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February 21, 2019
Daily Inspiration — Why are we pessimistic? Is it based in reality?
By Josh Mitteldorf
Many of usperhaps most well-educated Westernersare aware of a pall that hangs over our thoughts and moods. Maybe it is not diagnosed as depression because of its ubiquity, but part of us is sometimes aware a sense that we were not meant to live this way.
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We would rather be ruined than changed
We would rather die in our dread
Than climb the cross of the moment
And let our illusions die.W. H. Auden, born this day in 1907
The most complex structure in the known universe is the human brain. As far as we know it is the pinnacle of material complexity at this point in spacetime. If what we know about this ongoing trend from plasma giving rise to particles giving rise to stars giving rise to elements giving rise to life giving rise to humanity giving rise to to increasingly complex cultural and societal structures is as reliable as it appears to be, does it make sense to believe the human brain would suddenly disappear from the equation and revert back to the lesser complexity of an earth without humans, or without life altogether?
(Thanks to Caitlin Johnstone for pointing me to this video.)
Josh Mitteldorf, de-platformed senior editor at OpEdNews, blogs on aging at http://JoshMitteldorf.ScienceBlog.com. Read how to stay young at http://AgingAdvice.org.
Educated to be an astrophysicist, he has branched out from there to mathematical modeling in a variety of areas, including evolutionary ecology and economics. He has taught mathematics, statistics, and physics at several universities. He is an avid amateur pianist, and father of two adopted Chinese girls, now grown. He travels to Beijing each year to work with a lab studying the biology of aging. His book on the subject is "Cracking the Aging Code", http://tinyurl.com/y7yovp87.