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maaarine · 1 year

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The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain (Annie Murphy Paul, 2021)

“The conventional, and widely ineffective, approach to teaching physics is based on a brainbound model of cognition: individuals are expected, like computers, to solve problems by applying a set of abstract rules.

Yet the fact is that—very unlike computers—humans solve problems most effectively by imagining themselves into a given scenario, a project that is made easier if the human in question has had a previous physical encounter on which to base her mental projections. (…)

The world’s most famous physicist, Albert Einstein, reportedly imagined himself riding on a beam of light while developing his theory of relativity.

“No scientist thinks in equations,” Einstein once claimed. Rather, he remarked, the elements of his own thought were “visual” and even “muscular” in nature. (…)

Virologist Jonas Salk, inventor of the polio vaccine, is another scientist who brought his body into his research. He once described how he went about his work in this way:

“I would picture myself as a virus, or a cancer cell, for example, and try to sense what it would be like to be either.

I would also imagine myself as the immune system, and I would try to reconstruct what I would do as an immune system engaged in combating a virus or cancer cell.” (…)

Adopting a first-person perspective doesn’t mean we become limited by it; indeed, using the movements of our own bodies to explore a given phenomenon seems to promote the ability to alternate between viewing it from an internal perspective and from an external one, an oscillation that produces a deeper level of understanding.

Rachel Scherr, an assistant professor of physics at the University of Washington, has devised an educational role-playing program called “Energy Theater.”

One attribute of energy that students find difficult to grasp, Scherr notes, is that energy is always conserved—it doesn’t get “used up,” but instead is converted to a different form, as when the energy in the coiled spring of a pinball plunger is converted into the energy of the pinball’s motion.

Students may read about the conservation of energy in a textbook without truly grasping its implications; when, as part of Energy Theater, they embody energy, they begin to understand such implications in a visceral way.

“Students who use movement to ‘become’ energy can fall back on the feeling of permanence and continuity conveyed by their own bodies,” says Scherr.

“They don’t get ‘used up,’ and so they’re better able to understand that energy doesn’t, either.”

Scherr’s research shows that students who have taken part in Energy Theater develop a more nuanced understanding of energy dynamics.”

#annie murphy paul #book #the extended mind

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younes-ben-amara · 1 month

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التقنية تتغير والعالم يتطور لكن البشر يظلون بشرًا✨

ما هذه المجموعة من المختارات تسألني؟ إنّها عددٌ من أعداد نشرة “صيد الشابكة” اِعرف أكثر عن النشرة هنا: ما هي نشرة “صيد الشابكة” ما مصادرها، وما غرضها؛ وما معنى الشابكة أصلًا؟! 🎣🌐 🎣🌐 صيد الشابكة العدد #25 رمضانكم كريم، ✔️ أتفق 👇🏽 قصص المتسولين أصحاب العقارات والأملاك والأرصدة البنكية ليست خرافات وأساطير بل وقائع حقيقية تداولتها الصحافة وتناقلها المجربون في المجتمع المغربي، لكن المؤكد أن محترفي…

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asavt · 10 days

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Once upon a time a small rat walked into my web...

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dollopheadsandclotpoles · 5 days

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Even after all this time and awareness, it feels like asexuality is still not treated like a proper sexuality. Recently had a girl tell me that she was at a place where she ‘felt so asexual’ because all the other girls were so beautiful and guys were ignoring her because of it. She didn’t know I was asexual and I didn’t take offence (I know she didn't meant it in a malicious way) but it does feel uncomfortable that people are using ‘asexual’ in lieu of ‘unattractive' or 'lacking sexual appeal.' It's really giving 90's/early 2000's slang of using 'gay' to mean 'lame.' Even shows like Brooklyn 99 which took immense pride in being progressive with their comedy, had an episode where one of the characters says "Oh, and I'm sorry if we implied you're both asexual nerds who can only be friends with service animals."

