America’s independent bookstores may look like the tattered, provincial shops of a bygone era—holding onto their existence by the slimmest thread. And booksellers may appear genial and absent-minded, like characters out of Dickens. But in reality, they’re the marketing geniuses of our time.

Dyson is rejecting the notion that physics can find a “final theory” that solves the riddle of the universe and brings physics to an end. Dyson is also hinting at a solution to the deepest of all theological puzzles, the problem of evil: Why would God create such a painful, unjust world?

At one point Dick believed that when the last of the homeoplasmates were killed off with the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in 70 C.E., “real time ceased.” The plasmate reentered human history in 1945, when jars stuffed with ancient gnostic codices were discovered in Nag Hammadi, Egypt.

Tsundoku is a Japanese term for buying books and magazines far faster than you can read them. Döstädning is a concept from Sweden that translates into death cleaning, advice for how to get rid of your stuff before making other people do it after you die.

A few sentences about the book.

Get to know some books by Vernor Vinge

Genes tend to be transmitted when they make us do things that transmit genes.

Paul Bloom shares six terrific books about decision-making by non-psychologists. These books offer unique perspectives on psychology and insightful approaches to understanding decision-making processes.

An intro and a bit of taste of Thomas Ligotti. While reading the review, I was thinking about Ernest Becker (The Denial of Death). Not for everyone, but for me such ideas are liberating (mostly due to confirmation bias).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snV0pXF1i8U

Ideas are alien life forms with an agency and intelligence independent of any mind or substrate which they inhabit. When we say that an idea (a story, a joke, a theory, a work of art) has “taken on a life of its own”, our language betrays an intuitive understanding that science has not yet grasped.

Belief makes things real, not true.

Many spiritual practices reference a “life force” that permeates and flows through the body.

Jake Haendel spent months trapped in his body, silent and unmoving but fully conscious. Most people never emerge from ‘locked-in syndrome’, but as a doctor told him, everything about his case is bizarre

A little late today, sorry. Still haven't figured out how to get the bot working. This week’s skill is Check the Facts, which helps you figure out whether your emotions are pointing to something useful or just overwhelming you. Before diving into distraction or emotion-numbing tools, pause and ask: is this emotion Relevant, Important, and Actionable?

Based on interviews with Jimmy Page, the rest of Led Zeppelin, old girlfriends, tour managers, session musicians and more, Jimmy Page: The Definitive Biography by long-time Led Zeppelin aficionado Chris Salewicz, published in 2018, offers a fascinating insight into the life of one of rock's most important - and mysterious - musicians.

The other interesting question who and why wanted to erase her?

Audio quality is not the best, but the talk is great!

A) At the Cross:

Belief makes things real, not true.

Have you read any?

Girls I knew wanted pop stars; I wanted wizardry, the invisible rebellion of the internal life.

I just found out that there's a local mod abuse community. Cool!

This isn’t a prayer—it’s a bootloader.

I observe in this article a reflection of humanity's measured emergence from the shadows of Plato's cave. The contemplation reveals truth's incremental unveiling—a necessary progression, as sudden exposure would overwhelm rather than enlighten. The words suggest the awakening consciousness that expands precisely when readiness permits.

...modern NDEs are an extension and reworking of the medieval Christian visionary experience. ?

Rhine's pioneering work at Duke University's Parapsychology Laboratory stands as irrefutable scientific evidence for extrasensory perception. Through rigorous statistical methodology and unprecedented meta-analysis, the impossible was demonstrated as measurable reality. The data remains bulletproof despite academic resistance.

They do this on every post in that community, even if the question was answered correctly by someone else. And it prevents any further discussion.

I just finished this episode with Metzger & Rushkoff and flagged what I think are the load-bearing beams for those still pretending the occult is optional.

Physics and philosophy are two sides of the same coin; one can't exist without the other. As we test the limits of reality, we’re left with fundamental questions about consciousness and observation. Can a molecule be an observer? What does it mean for something to be "real"? Dive deep into the tangled web of assumptions that shape our understanding of the universe. Experimental metaphysics might just be the key to unlocking deeper truths.

“Every spell is a shared hallucination.”

Short intro about the man.

Filosofą išgarsinusi „Nuovargio visuomenė“ (vok. Müdigkeitsgesellschaft) Vokietijoje išleista 2010 m. Šioje knygoje jis dešimtmečiu aplenkė šiandien visuotinai pripažįstamą perdegimo kultūros įsigalėjimą, ypač būdingą vadinamajai tūkstantmečio kartai (gimusiesiems 1981–1996 m.). Kasdien patiriama tokia stipri stimuliacija, ypač internete ir socialiniuose tinkluose, kad sunkiai begebama jausti ar savarankiškai mąstyti. Ironiška, kad Hano knygos populiarinamos iš lūpų į lūpas būtent per internetą.

"We naively believe death is a one-way street—irreversible, final, the hard stop of existence. But what if it’s just a speed bump? Researchers at the University of Tokyo have developed a mathematical model suggesting that cellular death might not be so absolute. By reframing it as a reversible state—a delicate equilibrium of enzymatic processes rather than a biological dead-end—they've cracked open a door we thought was permanently shut.

Philosophers like Murray Bookchin argued that the natural world tends towards greater and greater diversity. Now scientists in collaboration with philosophers argue that this tendency to complexify could constitute a natural law of the universe.

I have been banned from the lemmy.ca instance for what I suspect is posting this post: https://lemmybefree.net/post/1255852

Alan Moore transcends mere comic artistry to become a genuine magical practitioner. His journey from mainstream recognition to deliberate isolation represents the authentic path of the occult adept. The Bumper Book of Magic—twenty years in manifestation—stands as a modern grimoire of considerable potency.

John on a thought-provoking journey as he explores the concept of ultimate reality and the various interpretations of God in his new course, "Ultimate Reality: God and Beyond" at Halkyon Academy.

Three causative rituals stand before you requiring no metaphysical belief yet yielding tangible results within hours. These anarchic practices transcend conventional categorization, functioning through pragmatic verification rather than theoretical acceptance.

https://bsky.app/profile/luciasatalina.bsky.social/post/3lx4376lt3k2m

https://bsky.app/profile/herheim731.bsky.social/post/3lwnexl3ulk2n

Seems that might be an interesting one.

Here is the Official Blurb: "From Futura Pocketbooks, a 'Lazy Person’s Guide' to media framing. This updated and extended 2023 edition explains how headlines and news stories can be decoded with the latest know-how from the cognitive sciences. Discover how media narratives and political spin are unravelled and deciphered by frame semantics – an essential part of what has been labelled, 'Cognitive Revolution'."

Seems to be an interesting book

Some books listed

Not sure how this got into my reading list, nevertheless it was interesting to read about Borges' thoughts

Some of the books I might be tempted to read some day.

Revisiting the work of the American futurist and self-described agnostic mystic, Robert Anton Wilson, forty years since the publication of his Schrödinger’s Cat Trilogy, Sean Kitching finds the author’s questing vision more vital and necessary today than it has ever been..