Finding order in randomness. Finding randomness in order.

Humans developed language as a means of communicating with other tribe members. Language is one of the most important, if not THE most important, reason humans are so successful as a species. It enables us not only to communicate immediate information (e.g. there is a lion in that direction, don't go there) but also form and communicate intricate ideas (e.g. myths, religions). Yuval Hariri in his massively interesting book "Sapiens" talks about how what he calls "fiction" (i.e. stories we humans tell each other) enabled homo sapiens to co-operate in massive numbers (much more than the Dunbar limit of 150) and made us such a successful species. Language was critical in all of that.  I believe the advent of language was what gave the biggest boost to cultural evolution in humans. Humans are the only species that significantly evolve culturally as well as naturally. Cultural evolution is exponentially faster than natural evolution - we homo sapiens effectively ...

More and more I realise how much noise there is in the world. It permeates all aspects - science, philosophy, health, ideas, entertainment. Everything. And it reminds me that the world, and existence itself, is not fair. The best ideas don't necessarily get the attention they deserve. The best books aren't the most popular ones. The best movies are not necessarily seen by most people. I do understand that there is a bit of subjectivity to these things, but there is also a lot of objectivity as evidenced by history. And this is a bit sad, and does hold humanity back. I can also understand the reasons for this. It is because we are not rational beings, we didn't evolve to be rational. Our brains evolved to serve social functions more than anything. It's amazing when you think of it - the big powerful brain we have actually evolved to be so big and powerful solely so we could form relationships and work with other human beings. No wonder that relationships and social co...