I have mentioned this before also, when I talked about how I feel like people are more comfortable erasing the identities of canonical aro/ace characters in media but act like it's unacceptable with other sexualities... but it does feel like asexuality (and aromanticism tbh) are still not considered 'real' sexualities. In the case of shipping fictional characters, I understand there is nuance to that issue and so don't want to get into it, but it does kinda add to my point.

Why is it that people treat asexuality like it's not a sexuality? Why is it that when I come out to people I'm met with insistence that I'm wrong about my sexuality, that I'm 'self diagnosing' (it's not a medical condition), that I'm probably 'just inexperienced' or haven't 'met the right person' or have a hormone issue? Why can't people just accept that it's a sexuality like any other??

#asexual #ace stuff #aroace tag #asexuality #ace #don't mind me just needed to vent #just tagging asexuality because it was that 'felt so asexual' comment that made me feel this #but I think it does extend to aromanticism as well #but who knows at least for me I can no longer tell where the ace ends and the aro begins

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nyoomerr · 10 days

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Shen Yuan entered Luo Binghe’s life like any other good thing he’s ever had: with great difficulty, and accompanied by copious amounts of sex.

The difficult parts don’t bear talking about. Luo Binghe still feels his stomach drop at the reminders of those first few mercurial months of knowing Shen Yuan, at the way Shen Yuan had unintentionally dismantled most notions of what Luo Binghe thought a happy ending should be like. He doesn’t think he’ll ever quite enjoy thinking about that time: it had been, in some ways, a more miserable challenge to overcome than his time in the Abyss had been.

(It had been, in many ways, the only challenge Luo Binghe had ever had to face that was directed inwards. There was no straightforward evil to banish or monster to slay. There was hardly even a wife to seduce, given the fact that Shen Yuan had let himself be seduced by Luo Binghe’s image long before Luo Binghe himself had ever arrived in Shen Yuan’s world to begin with.

There was only this: in order to grasp the incandescent happiness that Shen Yuan presented - that Luo Binghe deserved - he had to admit that every moment of so-called happiness he had experienced for the last century had been a fool’s imitation of it. In order to be happy with Shen Yuan, he had to admit to being miserable without him.

It was humiliating, and it was nauseating, and it had even made Luo Binghe cry once, where he thought Shen Yuan wouldn’t be able to see him.

He’d been so, so glad when it turned out Shen Yuan wouldn’t even look away from that - from Luo Binghe at his least lovable.)

No, the difficult parts of Luo Binghe’s conquest of Shen Yuan are best kept carefully out of mind. The other, better parts of that conquest - the parts involving hot skin against skin, as close as Luo Binghe could get to fitting Shen Yuan within his own flesh where he could never part from him - those parts are far more pleasant to remember, and Luo Binghe works to make new memories of that sort every day.

Despite its pleasantness, however, the sex is not Luo Binghe’s favorite part of his courtship with Shen Yuan.

“Bing-ge,” Shen Yuan calls, voice just an octave shy of a proper whine, “surely we can spend summers in my world? You can’t really think this heat is more pleasant than modern AC, ah?”

Luo Binghe hums, leaning in to run his mouth across the plane of Shen Yuan’s neck, savoring the smell of Shen Yuan’s sweat. His skin is tacky from the heat; Luo Binghe briefly fantasizes about being able to stick himself to it permanently.

“Wasn’t it Yuan-er who begged to see the Fire-Driven Herons’ migration? It only happens once every decade, after all.”

“I know that,” Shen Yuan says, scowling. “I was the one who told you that.”

“Yuan-er is the most knowledgeable about this world,” Luo Binghe agrees.

Shen Yuan sighs, squirming half-heartedly in Luo Binghe’s lap - a wordless threat to get up. Obediently, Luo Binghe waves the fan in his free hand a bit quicker in Shen Yuan’s direction, threading delicate veins of qi into the generated wind to ensure it’s pleasantly cool. Satisfied, Shen Yuan settles back in, starting up one of his charming lectures about the fauna of Luo Binghe’s world.

