<ul><li>It has been more than 50 years since astronomers first proposed "dark matter", which is thought to be the most common form of matter in the universe.</li><li>Despite this, we have no idea what it is - nobody has directly seen it or produced it in the lab.</li><li>Nevertheless, physicists today overwhelmingly favour the dark matter hypothesis incorporated in the so-called ΛCDM model (Lambda Cold Dark Matter).</li></ul>

Dark Matter And Philosophy

In the case of two competing hypotheses, what determines the final probability of each hypothesis is the product of the ratio between the initial probabilities of the two hypotheses (before evidence) and the ratio of the probabilities that the evidence appears in each case (called the likelihood ratio).Determining what exactly counts as the "initial probability" of a hypothesis, and the possible ways in which such probabilities can be determined, remains one of the most difficult challenges in Bayesian confirmation theory.

Philosophy to The Rescue

Newtonian laws may work slightly differently when there’s extremely small acceleration involved, such as at the edge of galaxies. This tweak was perfectly compatible with the observed galactic rotation. Nevertheless, physicists today overwhelmingly favour the dark matter hypothesis incorporated in the so-called ΛCDM model (Lambda Cold Dark Matter). If the two competing theories of dark matter and modified gravity can equally explain galactic rotation and other anomalies, one might wonder whether we have good reasons to prefer one over another.

Dark Matter Hypothesis

Philosophy cannot ultimately tell us whether astronomers are right or wrong about the existence of dark matter. But it can tell us whether astronomers do indeed have good reasons to believe in it, what these reasons are, and what it would take for modified gravity to become as popular as dark matter.We still don’t know the exact answers to these questions, but we are working on them. More research in philosophy of science will give us a better verdict.

Still Clueless

There’s a perfectly good alternative to dark matter, but most scientists aren’t keen on the idea.

Stashed ideas

Dark matter: should we be so sure it exists? Here's how philosophy can help

The mere exposure effect is defined as "the finding that individuals show an increased preference (or liking) for a stimulus as a consequence of repeated exposure to that stimulus."How can you use the mere exposure effect to get people to like you? By letting them see you often. Turn your camera on during Zoom meetings. Comment on your friends' social media posts. Go to the gym at the same time every day to increase the odds of bumping into the same people.

Be seen often

Asking questions puts the focus on the other person, and lets them know you value their opinions and experiences. Research shows that people who ask more questions during conversations are perceived as more responsive and are better liked by conversation partners.Asking someone follow-up questions about something they told you is particularly effective because it shows that you are listening and interesting in what they have to say.

Ask questions

People who smile are perceived as more competent and more attractive. And people are more apt to like someone they consider attractive.

Smile

Making a great first impression isn't as hard as you might think.

3 Easy Ways to Make People Like You That Are Backed by Science

Charisma is rooted in values and feelings. To persuade others, you must use powerful and reasoned rhetoric, establish personal and moral credibility, and then rouse followers’ emotions and passions. Charisma is not all innate; it’s a learnable skill or, rather, a set of skills that have been practiced since antiquity.

Charisma Is A Learnable Skill

<ul><li>Charismatic speakers help listeners understand, relate to, and remember a message. A powerful way to do this is by using metaphors, similes, and analogies.</li><li>Stories and anecdotes also make messages more engaging and help listeners connect with the speaker. Even people who aren’t born raconteurs can employ them in a compelling way.</li><li>Contrasts are also important because they combine reason and passion; they clarify your position by pitting it against the opposite, often to dramatic effect.</li></ul>

Connect, Compare, and Contrast

Rhetorical questions might seem overused, but charismatic leaders use them all the time to encourage engagement. Questions can have an obvious answer or pose a puzzle to be answered later.
Three-part lists are another old trick of effective persuasion because they distill any message into key takeaways. Why three? Because most people can remember three things; three is sufficient to provide proof of a pattern, and three gives an impression of completeness.

Engage and Distill

<ul><li>Expressions of moral conviction and statements that reflect the sentiments of the group—even when the sentiments are negative—establish your credibility by revealing the quality of your character to your listeners and making them identify and align themselves with you.</li><li>Setting high goals helps charismatic leaders demonstrate passion—and inspire it in their followers—But one must also convey confidence that the goals can be achieved.</li></ul>

Show Integrity, Authority, and Passion

Transform yourself into the person others want to follow.

