We've reached a point in neuroscience research where it has become universally accepted that the subconscious mind impacts many of our cognitive processes. In the case of decision-making, several studies have alluded to the subconscious mind as being a better judge than the conscious mind...
Love is a tricky business. Many of us are looking to find "the one," and the dating process can be exhausting and frustrating — especially if you’re spending time and putting effort into pursuing people you’re not sure are good for you in the first...
Some of the biggest decisions in life seem to have no clear answers. On the surface, we all know the primary goal is to achieve greater happiness, and to do so, we need to experience periods of growth, which are facilitated by decisions that influence...
Choice Compass is an app that uses the built-in camera on your smartphone to help you choose between two options by analyzing heart rhythms that are related to your feelings about the choices. To understand how it works, it's necessary to first have a grasp...
When it comes to matters of the heart, even the most rational among us can lose their heads. There are the nerves and then the neuroses that send you into fits of second-guessing yourself. It doesn’t matter if you’re married, in a stable relationship, on...
I was planning to write about the transhumanist movement today, but after opening my email this morning to find an announcement for a grant competition from the DoD focused on, among other things, "human-computer symbiosis," this blog post became a priority. Transhumanism is defined by the...
I'm writing a novel as a side project, and I've been noticing something that every veteran fiction writer already knows. The story is only interesting when there's struggle, strife, conflict. When the main character feels creative, joyful, and whole -- SHE'S SO BORING. I'm bored...
I had a dream a few nights ago that was striking in its message. In the dream, I was a veterinarian. I was about to see an important patient, a dog, and I was reviewing some information about him. He was at least twenty years old,...
I built the joyful-life-decision tool Choice Compass partly because I was becoming more and more frustrated with the idea that we have to change ourselves to be better. That we don't have wisdom already inside of us, and that who we are isn't already enough. This...
I've been thinking that maybe we neuroscience types have it all wrong. Sure, that's bound to be true in many ways, since clearly our current understanding of the brain doesn't allow us to explain how, exactly, we think. But I'm not talking about this level of...