Luo Binghe listens more to the cadence of Shen Yuan’s voice than to the words themselves. He doesn’t often find it necessary to know the ecological features of a beast in order to slay it, or to capture it for Shen Yuan’s zoo, or to cook it into a proper meal.

Still, this is what Luo Binghe likes best - what he likes even more than sex, which he’d thought to be his favorite activity from the ages of 17 to 132.

Lounging on the ground, Shen Yuan sat snugly in his lap and held close by Luo Binghe’s free arm, allowing himself to be pet and cuddled as if it were a natural part of a trip to see some ugly birds migrate -

Pressing his nose into the nape of Shen Yuan’s neck, left bare by Luo Binghe’s own hands that had been responsible for putting Shen Yuan’s hair up in its current complicated hairstyle -

Idly fanning Shen Yuan to keep him cool even even while Luo Binghe himself is the greatest source of heat when pressed so close in the summer sun like this -

Over a century into his so-called happy ending, Luo Binghe has rediscovered his greatest pleasure to be physical affection of a non-sexual sort, and Shen Yuan gives it as freely as he breathes.

Oh, he fusses and complains and acts as if he must be coaxed into loving Luo Binghe, but it is such a poor act that Luo Binghe can’t help feeling nothing but warm indulgence towards it.

“Don’t be so bold,” Shen Yuan will scold when Luo Binghe buys lube without hiding his identity, and yet in the next moment he’ll casually thread his fingers between Luo Binghe’s to hold his hand all the way through their walk down the main street of town.

“Who taught you to act like this, ah?!” Shen Yuan will complain when Luo Binghe ensures his subordinates know what an honor it is to be allowed to look at Shen Yuan, but then it will be Shen Yuan himself who will seat himself directly at Luo Binghe’s side instead of any more appropriate location for a Lord’s wife.

“There’s no need to be so sticky,” Shen Yuan will sigh when he catches Luo Binghe practically running back from the kitchens with breakfast, eager to return to his sweetheart’s side, but then Shen Yuan will happily eat from Luo Binghe’s own chopsticks, even during meals taken in the main dining hall.

Despite all his aired grievances, Shen Yuan himself breaks countless social boundaries a day without even blinking. He truly thinks nothing of it, believing these gifts he presses into Luo Binghe’s heart to be nothing but normal for a couple. Normal! As if Luo Binghe has not heard tavern songs about the Demon Emperor’s shameless new male wife, spun by every servant and enemy alike that has visited the palace and been struck to flustered embarrassment at the way Shen Yuan acts!

Luo Binghe wants to roll Shen Yuan up in one hand and eat him. He dared to say as much to Shen Yuan, once; Shen Yuan had merely rolled his eyes and told him that he wasn’t into “vore.”

(Luo Binghe had made a note to research this “vore” when they next returned to Shen Yuan’s world. He’s learned that he can coax Shen Yuan into a great many number of things, if he does it slowly and lovingly enough. The delay will give Luo Binghe time to figure out a way to both take Shen Yuan’s flesh and blood into his own without then being left without a Shen Yuan to hold in his arms.)

Certainly, some part of Luo Binghe knows this quirk in Shen Yuan’s behavior to be a byproduct of the world Luo Binghe had stolen him from. The standards for modesty are warped in that place, and Shen Yuan had been gently raised by the hand of that world to not notice anything odd about it.

A god is no less sacred for having come from the heavens where more gods reside, though. Nor does a man feel faith to any of those supposed unseen gods when one presently sits in their lap, free to worship with prayer and touch alike. None of the other people of Shen Yuan’s world had offered Luo Binghe something so precious as the free flowing love that Shen Yuan shows him. None of them had been so foolish, and so sweet, and so carelessly thoughtful despite a cute mean streak hidden within, and -

“Bing-ge,” Shen Yuan calls, and Luo Binghe bites at Shen Yuan’s neck to prove he’s listening. Shen Yuan sighs. “Bing-ge, you aren’t listening to a word I say.”

