happiness
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On bias in (and against!) romance novels.
Romance novels espouse a radical philosophy, that our joy matters as much as power, progress, or fame.
aesthetics of care, AI, AI algorithm, AI algorithms, algorithm, ancestry, artificial neural networks, beach reads, bias, book review, books, Christina Lauren, Ciara Smyth, data training, dating algorithms, dating apps, dating service, DNA, genetic ancestry, genetics, guilty pleasure, happiness, Maggie Nelson, matchmaking, On Freedom, online dating, pleasure, predictive algorithm, prejudice, prejudice against romance novels, reading, romance, romance novel, romance novels, romantic compatability, silent mutations, soulmate, The Falling in Love Montage, the pursuit of happiness, The Soulmate Equation, The True Love Experiment, writing
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On kink, advertising, and climate change.
To save our planet, we need to buy fewer things; how might we still be happy?
ad culture, adventure, advertising, advertising culture, affirmative consent, anti-capitalism, Aronowitz, Bad Sex, Bartolomeo Manfredi, BDSM, buy fewer things, buy less, capitalism, Catherine M Roach, Catherine Roach, Clayton Cubitt, climate change, climate crisis, climate destabilization, climate justice, commercial advertising, connection, consent, consumerism, culture, Cupid Chastised, environmentalism, erotic, erotic art, erotic massage, erotica, Escape Into Meaning, ethical nonmonogamy, ethical polyamory, ethics, Evan Puschak, exploration, fulfillment, global warming, Good Sex, happiness, hedonism, human connection, human sexuality, Hysterical Literature, I'll Read What She's Reading, If Nietzsche Were a Narwhal, Jerry Seinfeld, joy, Justin Gregg, kink, kinky, materialism, morality, Nona Willis Aronowitz, nonmonogamy, normal, normalize, pleasure, Pleasure Activism, polyamory, purchasing, reduce consumerism, reduce consumption, relationships, responsible hedonism, romance, sex, sexual desire, sexual exploration, sexual fulfillment, sexual relationships, sexuality, subverted sexual desire, Toni Bentley
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On happiness and mind control.
We could change our brains enough to feel happy with the world as it is … or we could use our unhappiness as a motivation to fix things.
abusive research, addiction, America, animal emotions, animal empathy, asylums, bad medical advice, bioethics, biomedical ethics, brain modification, brain parasites, brain stimulation, brain’s pleasure center, Carl Elliott, cat shit, chemically modulated happiness, cocaine, consciousness, conversion therapy, DCS, deep brain stimulation, depression, direct current stimulation, dopamine, drug abuse, drug crisis, drug use, eating cat shit, electrical brain stimulation, electrochemical stimulation of desire, empathy in rats, evolutionary rationale for pleasure, fighting depression, Frans de Waal, free will, happiness, homosexuality, human choice, human free will, Inbal Ben-Ami Bartal, induction of empathy, Lone Frank, love potion, Mama’s Last Hug, mind control, nucleus accumbens, opiate use, painkillers, parasites, parasitic mind control, psychiatric patients, psychiatric wards, psychiatry, psychological crisis, psychology studies, psychosurgery, rat empathy, rats free their friends, research ethics, research subjects, review of The Pleasure Shock, Robert Heath, science, scientific ethics, scientific progress, sex in a laboratory, suicide, toxo, toxoplasma, toxoplasmosis, unethical experiments, unethical research, unethical science, United States
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On neural plasticity.
What would it take to convince yourself that you are worthy of love?
addiction, biofeedback, brain development, brain growth, CBT, chemical dependence, cocaine, cognitive behavioral therapy, counseling, criminal justice, day by day, depression, dopamine, dopamine receptor levels, dopamine receptors, drug addiction, drug counseling, drug use, e-meter, free will, getting over addiction, happiness, healing, incarceration, jail, lie detector test, mass incarceration, mental health, methamphetamine, mind control, neural development, neural plasticity, plasticity, poetry, poetry class, polygraph, redemption, rehab, rehabilitation, reshaping thought, Scientology, sobriety, substance abuse, teaching in jail, teaching poetry in jail, therapy
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On growing up poor, and hamsters.
I recently read a cute article by Emily Underwood, “How to tell if your hamster is happy.” There is an easy answer, too. The hamsters in question are research animals, so the answer is, “No, they probably are not.” Of all the research animals I’ve interacted with, the only one that seemed happy was the narcoleptic…
Frank Brown Cloud 