I choose life.

There is a small probability that I may not live to see tomorrow. There is a chance that I inherit a genetic disease and at the age of 50 I encounter inevitable health challenges. Heck, the odds of making it past the age of 85 don't seem to be stacked in my favor. I acknowledge the I cannot see that far into my future, thus I attempt to live my life day by day knowing that I am not invincible. But I still dream... that it is plausible that I will live indefinitely. And guess what? I want the same for you.

There is this romantic Kantian notion, that life is defined by its negative space. That every action you commit yourself to is ultimately decided and made meaningful in light of our ultimate destination. The thought that acceptance of our death ignites a flame and sets us in motion to achieve something before our time is up. And that if we had a longer lifespan, lets say 200 years of disease-free living for the sake of argument. That our urgency to live a life of purpose would somehow fade away.

I argue against the notion that "lifespans are long enough". And I suspect that many young people today would agree with me. But why? Is it that todays material based society has become vacuous and without meaning? That many of us feel unfulfilled and want to postpone the inevitable as long as possible to find some semblance of happiness? Is the desire to live forever somehow a selfish desire? I think the answer is simple, we are at a point in our history where we have the choice. Whereas other animals cannot alter their life expectancy like we can with advanced healthcare, superior hygiene, and better food choices. Saying lifespans are long enough, is like saying "you don't deserve to live past a predetermined age x". But who are we to determine what others want? Who are we to say how long the lifespans of future generations of human beings are. Who are we to limit scientific progress in the realm of age extension technologies? After all if you don't want to live longer you can simply avoid making certain lifestyle choices and avoid taking the eventual therapy required to extend lifespan.

The pro-death crowd will argue "overpopulation", without realizing that the rate of birth is a quadratic growth, which has a far greater effect on population than the rate of death which is linear. In most developing countries birth rate is decreasing, and I would assume with an aging population less people would be having kids effectively leading to zero-population growth. The pro-death crowd will argue that the greater number of old people will create a burden on the health care system without realizing that the goal is not to keep people sick and tired longer, but to keep them young and healthy longer. The pro-death crowd could respond by arguing that this will only widen the gap between the rich and poor, without realizing most of health care costs involve degenerative diseases caused by aging. If we could reduce or reverse the effects of metabolism, effectively combating aging and managed to reduce these diseases by 90 percent. We could save tremendously on health care costs and provide free anti-aging therapy to the population.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA" the naysayer will say. "That is a pipe dream, your just smoking hella weed there is no way we would provide something like that for free! Are you crazy!?" Oh but before curling into the fetus position and crying myself to sleep in a ball of defeat. I have one last line of defense. What about all these free services...

• sanitary water
• libraries
• public education
• health care (Canada and Europe, sorry America)
• welfare
• parks
• clean needles

With enough vision one can easily see how in the future where the needs of the people are met with increasing ease and efficiency due to technological progress, we can afford to make lives longer and better without cost to the individual.

It is not fun seeing relatives or strangers grow old and sick. It is no great life to be kept afloat in a nursing home or a hospital bed. I know of the Buddhist principle of impermanence and eventually all things will end in entropy; the eventual heat death of the universe or something equally as dismal and sad. These facts are unavoidable. But I am not arguing to extend life for no reason, I am arguing that life is worth living as long as possible. I want to see us explore the stars. I want to experience the amazing transcendental worlds created in virtual reality. I want to see artificial general intelligence eventually evolve into a super-intelligence in the supposed technological singularity and change the world in ways unimaginable to even the brightest minds today. I want you to see it too.

Here is an excerpt from the poem by Dylan Thomas, remember these words.

"Do not go gentle into that good night.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light."

Do what you can, fight even, for your right to have a life as long and healthy as possible because its all you have and all you ever will have.

Cannabis vs. Alcohol?

It is probably the case that most regular people will not consider much of a difference between cannabis and alcohol in terms of which one they should consume. If anything most people consider alcohol as the lesser of the two 'evils'. Perhaps due to the fact that alcohol consumption is ubiquitous to almost all cultures. Whereas cannabis consumption, due to its illegality has become somewhat of a subculture. Although it is making a comeback in recent years due to legalization efforts in countries like Uruguay. And the acceptance of its many medical applications in North America, Europe, and other countries around the world.

I am not going to pretend that I do not have an agenda, I do. I want to help my readers realize just how stupid it is to compare cannabis to alcohol, and in fact show that it is better placed somewhere between non-alcoholic beer and coffee. The very fact that cannabis is often paired with coffee as a way to jump start ones creativity and productivity should make this very obvious. Some progressive workplaces even go so far as to allow cannabis consumption at the workplace. Here are two reasons why cannabis is safer than alcohol and more like coffee.

1. LD50

The LD50 means the dose of an ingested substances at which 50 percent of the the subjects die. Cannabis effectively does not have an LD50. A smoker would theoretically have to consume nearly 1500 pounds of cannabis within fifteen minutes to induce a lethal response. You would die from carbon monoxide poisoning before dying from an overdose of THC. In fact, no one has ever died from cannabis alone. On the other hand the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has the stats on alcohol at approximately 29,001 deaths from alcohol in the US alone, excluding accidents and homicides. Elizabeth Warren is a US senator who has recently called for the legalization of cannabis to help curb America's opiod addiction crisis.