“I am,” Luo Binghe says, “I just bit you to prove it.”

“Wha - how does that prove - oh, you’re hopeless!” Shen Yuan cries, squirming again, this time with a stronger intention.

Displeased, Luo Binghe casts aside the fan he’d been using to cool Shen Yuan, moving instead to curl both arms around Shen Yuan’s middle. When Shen Yuan keeps squirming, he trails one hand down to rub at Shen Yuan’s thigh, listening for Shen Yuan’s indignant protests. Luo Binghe may have grown drunk on the simple act of holding Shen Yuan without the need for it to be sexually pleasurable, but he isn’t above using sex to keep Shen Yuan close if he must. He refuses to give up even a millimeter of contact with this precious person unless there is no other option.

“You’re insufferable,” Shen Yuan complains, slapping at Luo Binghe’s creeping hand several times. “We’ll miss the migration we came all this way to see if you keep this up!”

“I’ll miss Yuan-er’s closeness the most,” Luo Binghe says gravely, and Shen Yuan snorts.

“Insufferable,” he repeats, and then gives his most put-upon sigh. “Can’t you just settle for holding my hand for at least until the birds leave?”

Happily, Luo Binghe stops feeling Shen Yuan up and intertwines their hands instead. Shen Yuan praises him for his patience, as if the simple feeling of their palms pressed together isn’t more pleasurable than the greatest heights of ecstasy found in any bed.

One day, Luo Binghe will confess this to Shen Yuan: that he’s truly deviated far too much from the erotic character Shen Yuan had read all about in that other world. That somehow, when it’s Shen Yuan, Luo Binghe feels so overwhelmed with simple affection that his greatest desires are as chaste as a young boy’s. Oh, he still enjoys the sex, but -

But ah, what he really loves most is this.

#i was rotating binggeyuan in my mind too much and accidentally wrote this. surprise!#might clean this up / extend it a bit and post it on ao3 after i finish my fth fic #svsss #binggeyuan #bingyuan #fic drabble

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cheecats · 6 months

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In light of how grossly disrespectful and dismissive some (not all) DC voters have been, here is something for a lovely lady who deserved better. [X]

#cheez rambles #cheez design #warrior cats #bumble dotc #bumble wc #vote bumble #bumblesweep #// I thank DC voters who have still acknowledged Bumble's injustice and have remained respectful towards her.#// this is in no way to slander Alex. What happened to her was disgusting and horrible. Voting for her is absolutely understandable.#// but extend the same courtesy to Bumble- yeah?#// Maybe dont fucking disregard heinous misogynistic writing as ''just cats so it doesn't matter''#// something ironic with how disgustingly closed-minded you're acting in a MISOGYNY POLL?? fucking reflect on yourself #// learn some media literacy and read the opponent's propaganda before dropping the most willfully ignorant bullshit statements- mkay??

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earthtooz · 1 year

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warning for tooth-rotting fluff, minimal hurt/comfort, bakugou is clingy asf, i don't really like this but i had an idea... and tried to execute it... hope u enjoy regardless ! gn!reader

when bakugou katsuki embraces you, he is overwhelming, in all definitions of the word.

he is physically too much, with well-defined muscles that he uses to drape all over you; he floods every sense of yours and overwhelms you to the point that all you know is him him him for a few seconds.

you feel his scarily bulky arms circling around your body, you hear his breathing, his laughter, his voice in your ears, you smell the burnt caramel that follows him everywhere, and you see nothing but bakugou, who shields you from the outside world when he embraces you. you sink into him all the same, welcoming him in all of his overwhelming glory.

he could be standing behind you, his towering frame imposing and terrifying as his arm is wrapped around your shoulders.

you're trying to listen to your friend, really, you are, but all you know is bakugou bakugou bakugou because you feel his breath tickling your neck. you feel him tugging you closer to his frame, protective to his core as you try your best to act completely nonchalant about this.

