Pressure is everywhere, and we often have little control over the circumstances that cause it. What we can control is how we react. Have you ever shut down, panicked, or started behaving aggressively under pressure? That’s textbook behavior, but there is a better way. When we’re under stress, it’s easy for our minds to switch from a state […]
Why We Need Machines, and Machines Need Us
This week, the internet has been freaking out over ChatGPT, a new chatbot fueled by artificial intelligence. Designed by OpenAI, the company that released a popular image generator earlier this year, the bot can even crack jokes. Algorithms are what drive innovation in the AI space, but they also make up the basic infrastructure of […]
This Common Health Problem May Be in Your Head
Are you under pressure? If so, it might be ruining your posture and causing deep discomfort. Most people are unaware that stress and other negative emotional experiences can manifest as pain, but they do—especially in your back and neck. At least that’s the theory of John E. Sarno, whose famous belief about back pain was […]
Why You Can’t Just Coast on Talent
Education, skills, and talent often aren’t enough to make you successful. Above all, you need to commit. Your interests should border on obsessions, where you apply hard work and discipline to achieve your dreams. Cameron Hanes, an accomplished bowhunter and ultramarathoner, had never truly had a goal until he found bowhunting. But once he found […]
Would You Live Out of a Van?
Have you ever considered giving everything up and leaving your normal life behind? That’s what Brianna Madia did after she decided to roam the American desert in an old orange van. She and her husband Neil got rid of almost all their belongings and began to live out of the vehicle and travel around the […]
How to Overcome Embarrassment
Have you ever found yourself awake at night, reliving a conversation in which you said or did something weird? A big chunk of adult life is feeling unconsciously stuck in the past, consumed by difficult experiences that we haven’t processed properly. Unfortunately, a bout of insomnia isn’t the time to work it out. The thing […]
How to Plot and Scheme
Common sense is like oxygen; the higher people rise, the less likely they are to find it. Put another way, powerful people have, historically, had a hard time keeping their aspirations in check. You’ve heard the saying, “With great power comes great responsibility.” But with great power also comes the distinct possibility of making bad […]
The Robber Baron Who Changed the World
In the 19th century, railroads were everything. And by extension, the businessmen who owned the railroads held a huge amount of power in the United States economy and its political landscape. Jay Gould, a savvy capitalist, was among the most colorful of these characters. Though he was born poor and haunted by illness throughout adulthood, […]
Will AI Outsmart Us?
Artificial intelligence has changed a lot since it was invented in 1955. One of the biggest shifts happened in the 1990s, when neural networks were implemented. They allowed AIs to encode information or “learn” just like the human brain, absorbing data, gathering observations, and making inferences. Neural networks are the reason why AI image generators […]
How to Know What You Stand For
Omar Little, the character from “The Wire,” had a famous expression: “A man’s got to have a code.” From the ancient Stoic philosophers to the Internal Revenue Service, codes of conduct have been important to individuals and organizations who want strong values to guide their choices. The Federal Bureau of Investigation has a code, too. Former […]
