- the hedonic treadmill is the observed tendency of humans to quickly return to a relatively stable level of happiness despite major positive or negative events or life changes.
- plato's theory of the soul considered the psyche to be the essence of a person, being that which decides how people behave. plato considered this essence to be an incorporeal, eternal occupant of a person's being. plato said that even after death, the soul exists and is able to think. he believed that as bodies die, the soul is continually reborn in subsequent bodies.
- divine madness, also known as theia mania and crazy wisdom, refers tti unconventional, outrageous, unexpected, or unpredictable behavior linked to religious or spiritual pursuits. it is usually explained as a manifestation of enlighteneed behavior by persons who have transcended societal norms, or as a means of spiritual practice or teaching among mendicants and teachers. these behaviors may seem to be symptoms of mental illness, but could also be manifestations of religious ecstasy or even be "strategic, purposeful activity" "by highly self-aware individuals making strategic use of the theme of madness in the construction of their public personas".
- liking gap is the disparity between how much a person believes that another person likes them, and that other person's actual opinion. studies have found that most people underestimate how much other people like them and enjoy their company.
- oceanic feeling refers to "a sensation of the 'eternity'", a feeling of "being one with the external world as a whole", inspired by the example of ramaskrishna, among other mystics.
- the barnum effect is a common psychological phenomenom whereby individuals give high accuracy ratings to descriptions of their personality that supposedly are tailored specifically to them, yet which are in fact vague and general enough to apply to a wide range of people. his effect can provide a partial explanation for the widespread acceptance of some paranormal beliefs and practices such as astrology, fortune telling, aura reading, and some types of personality tests.
- l'appel du vide, literally "the call of the void" is a french phrase used to refer to intellectual thoughts, or the urge to engage in destructive behaviors during everyday life.
- prophetic perfect tense is a literary technique used in the bible that describes future events that are so certain to happen that they are referred to in the past tense as if they had already happened.
- the hedgehog's dilemma is a metaphor about the challenges of human intimacy. it describes a situation in which a group of hedgehogs seek to move close to one another to share heat during cold weather. they must remain apart, however, as they cannot avoid hurting one another with their sharp spines. though they all share the intention of a close reciprocal relationship, this may not occur, for reasons they cannot avoid.
- roko's basilisk is a thought experiment which states that an otherwise benevolent artificial superintelligence (ai) in the future would be incentivized to create a virtual reality simulation to torture anyone who knew of its potential existence but did not directly contribute to its advancement or development, in order to incentivize said advancement.
jan 3 2025 ∞
jan 3 2025 +