Tag: prosocial behaviour
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Load Rage
There’s a long, wandering nerve in the body called the vagus (means “wandering”). It goes to the heart. It goes to the stomach. It goes to the face. It goes to the larynx (voice box). It has two main branches. One is covered with myelin. Insulated, it conducts faster. One is not covered with myelin.…
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How to Save the World
Maturana and Varela, Chilean biologists, wrote an essential book called The Tree of Knowledge. They “explain” evolution according to a simple rule that even a single-celled organism can follow: Don’t piss off the environment. We talk about climate change like it is something we caused and can therefore reverse. That may be partly true. What…
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As You Wish
In William Goldman’s The Princess Bride, the Dread Pirate Roberts is a mythical figure who sails the seas and spares no one. Westley unfortunately gets captured by him, but manages to escape execution by pleading for his life and saying, “Please”. Roberts is impressed by this, and also by Westley’s story of his unending love…
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Tariff Day
Today is Tariff Day. But it’s also Chocolate Cake Day. Tariffs are bound to interrupt your digestion. Money generates anxiety at the best to times. Having to pay more money for things – well, that will generate anxiety. Anxiety, that signal of impending emergency. Evolution has long favoured interrupting meals in case of emergency. According…