to deliver current events).</li><li>Can handle more complex requests than Google or any other search engine to date.</li><li>Can deliver responses in infinitely many modalities such as a specific writing styles (it famously has a great Donald Trump impression), tabular format, coding languages, and more.</li><li>Is free and open to all.</li></ol>

Strengths Of ChatGPt

<ol><li> The human hippocampus has its best companion yet—ChatGPT is lightning fast, specific, and (with few exceptions) accurate.</li><li>ChatGPT does higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy, allowing humans to ascend the taxonomy more rapidly.</li><li>Humans will still need to remember facts, but with much less specificity (e.g. remembering where to look for resources, best search terms to get optimal results, etc.). </li></ol>

What ChatGPT Means For Learning

As a former educator and lifelong learner, I’ve had some fun with ChatGPT. Here is why I think it is for the betterment of our collective intelligence. 

Why ChatGPT will make us smarter

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