Mind over Matter

Sometimes science comes up with stuff that's weirder than religion. It seems we can influence our DNA in order to teach our offspring what we have learned, as if we're able to reprogram our genes by will-power. Like magic.


The essay has been moved to my personal website:

Mind over Matter 

 

Pornography Reduces Sex Crime

British Prime Minister David Cameron wants to block Internet pornography and make it less accessible, especially to minors. But research shows that if he succeeds, sex crimes are likely to increase – especially those involving minors as victims or offenders.


The essay has been moved to my personal website:

Pornography Reduces Sex Crime

War Is Not About Aggression

I saw a TV documentary about the origin of war: is it inherent in our species or did it come with civilization? There's no consensus within the sciences, so I allow myself to speculate.


The essay has been moved to my personal website:

War Is Not About Aggression

Don't Wanna Stay Alive When You're 25

What's with the withering of rock stars, when they become adults? Is rock'n'roll an art form reserved for those in touch with their adolescence? Or could it be that its artists have a limited time of creativity, whatever their age at the outset?


The essay has been moved to my personal website:

Don't Wanna Stay Alive When You're 25

No Rule Can Substitute Compassion

I happened to come across a few episodes of The World's Strictest Parents, a TV show where troublemaker teens are “shown the way.” The message is as conservative and moralistic as can be expected, narrowmindedly blaming the teenagers for just about everything. Still, upon closer inspection, it can't be brushed off all that easily.


The essay has been moved to my personal website:

No Rule Can Substitute Compassion

The Weakness of Rhetoric

President Obama defended the massive NSA monitoring of digital information, which was revealed a couple of days ago. It was not an easy task, not even with his rhetoric skills. There are limits to the power of rhetoric.


The essay has been moved to my personal website:

The Weakness of Rhetoric

Cats

When I was a kid, we got a cat. Then another. Soon enough kittens, as well. That was also the time I started taking photos for more than souvenirs, so I took a lot of cat photos. Here are some of them, from the 1970's.

(Click on the images to see them enlarged.)

You also find those images on my personal website: stenudd.com

The Uncertainty of It All

We all know about accepting what we can't change, change what we can, and recognize the difference. Well, sometimes that's easier said than done. At times, I fall into the mental trap of trepidation at the thought of just how helpless we humans are against the forces of this universe.


The essay has been moved to my personal website:

The Uncertainty of It All

The Great Misfortune of Society: It's Ruled by Freeloaders

Society is far from perfect, in spite of its thousands of years of evolution. Most of the suffering it causes or at least readily allows, is due to injustice. Some few are privileged at the expense of the vast majority.


The essay has been moved to my personal website:

The Great Misfortune of Society: It's Ruled by Freeloaders

The Individualism of Communism

Seeing a documentary about Mao Zedong's China I was reminded of the anomaly of communism: Why are these ideologies of the collective given names of individuals? That should be enough to dismiss them.


The essay has been moved to my personal website:

The Individualism of Communism

We're All Victims of the Bully

Bullying is a very serious social problem, a matter of life and death since some victims are pushed to suicide and many others are damaged for life. Still, the solution is very far away – probably because bullying is rooted within our instincts, which our conscious minds have trouble reaching.


The essay has been moved to my personal website:

We're All Victims of the Bully

The Quest for the Perfect Search Engine

Since the second half of 2012, the search results on Google have deteriorated. Single domains often dominate the first few results pages – especially, but not only, after the first ten results. Also, the relevance and quality of the  results have decreased. It got me wondering: What would be the perfect search engine algorithm?


The essay has been moved to my personal website:

The Quest for the Perfect Search Engine

Georgian Gethsemane

A friend and I were searching the web for versions of Gethsemane (I Only Want to Say) from Jesus Christ Superstar that might surpass Ted Neeley's from 2006. A mission impossible, but I happened to come across an adolescent getting quite near – on a Georgian Idol show.


The essay has been moved to my personal website:

Georgian Gethsemane

Profit Is a Lousy Ideal

No doubt, capitalism has brought a lot of good to the world – at least to parts of it. But it's at a cost. The strife for profit is an effective engine for the progress of material gains, but it's a lousy ideal.


The essay has been moved to my personal website:

Profit Is a Lousy Ideal