BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

The Effect of Narcissism's Twisted Thinking on the Mind by Kathy Krajco Ideas don't just enter the mind and sit there, isolated. Information is an interesting word. It was a verb long before it acquired a noun form. "To inform" people meant to "in-form" their minds. To form, shape their minds with the ideas you fed them. Information does that. That's because the brain is essentially a biological computer. It's tremendously more sophisticated than any human-made computers we yet have, because it can learn and because it isn't limited to making a random choice whenever no other criteria direct the choice to be made. But we already have software that can learn, too. And the science of artificial intelligence is well on the road to doing astonishing things in the development of artificial "mind." No, you aren't going to see R2D2 rolling around the corner anytime soon, but something like that day is indeed coming. Yes, we are going to b...

How do you cool your lips After a summers kiss How do you rid the sweat After the body bliss How do you turn your eyes From the romantic glare How do you block the sound of a voice You'd know anywhere Study may explain roots of empathy By Julie Steenhuysen When people say "I feel your pain," they do not mean it literally, but certain people really do feel something that appears to be an extreme form of empathy, British researchers said on Sunday. They said watching someone being touched triggers the same part of the brain as actual touch, and this connection helps explain how we understand what other people are feeling. People who experience a tactile sense of touch when they see another person being touched -- something called mirror-touch synesthesia -- was first studied in 2005 in one person. But researchers at University College London have now studied 10 people with the same condition. "It suggests there is a link between certain aspects of the tactile system an...

Ben Goldfarb Director, Paradigm Shift Communications We sometimes think we understand other people's motives, and more often than not, we condemn others for their words and actions. Perhaps we need to change the way we look at the world. The Talmud states that we don't see the world as it is but rather as we see ourselves. The founder of the Chasidic movement, Rabbi Israel Ba'al Shem Tov (1698-1760), takes this notion one step further. He suggests that we look at the world as if looking in a mirror. When we see good or bad character traits in others, this is simply a reflection of who we are. This concept is illustrated beautifully by the following story: A traveler approached the gates of a city and, before entering, asked about the nature of its inhabitants. The guard asked him what the people were like in his hometown. The man described in no uncertain terms all the negative attributes of his former neighbors. The guard said that the people in his city were iden...