Learning Charisma

We all have been taught by the internet about what a good password is: a mix of letters, numbers and special characters, with some extra rules thrown in. While long and complex passwords seem safer, it may be just an illusion.Most of these profound guidelines about strong passwords are plain wrong, as they are taken into account while creating bulk password cracking software.

Good Password Bad Password

Password cracking software has algorithms and brute force techniques scanning billions of passwords per second, keeping into account the rules most people follow.It is only a matter of time a seemingly strong password based on these rules is hacked, based on the constantly updated algorithms for speedier intrusion.

Please Hack My PC

By following the password guidelines, we are paradoxically making our private information more prone to hacking, as we are using the language used by computers. We don’t talk in the strange character sequences used in passwords, but the machines do.

Don't Talk Like The Machines

One can make passwords more human, telling a three-word story or a phrase that is personal, individualistic and outside the rule book of computers.A phrase consisting of three words is surprisingly difficult to crack, providing it is original and not something out of a book easily available online.

Telling A Story With A Password

Fingerprint scanners deter cracking attempts, as do OTP(one time password) generation. Adding a second factor for authentication disarms the bulk-password cracking engine, though some people would still be vulnerable.

Two-Factor Authentication

Why “The fretful porpenpine” is an easily broken password, but “stepped forest squirrel” is not.


Self Improvement

Everything You Know About Passwords Is Wrong

To be hypervigilant is to have a perpetual vigilance or alertness about what can happen with us or around us. The hypervigilant person is never at peace, never calm, and always obsessed about something or the other.
A lack of emotional stability while growing up, or being a victim/witness of domestic violence, or other environmental factors like being in a war zone, can develop into hypervigilance.

Being Hypervigilant

<ol>
<li>Get some closure about your old childhood regrets, resentments and all the things left unsaid. Diffuse your anxiety by letting out your emotions and being heard.</li>
<li>Understand what triggers the old feelings and puts you in hyper-alert mode. Build self-awareness to check your anxiety levels.</li>
<li>Do good to yourself. Avoid negative self-talk and try deep breathing, journaling or listening to soothing music.</li>
<li>Do not indulge with your brain’s never-ending thought patterns that can be destructive.</li>
<li>Get into action mode and solve the core issue, understanding that you are not a little kid anymore.</li>
</ol>

Overcoming Hypervigilance

Always being always on edge may have worked when you were a kid—but not anymore.

Are You Hypervigilant?

Behavioral psychologist Dr. Carolyn Mair states that clothing is so close to us that it becomes part of our identity.
The clothes we wear shows how we want to be perceived, but how we are seen depends on the viewer.

Clothing as part of our identity

When we meet someone new, it takes under a second for us to construct our first impression based on how they look.
If we like the way someone looks, we may think of them as successful, pleasant, and intelligent without knowing anything more about them. From there, we tend to look for traits that will confirm our initial judgment of them.

First impression matters

<ul>
<li>A study showed that lab coats are associated with attention and care.</li>
<li>Another experiment showed that people who wore lab coats performed better on attention tests than those wearing painters' coats.</li>
<li>People who receive compliments when they wear certain items of clothing may feel more liked and influential when they wear that item of clothing.</li>
</ul>

Clothing and cognitive function

Sending messages on social media that equate objects like clothes with mental health can be harmful when people are dealing with deeper mental health issues. Clothing can help us feel empowered and authentic, but it can't give us mental wellness.
In the fashion industry, people that don't fit the thin, young, white, eurocentric image are marginalized with less opportunity to communicate identity and feel empowered. This can harm people's self-esteem when measured against the norms of society.

Clothing and self-esteem

<ul>
<li>Position a mirror in a well-lit space so that you can see into your eyes. Sit on a meditation cushion or chair with feet on the ground. Sit with yourself for 10 minutes.</li>
<li>Tune in to your breathing while breathing regularly.</li>
<li>Gaze into your eyes. Is your gaze harsh or soft? If hard, try to soften your gaze.</li>
<li>Observe your inner critic, then see the person under that critic. That's who you really are.</li>
<li>Notice any sensations or emotions that arise and allow them to be there without judgment or interpretation.</li>
</ul>
You may be surprised how your view of yourself can change.