it could be your monthly movie night with mina, kaminari, sero, and kirishima, and bakugou is all over you. as you're sat between his legs, he's resting his chin on your shoulder, arms circled around your waist as you feed him popcorn here and there.

he could be at his lowest, needing the safety that only your presence can provide, collapsing into you in an act of vulnerability and openness. even so, he overwhelms you. spread atop you with his limbs curled by your sides, he bends himself into you, breathing you in like fresh oxygen that circulates the tension from the day out.

it could be breakfast time. you're awake earlier than your temperamental boyfriend but twenty minutes into preparing the meal, you feel a pair of arms latch onto you and a warm body pressed against your back. it makes you sink into him, and the day becomes harder to start.

bakugou katsuki's embrace is overwhelming most when he's clinging to you, desperately encasing you in his arms as a method of keeping you with him. he's said some fucked-up things, derived from his fucked-up internal dilemmas which has manifested in your relationship, and now he's fucked-up big time when he watches the way your shoulders slump and back turn to him. you mutter that you're staying at your friend's for the night and he's by your side in the blink of an eye.

he holds you with an ulterior motive of trying to mould you into him, desperate to keep you where you are safe. the blond pleads for you to 'stay' with a cracked voice and heartache at the prospect of you leaving. he doesn't know if you'll return.

and if you don't, bakugou katsuki might not know what to do with himself.

when he embraces you, he is overwhelming because it is his way of saying 'please don't leave me'. you feel his arms and his pain, you hear his pleads and his sniffles, you smell the lingering scent of burnt caramel that you've come to adore so much.

you sense the love he pours upon you and so, with a deep inhale, you turn around in his arms and bakugou's shaking. he's shaking when he loosens his grasp for a moment before tightening it again.

tears stream down his cheeks and onto your hands as you hold his face. he visibly softens, eyelids drooping but never closing as to make sure you were still in front of him, comprehending only you, you, you.

"i'm sorry," he mutters. it's raw, genuine, but not enough.

you don't seem to think that way. "it's okay, katsuki. would you like some space?"

he shakes his head; slightly knotted hair moving with his frantic actions. "no, please, not from you."

"do you want to talk about it?"

it's less overwhelming now. whilst your tears dry and so does his, you talk. not only about what's bothering bakugou, but moreso about anything and everything. errands you needed to run tomorrow, the weird fan interaction he had today, and when you should watch the latest episode of the anime you're watching together.

he keeps a hand on you the whole time: tugging at your shirt, playing with your fingers, massaging the space in between your furrowed eyebrows to stop your forehead from creasing.

the pro-hero is reassured by knowing you're here, and that you're not leaving any time soon.

when it's bedtime, bakugou katsuki does not stop himself from reaching out for you, pulling you closer to him until there is hardly any space in between. then, he lays half his body weight over yours and the 'oof' you let out is unplanned, but not unwelcome because it causes you to laugh right after. he sinks a little more into you.

basking in the moonlight and the sound of your laughter, bakugou katsuki is content to embrace you.

in exchange for shamelessly taking his heart, bakugou believes it is only fair that he overwhelms you with affection and adoration.

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beskarfrog · 9 months

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he convinced him to get in

#dinluke #digital art #dinluke art #the mandalorian #local man just wanted to have a normal evening #but his desert dweller boyfriend is convinced that baths are a special occasion and should be shared #no one told din that jedi mind tricks extended to puppy dog eyes #i always crack up at din in water with just his helmet

