Just as much as I can feel deprived of my sacred, delicious, endorphin level boosting dark chocolate, once in while my brain can miss the pleasure of some intellectual stimulation. Simply strolling through life without questioning anything can of course be somewhat comfortable, but there's nothing just as pleasurable as understanding and solving a problem, or having a debate with your friends when you all wholeheartedly disagree with each other, but still feed off exchanging opinions and ideas. I'm the most zen when I'm turning into the human equivalent to that meme that shows a confused lady with lots of equations next to her. That's why I'm trying to remind myself to feed my brain with something to nibble on, whether it'd be a philosophical dilemma, some video about astronomy that reinforces the insignificance of my existence, or even just a good ol' Ted Talk. I need something to keep my brain cells going until there's nothing but mush up there. Only to pretend I know stuff about our world by watching 10 minute videos on Vsauce, I decided to share a list of some of my favourite reads, videos and whatever that's taught me something new last month (and hopefully every month to prevent intellectual starvation).
Ted Talk by Anjan Chatterjee - How your brain decides what is beautiful
In this Ted Talk, Anjan Chatterjee explains how there's evolutionary reasons behind our brain's judgement on what's beautiful and not. He explains how averaging, symmetry and the effects of male and female hormones have a say in it, how it affects the way we look at each other and what actually happens in our brain when we do so. He also explains how this affects our judgement on people's abilities and personality, because apparently, there's a "beauty is good" stereotype in our brain, that makes us associate beautiful faces with being intelligent, capable and trustworthy, whereas there's also a "disfigured is bad" stereotype, working the other way around. He then touches on the issue of how popular media has shaped our views on those stereotypes, creating inequality between attractive and non-attractive people, and how it's our responsibility to change that, since we don't rely on primitive indicators (our brain's judgements on beauty) that tell us who's good and bad. It's always interesting to see how for example our brain hasn't had enough time to evolve yet, and adapt to the kind of lives we're living today, showing that we might be more primitive than we think we are.
How Information Overload Robs Us of Our Creativity by Josh Jones
This is an article I read a while ago, but I'm sure it's going to be relevant for quite some more time. It discusses the problem of being exposed to too much stimulation in our everyday lives, and that it contributes to decrease our brain's ability to think creatively. It presents scientific research that proves that our cluttered minds are too busy to think originally, and are overwhelmed with so many thoughts, that we lose the capacity to think of other problems or information outside of work. It suggests that we should give our brain the break it needs in order to function properly , and to prevent ourselves from creating unnecessary chaos. To sum up the article's point with a quote by Drake Baer: "When you have nothing to think about, you can do your best thinking."
Opinion piece: The State is right to humanise Isis recruits. We need to understand. by Rachel Shabi
One of my favourite parts on the Guardian website is the opinion section. There's usually some interesting pieces that discuss current news, relevant topics that are usually linked to what's been shaping the media and of course the occasional feminist article. Although I don't always agree with absolutely everything that's being published there, I found myself agreeing with this one. It's referring to a controversial TV drama on Channel 4 called 'The State' and the way they portrayed Isis recruits in Britain. What's interesting is that, just like every time you get close to the main characters, the show humanises the kinds of people we would normally perceive as heartless, murderous monsters. I think it's important to realise that behind every cult or extremist ideology, there are ordinary people who are probably not too different from you and me, and if we want to fight radicalisation and extremism, it's way more effective to work towards a better understanding of the drive behind such actions, that has caused them to be radicalised and believing horrible actions are justified by some greater justice. I agree with this opinion piece, because I believe that daring to humanise them, understand them, will help us way more to prevent and fight radicalism, than name calling and judgement fueled by rage and fear will, and has done so far.
I hope you're maybe just slighty smarter than you were a couple of minutes ago, and that you found this just as fascinating as I did. What was it that really made you think or that was particularly interesting to you? I'd love to know your thoughts, especially if you disagree with the point that was made in the opinion piece. Perhaps you can teach me something in return- it's on you now.