Having sex as you age helps you to stay healthy and to enjoy life — Last January I played When I’m Sixty-Four on my birthday. I have been listening to that Beatles’ song since I was 14, wondering how I would be when I finally arrived to that age. Now, fifty years later, I think I would surprise my former self if he could see…

After science discarded the soul, consciousness took its place. — How We Lost Our Soul Science made us lose our souls. We have lost our soul because we no longer need to believe that we have a soul. We have a mind, and neuroscience is showing how this mind results from the functioning of our brain. Without the brain, there is no mind. However, our…

New genetic techniques like fluorescent reporter genes, optogenetics and DREADD allow scientist to manipulate the functions of individual cells in live animals. — Many of my scientists colleagues are thrilled about the new transgenic techniques. Transgenic methods are sophisticated molecular biology techniques that consist of moving genes from one species to another, or in creating artificial genes and expressing them in a living organism. …

The principles of sex-positive culture are interdependent and logically anchored in personal freedom and autonomy — Sex-positive culture arose from the sexual liberation of the 60s and the Feminists Sex Wars that started in the 80s and persist until today. This protracted confrontation between radical feminists and sex-positive feminists gave rise to a larger sex-positive culture that eventually spilled out of feminism into general society.

The sadist wants to cause physical and emotional pain, but not suffering — What do sadists want? In the context of BDSM (bondage, dominance, submission, sadism and masochism), being a sadist means giving pain to people who enjoy receiving it — masochists — in ways that they enjoy receiving it. And, of course, within the limits of mutual consent. This is the original meaning of sadism, since…

Information is better than matter or mind as the fundament of reality — What is the ultimate nature of reality? Can everything that exists be reduced to a single entity? Since antiquity, philosophers thought so. There are three main ideas that keep resurfacing in different forms: Materialism: Everything is made of matter. Since Einstein showed that E=m*c², we know that matter and energy can be converted into each other, so…

In seven difficult steps — 1. Hunt for personal power Personal power is self-knowledge, self-control, self-sufficiency, self-transformation, good health, emotional strength, resilience, inner motivation, wisdom. 2. Act impeccably Generate sustained attention and effort. Choose the right challenge. Face my fears. Develop meta-attention. Plug power drains. Build good habits. Focus on the process and not the destination.

Flow is a mental state of focused attention in which we become productive and creative without apparent effort — What is flow? You may have heard of flow, a seemingly magical state that some people enter when they write that lets them be tremendously productive and creative with little effort. Flow happens in many arts, like painting, performing music and dancing. We also hear of flow in sports. The archetypical one is…

Pondering about war and nationalism — A question to my father When I was 11, I was driving alone with my father and I asked him this question: “Papá, why are there different nations?” “Huh?” “Wouldn’t it make more sense if we all lived in just one nation?” To be honest, I don’t remember his exact answer. …