The mindful mirror-gazing practice

How the clothes we wear can affect our relationships, behavior, and identity—and why it’s different for almost everyone.

What We Wear is a Reflection of How We Want to be Seen - Mindful

If one day you find yourself in need to improve, you might as well take into account the following elements worthy of your attention: you ought to find an obsession that keeps your interest to improve constantly alive, once you have that, you should study your strengths and weaknesses related to this obsession in order to improve further.

The self-improvement process

If you are planning on improving yourself at something in particular, you should also be prepared to work on developing some other several micro-skills necessary in order to get the job done. It would be useful to gather up all the knowledge you have acquired up to the present moment, be it even by hours. The more, the better.

Improving micro-skills

When trying to improve certain skills, bear in mind that failing is not an issue: the more you fail, the more chances you get to study your own mistakes and learn from them. Therefore, take risks by accepting different challenges related to your passion, which could teach you valuable lessons.

Failing is key to success

In order to be successful, one has to be the best at what he or she does. One sure way to ensure your success is by doing things differently than the others. That is to say, you should leave the comfort zone everybody is so addicted to.

Get out of your comfort zone

When thinking about self-improvement, try considering being original and having a unique point of view as a strong quality that makes you stand out from the crowd. Moreover, another secret which can enable you reach improvement faster could be by remembering, when in doubt, your basics.

Be unique and remember your basics

You can't. It's really hard to change. I've been an addict. When you're addicted to a drug you can't just say, "Well, this is bad for me. I'm going to stop." Just give up now or be ready to go through a world of pain. Or... You can.

How To Improve Yourself In 6 Months

Our lives are uncertain and impermanent, and paradoxically, this can lead us towards living authentically, as we realize that death is unavoidable, values are subjective, and life by itself is flux.
The Self-Perception Theory reveals that people manipulate their own information so that the audience is impressed. People portray authenticity and manipulate their behaviours to appear real when it is necessary.

Authenticity In Psychology

<ul>
<li>Self-esteem is a sense that is experienced when our true motives, feelings, values and self-perception are operating without any obstacles. This increases our self-worth.</li>
<li> Modern technology, especially intrusive wearable devices is a disruptive change in how we exist in the world, with our authentic self, like our face or biometric information available to others.</li>
</ul>

Authenticity: Psychological Research

A good life doesn’t mean a lack of problems, but having a diverse range of enriching experiences of all kinds. We realize that a complete, fulfilling life is a process, not an outcome.
When we fully develop our potential and live authentically, we experience meaning in life and personal growth with whatever is thrown at us. We are sincere, grateful, mindful and expressive. We engage in positive activities like volunteering, donating time or money, or helping society in other meaningful ways.

Benefits Of Authenticity

Know Yourself + Own Yourself + Be Yourself = The Authentic Life

The Authentic Self Formula

Authenticity is achieved when we are outside what we are inside. Putting on an inauthentic self (faking authenticity) is tiring and also damaging to our mental health.
We should be aware of our body, listen to the voice inside, amplifying the hopes, dreams and fears. We have to know ourselves, face our truth and then own ourselves. Being yourself means being honest, sincere and genuine, the pathway to authenticity.

How To Be Your Authentic Self

<ol>
<li>Are you free to make your own choices?</li>
<li>Can you express your own views and opinions without fear?</li>
<li>Can you be yourself on a daily basis?</li>
<li>Are you true towards who you really are?</li>
</ol>
If you are answering these questions as Yes, you are living an authentic life.

Check Your Authenticity Level: Questions To Ask Yourself

Authentic people are vulnerable and constantly enter a state of mutual vulnerability with others, taking it as a source of strength instead of a weakness.
Vulnerability is the wellspring from which love, belonging, joy, empathy and creativity erupt. When business leaders show humility and vulnerability, their team feels a stronger, authentic connection with them.

