Anxiety vs abundance: cultivating a better mindset

Before setting off to walk Papua New Guinea’s Kokoda Track, I was worried about a few things: blisters, staying hydrated, getting gastro (I’ve contracted it before in PNG—not a pleasant experience), being physically up to the challenge, having the right equipment . . . the list could probably go on. One thing I was not worried about was having a panic attack. Little...

Symptoms of a failing marriage

The prelude to a divorce often comprises highly destructive behaviours, which can prevent a couple from keeping their enthusiastic promise of staying together "for better or for worse until death do us part," says American psychologist Dr John Gottman.

AI and jobs: when your colleague is a machine

“AI is replacing human tasks faster than you think.” “Wall Street Job Losses May Top 200,000 as AI Replaces Roles.” “AI Set to Replace Workers Across 41% of Companies in the Next Five Years.” And more recently: “Bill Gates Predicts Only Three Jobs Will Survive the AI Takeover—Here's Why”. These headlines are fueling growing anxiety among those unfamiliar with artificial intelligence or those...

COVID-19: Rehearsal for the big surprise

There has been a lot of speculation in the online environment about COVID-19 and the end of the world, but the connection between the two is more subtle than it first appears. It has been suggested that the pandemic is only the tip of the iceberg, that it is one of the seven last plagues of Revelation, or that it is the fourth...

COVID-19: Why the Bible’s perspective on social distancing might be a solution

The great challenge facing the world’s leaders right now is identifying an optimal response to a disease bearing several characteristics that make it difficult to combat.

COVID-19: White money for black days: using savings when you #stayhome

One of the most powerful pieces of literature illustrating the proper preparation for a financial crisis comes from antiquity. More precisely, from the Bible.

The diamond with 1,000 facets | Aspects you didn’t consider when reading the biblical account of creation

Born in Africa, at the crossroads of three cultures—Arab, French, and Jewish—Jacques Doukhan was raised in a Jewish family. At the age of 18, he discovered the Christian gospel and became a Seventh-day Adventist, rejoicing that he did not have to renounce his roots in this church. Like Jews, Adventists observe the Sabbath and "share the same life ideals", explains Dr Doukhan.

My search for the real Dracula

The train departs Bucharest, Romania’s “little Paris”—the old city section with beautiful architecture and impressive monuments, giving way to Communist-era apartment blocks. The plain outside the city is flat and featureless, broken now and again by a grove of trees—mysterious and impenetrable to the gaze. Decrepit houses, tattooed with graffiti, a splash of colour to contrast the uniform grey buildings, marching aimlessly past...

The future is best seen with your eyes closed

When I watch chicks hatch in a nest and begin to perform the instinctive behaviours of their species, I think about what we might understand about ourselves, the human species, if we had the perspective of such a privileged observer.

An impossible inventory of the most widespread fake news about COVID-19

The epidemic of false information in this worldwide pandemic is even more infectious than the virus itself. Fortunately, there is a vaccine for this epidemic of fake news: quality information and information filters. However, not everyone has been vaccinated. Here is an immunization effort.

COVID-19: Defending ourselves against fake news and panic

The fight against the new coronavirus is accompanied by several parallel fights, including the fight against fear, which can turn into panic—one of the most dangerous social phenomena.

The relativity of time

Time can exist in many forms—work time, free time, leisure time—and it has a lot of possessive adjectives: my time, your time, our time. The relativity of time can often lead to confusion because of the accompanying mixture of emotions, such as fear, joy, satisfaction, or expectation. It was this relativity of time that led me to need to define it in my...

Creativity in the age of acceleration

"Millions of ordinary, psychologically normal people will face an abrupt collision with the future. Citizens of the world's richest and most technologically advanced nations, many of them will find it increasingly painful to keep up with the incessant demand for change that characterises our time." (Alvin Toffler, Future Shock, 1970)

I wanted to create my own nutrition AI agent

We are living in strange times. Never before have there been so many "mentoring programmes", "transformational coaching", or "psychological methods" for sale, and never before has it been easier for them to be generated by artificial intelligence. An entire industry promises change, clarity, and discipline, but often there is no human behind these promises, only a robot.

“Beyond the Burden of Proof” documentary. Are we made to believe?

In the centuries since science has gained autonomy from religion, spokesmen on both sides have grown accustomed to looking at each other with suspicion, ignoring each other, and addressing their followers by preaching against the “others." There seemed to be little hope that scientists and people of faith would listen to each other and try to develop a common language, if not a...