Thanks to natural selection, the organisms that are fit enough to reproduce before they die are the ones whose genes carry on to the next generation. In the wild, this meant the ability to fend off threats, find food, build and maintain shelter, and demonstrate capability to potential mates. However, since the evolution of humans into civilized...
Read MoreAnyone who has ever slowed their driving speed down around a police car or watched their favorite sports team choke in a high-pressure situation knows that people watching you can affect your behavior. You may also be familiar with some of the basics of how people influence each other psychologically, from peer pressure to self-fulfilling...
Read MoreThe number of sales that a GTA (Grand Theft Auto) game gets might be alarming to responsible adults who wonder why players take glee in shooting people and taking money from their corpses. Similarly, playing a game where you continuously camp the enemy respawning area, kill spawning players, and then teabag their dead bodies might seem like a bad...
Read More“The meaning of life is to be happy.” You’ve probably heard that many times in your life, and it’s incorrect. A more accurate statement would be, “The meaning of life is to do things that make you happy.” It’s still possibly misleading, but at least it’s more accurate. Happiness is a feedback mechanism, not a goal. You can always tell the...
Read MoreLike many things in life, extreme or absolute thinking can be detrimental. One more recent example is the idea of inclusion—everyone should feel included. Now, this idea comes from a well-meaning place, as before groups of people were excluded for the arbitrary reason of their race, sex, or country of origin. However, there is a trade-off to...
Read MoreThere is a popular debate* on social media these days between morale absolutism and moral relativism. The idea is that you either believe there is such a thing as objective morality or if you think it’s relative to a culture. There’s the extreme example of people saying, “Hitler thought he was doing good,” to point out the fact that morals are...
Read MoreAre you the kind of person who can’t stand others who disagree with you? After all, wouldn’t they come to the same conclusion as you given the same information? If they don’t, how dare they! The most famous concept describing this is Hanlon’s Razor, which officially posits, “Never attribute to malice that which could be adequately be explained by...
Read MoreLife can seem strange sometimes. People point out that you always want what you can’t have and take what you do have for granted. People point out that it would be nice to be happy all the time and always have what you want and need. It seems illogical. But that’s a modern interpretation of the world based on the fact that billions of people...
Read MoreThere is something that humans call “reality”—when referring to that, people usually are referring to: The great news is that you have a lot of control over these three things. You can change your mindset and instantly feel better or behave differently in your life. You can move to a place you like better and with people, customs, etc. that match...
Read MoreThe existential crisis is a tough one. It can creep up on you gradually or suddenly. Gradually, you find that what you’ve been doing doesn’t have the same sense of importance or urgency as it did before—or it simply doesn’t feel as meaningful or significant as it usually does. Suddenly, you might face a significant loss or setback in life where...
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