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rosalinesurvived · 9 months

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Fukuzawa's so fucking funny to me i cant even. He's insane. Raised up in a state sanctioned military school. Raised to master several martial arts styles and taught to master a sword since he was a kid. Didn’t go to war because he hated the army hierarchy. Stopped being a government’s catspaw because he realised liked killing people too much and Thats A Bit Fucked Up. Mind you, not that he was killing people, that he liked it. He can get so angry that people stop their cars on the road mid-movement on the road in horror at his rage. He's a freak magnet. He meets Ranpo and thinks of 50 different ways of killing him. His act of helping a 14 year old with no job, no home and no parents is to offer him assistance as a bodyguard. Free for once. He's insane. He then builds up an entire agency of gifted people and gets into several wars to assist this kid. He killed the Minister of Justice’s father. This is never addressed beyond the guy framing the Agency for mass murder (including his own). He likes cats. His main shipping partners are the maybe-pedophile main villan of the thing they're directly enemies with and also his also-main enemy ex-bff military dude with a time travelling stabby stick who kills his not-grandkids. His childhood friend of thirteen years started to hate him because Fukuzawa refused to fight a full on fucking military war with him. After refusing to fight a war he decided to skip a step and just become an assassin. He thinks you should’nt critisice other people’s food choices. He steals all of his other ex-husband’s kids in their divorce battles. He wears a haori, yukata, tabi and zori plus is a trained swordsman in modern day japan. His afformentioned ex-bff wants to make him into the leader of the world because he thinks Fukuzawa’s an uncorruptable person. Fukuzawa liked murdering people.

#UPDATE UPDATE #im gonna extend this thing as much as i feasibly can #bungou stray dogs fukuzawa #bsd fukuzawa #fukuzawa yukichi #yukichi fukuzawa #bungou stray dogs #bsd #spoilers #edogawa ranpo #bsd ranpo #mind you this is the fandom that puts so much angst on dazai/chuuya’s years in the nafia ive heard NOTHING on fuku being an indoctrinated #assassin from a baby to thirty-something #i need more people to acknowledge that he’s Fucked Up Autism and apply that more

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glittergoats · 4 months

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Deeply unserious epilogue, thank you Gamefreak

#pokemon #pokemon sv #pokemon scarlet #arven pokemon #kieran pokemon #jordan (scarlet oc)#my art #it was so silly #but i had fun #I want more of these characters please Gamefreak i would not mind another dlc set we can extend sv's life a little pretty please

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explodingstarlight · 1 year

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"who gave this child coffee?? WHO GAVE THIS CHILD COFFEE?!??" my reblogs cry

it was me, i'm not sorry >:)c

*taps microphone* yes, thank you for tuning in 😌✨ now go follow the creator of the Alpha Stage/de-aged!Donnie AU, @snailsnaps and consume their content (not literally /j)

#said with the most /lh of tone #but also no i will not repent 😌#my extended family thought that giving coffee to my 6-year-old self was a good idea and now i can fight god /lh /j #look me in the eyes and tell me that you truly think you could keep a de-aged donnie away from coffee #im waiting 🤨#all this to say tho- snailsnaps is the god of the de-aged donnie AU so only they can reveal his coffee consumption status #thank you for letting me play in this AU's sandbox :)#gremlin turtle tots with a sprinkle of angst hits just right #i just want to invite chaos is that such a crime guys??? 😩🖐️ /lh #oh! in case you don't have the brand: deathwish coffee is a brand of coffee with a very high caffeine content in the USA #rottmnt #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles #turtle tot donnie #turtle tots #also works for de-aged donnie #i had him in mind while doodling #rise of the tmnt #rottmnt fanart #my art #explodingstar art #phone doodles #rise donnie #tmnt donatello #back on my #alphastage rise #BS /affectionate #de aged donnie

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maaarine · 1 year

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The Extended Mind: The Power of Thinking Outside the Brain (Annie Murphy Paul, 2021)

“What’s more, among the traders themselves, those who were the most accurate in detecting the timing of their heartbeats made more money, and tended to have longer tenures in what was a notably volatile line of work.

“Our results suggest that signals from the body—the gut feelings of financial lore—contribute to success in the markets,” the team concluded.

Confirming Coates’s informal observations, those who thrived in this milieu were not necessarily people with greater education or intellect, but rather “people with greater sensitivity to interoceptive signals.”

Interoception is, simply stated, an awareness of the inner state of the body. (…)

All of us experience these bodily signals—but some of us feel them more keenly than others.