Authenticity And Vulnerability

A human being’s natural inclination is always authenticity, as seen in every child, who is authentic by default and loves everyone unconditionally. The fault lies in how some kids are raised and how their self-identity and ego starts to develop 18 months after they are born.
A developing child of an authentic parent is free to choose their path, with no impositions. But even then, the love they learn is often conditional, as it is almost always related to good performance, or securing good marks, which can pave the way to inauthentic living as an adult.

Note To Parents: Babies Are Authentic

As parents, our children should get unconditional love from us, instead of being tied to excelling in school or sports.
If we wish our child to be authentic, we have to stop putting conditions on our love towards them.

Note To Parents: Unconditional Love

Finding yourself and ‘becoming real.’ What do we mean by living an authentic life, and why is it so important? We explore how to make that possible.

Authentic Living: How to Be Real According to Psychology

“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”

<ol><li>Learners proficient in fast-paced games are significantly faster at performing new cognitive tasks.</li><li>By pretending you are teaching something to someone using simple language, you understand it better.</li><li>Bilingual people may have a leg up when it comes to understanding new things and processing information, regardless of the learned language. </li><li>Learning new material right before sleeping provides a significant retention advantage.</li><li>Establishing as many connections as possible is an effective way to learn, and the best way to do that is to relate new information to known information. </li><li>The brain processes visual information faster than text. Include relevant visuals (charts, symbols, diagrams…) with learning materials to improve retention.</li></ol>

Boost Learning Speed

Is the idea that we learn unconsciously through our senses in a self-regulated way, without requiring external reinforcement. More simply, you can learn to intuitively identify different situations or images through directly experiencing them in a fast-paced manner.

Perceptual Learning

We have 2 modes of thinking: focused (highly intensive mental processes when you are acutely aware of what you are thinking), and diffuse (a more relaxed mental process associated with sub-conscious thinking).Sometimes the first solution found prevents you from seeing a wider range of possible solutions. To sidestep that, repeatedly intersperse short periods of intense focus on new information with periods of relaxed diffuse thinking.

Learning By Switching Focus

You go to the gym to train your muscles. You run outside or go for hikes to train your endurance. Or, maybe you do neither of those, but still wish you exercised more. Well, here is how to train one of the most important parts of your body: Your brain.

8 Ways To Help You Learn Everything Faster

Happiness is often misunderstood as the presence of positive emotions and the absence of negative ones.
<ul>
<li>It leads to work cultures that put pressure on people to show false positive emotions.</li>
<li>Associating being happy with being cheerful all the time creates another problem. Happiness can be classified as less serious and superficial, resulting in universities that avoid developing "happy" graduates.</li>
</ul>

Happiness is misunderstood

Happiness is more than developing positive emotions. It also includes two other parts.
<ul>
<li>Having a clear and meaningful purpose.</li>
<li>Developing resilience enables us to deal with negative emotions when they appear.</li>
</ul>
Employers need to ensure workers can do engaging, meaningful and purpose-driven work to help achieve effectiveness and productivity.

Three components in happiness

People bring three dimensions to the job market: Physical, cognitive and emotional. Machines can take over both the physical and cognitive dimension. It is only in the emotional domain where humans still reign.
With increasingly more automated jobs, humans can still add value around creativity, relationships and self-fulfilment.

A space for human connection

EI consists of four domains: self-awareness, social-awareness, self-management, and relationship-management.
Two daily exercises can help create foundational habits for EI.
<ul>
<li>Brain rewiring. Stating five things you're grateful for can help with gratitude.</li>
<li>"My emotions today", where you articulate your feelings, can help with emotional awareness.</li>
</ul>
Meditation and developing SMART (Specific, Measurable, Ambitious, Relevant and Timely) goals, a mission statement and a personal vision statement can also help to strengthen your EI.

Emotional intelligence (EI)

Jobs of the future will require emotional intelligence to complement the sophisticated machines we work with, so we need to equip young people with this vital skill

Dark matter: should we be so sure it exists? Here's how philosophy can help

3 Easy Ways to Make People Like You That Are Backed by Science

Learning Charisma

Everything You Know About Passwords Is Wrong

Are You Hypervigilant?

Musa