To measure interoceptive awareness, scientists apply the heartbeat detection test, the one John Coates used with his group of financial traders: test takers are asked to identify the instant when their heart beats, without placing a hand on the chest or resting a finger on a wrist.

Researchers have found a surprisingly wide range in terms of how people score.

Some individuals are interoceptive champions, able to determine accurately and consistently when their heartbeats happen. Others are interoceptive duds: they can’t feel the rhythm. (…)

“Please tell me when your heart beats,” she would say to each patron who stepped forward.

An elderly couple who stopped by the booth had very different reactions to Ainley’s request.

“How on earth would I know what my heart is doing?” the woman asked incredulously.

Her husband turned and stared at her, equally dumbfounded. “But of course you know,” he exclaimed. “Don’t be so stupid, everyone knows what their heartbeat is!”

“He had always been able to hear his heart, and she had never been able to hear hers,” Ainley observed in an interview, smiling at the memory.

“They had been married for decades, but they had never talked of or even recognized this difference between them.””

#annie murphy paul #the extended mind #book #mbti #mbtiideas

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caeslxys · 11 days

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Zephrah actively postpones ruidusborn births. It is believed that the actual number of ruidusborn in exandrian history is much larger than has been officially recorded because the stigma of it was so intense that people lied about it. Alyxian, one of the few recorded ruidusborn heroes of the calamity who received direct blessings from three different prime deities (our very own Changebringer, the Archheart, and the Moonweaver) , has been all but forgotten (read: likely erased) by history.

The Archive of knowledge that revealed the truth of Predathos and Ruidus was never some forgotten thing—it was intentionally hidden by the elites in Vasselheim. And we have no idea how long they have been operating with that knowledge. We have no idea what they have been doing with that knowledge, what silent wars have been waging for years or decades or centuries. But we saw what they were willing to do, in Hearthdell. We saw the violence and suppression they were willing to commit. We saw the pettiness of the exandrian pantheon in the Dawnfather’s response to Deanna’s: “Are you worth saving?”. In the Changebringer’s manipulative change of course in her pleas to FCG. In the Wildmother’s rejection of Opal. In the knowledge we have that Imogen spent so much of her miserable time in Gelvaan begging the gods to aid her to no avail—just for Kord to reach out only to demand that she not let them down.

Liliana’s point that Vasselheim and the other faithful elite of the world will hunt ruidusborn down to negate even the potential of this happening again isn’t new, it isn’t something this solstice and the machinations surrounding it caused, and it isn’t some unsubstantiated, fearful claim—it has been happening.

The vanguard—and Liliana—are unequivocally wrong in their means. But can you really fault them in their desire? Can you really fault the conclusions they have drawn from the experiences they have lived? If you spend your entire life being rejected by the people and the pantheon of your world for means you could not possibly control, would you not seek out someone and somewhere that would accept you? And if you found it, if some being that has been connected with you your whole life welcomed you home and wrapped you in an embrace that felt like your mother’s and says that it is starving; well, aren’t you, too?

There is likely a holy war brewing. At the end of it all, is it truly the sole fault of the people and not the organizations and society that expelled them?

#critical role #liliana temult #cr spoilers #bells hells #critical role meta #i understand that tumblr isn’t the place for god or vanguard nuance but I wanted to extend my thoughts here For Posterity #it just baffles me that some people still think Ludinus doesn’t very clearly have motivations of his own #and that the vanguard and liliana and very likely even the weave mind are all pawns in a greater scheme #which just kind of renders all the attempts to claim that empathizing with the vanguard means agreeing with Ludinus completely moot #and also just. doesn’t allow room for far more interesting questions about exandrian society and faith #and to be more clear. CLEARLY there are bad people in the vangaurd i am not saying they are good please be normal #in general i think people get really caught up in certain characters’ perspectives and not the wider ones we as the audience have #which. to me. is a loss. these are interesting and extremely relevant and poignant questions to ask

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