And then no offense, but the pompous uneducated crowd thumps their chest and yells "But what about being high and driving!?" Well... that is no longer up for debate as there is proof that driving under the influence of cannabis is significantly safer than driving under the influence of alcohol. And this is a non issue in the near future where nearly all densely populated roadways will be occupied by self-driving cars.

2. Health

Cannabis is significantly safer than alcohol. Alcohol has 7 calories per gram, and cannabis has none. Cannabis has recognized as having multiple medical uses including the treatment of cancer. Whereas alcohol consumption is linked to causing certain types of cancer. Cannabis smoking is only linked to upper respiratory tract problems, but not linked directly to causing cancer. And who is smoking cannabis nowadays? Vaporizing has become affordable and is much safer, cleaner, and more effective than smoking the plant. You avoid the taste of burnt plant matter and the buildup of resin and tar in the lungs. New methods in essential oil extraction have turned the world of cannabis upside down in terms of contaminant free material. All you are getting with some of these oils is the cannabinoids and there associated terpenes which have their own benefits.

I don't recommend using cannabis unless it helps you function better or relax. But to lump it in the same category as alcohol is making a huge mistake. Cannabis and other psychedelics help to increase openness to experience. Maybe that is just what we need to reignite our humanity and rekindle our long lost relationship with this plant and others. I don't even use cannabis daily but I know from personal experience that it can...

• rekindle your relationship with nature
• make you anxious about all your superficial insecurities
• heighten your sexuality
• increase appetite and appreciation of food
• increase suspension of disbelief
• relax musculoskeletal system
• widen your musical taste
• promote creative thinking
• aid in digestion
• help sleep

Of course it can also lead to...

• time spent 
• money spent
• paranoid thinking

But those are only a subset of the negative effects of alcohol which also include...

• vomiting
• dying
• poor decision making

I could have written a more exhaustive article, but I realize at this point it is not the lack of information about cannabis that is preventing people from making this connection. Those who still believe in the idea of the 'devils lettuce' are willfully ignorant, and perhaps this time around are indeed on the wrong side of history.

Go Outside!

No seriously, rain or shine no time to whine! There are so many benefits to going outside, a good dose of nature can alleviate symptoms of seasonal affective disorder. And vegetation throughout forests is also a good source of alpha-pinene, which is a bronchodilator. Being away from where you usually keep yourself busy can also help clear your mind and reorganize your thoughts. So while it may feel like you "don't have time" maybe going outside for an hour is just what you need to use your time more efficiently the rest of the day. 

My good friend Dave gave me a call this morning to go for a hike. I was still bed, and at the time it was tempting to stay inside and keep warm and dry. I had all these excuses in my head, its raining, my calves are sore, I'm hungry etc. But I made the right decision and jumped out of bed and made a quick breakfast and got out the door within 30 minutes. Within 20 minutes of being outside we had starting making our way up the local trails and all that effort was suddenly so worth it!

See at the time it was tempting to stay inside and settle for the immediate gratification of sinking back into my recently changed bed-sheets. But I made the sacrifice of short term gain for a little 'pain' and like the adage, its always worth giving up the former for the latter. Sometimes we just need a little discipline to feel the way we want or to achieve the results we desire. This was obviously an easy thing to do compared to some of the other challenges we face everyday. But sometimes its the little things that count. 

Is Virtual Reality the Future of Humanity?

With the acquisition of Oculus by Facebook for 2 billion, the research and development on other head-mounted displays (HMD) by other companies such as Valve, or the recent investment by Google into augmented and virtual reality. There seems to be a solid effort to push this new form of media into the mainstream. So much so, that by the middle of the next decade the way we experience media will change, and the world will become a much different place as a result.

Why does VR have such transformative capabilities? Not only is VR an immersive experience, it also grants the user with a feeling of presence, the subjective sensation of literally being somewhere else. In a way similar to psychedelic drugs, VR experiences can change the ways people view the world and themselves. It has the capacity to dissolve boundaries. No matter where we are in the world people will have the opportunity to connect, share, and co-evolve in heightened experiences.

Currently the technology is at its infancy stage, and we can expect more ergonomic HMD's with wider field of view and higher resolution. We can also expect that at some point down the line there is the possibility of a neural interface i.e a direct connection to the brain. So its only going to get better and cheaper, effectively making it so that you could be anywhere in the world and have a high quality virtual reality experience that transcends the limitations of everyday life. Want to see the new movie but can't because the tickets are sold out? Not anymore, virtual space is nearly unlimited. You wouldn't have to get in your car to drive to the movie theater. You could generate a private theater with just you and your friends with as big of a screen as you like.

The most important thing that will change, I cannot emphasize this strongly enough. Is that an incomprehensibly large amount of resources will be spared because we will create things strictly out of information. The possibilities are near infinite but I will list a few I can think of.

New architectural design strategies.
You can walk through a building in the design process and share with others the experience of what it feels like to be in that space.

New kind of racing.
There is no need to replace tires with rubber, or the possibility of crashing and getting injured. A kid in Africa could put on his headset and race NASCAR with thousands of others. Or you could race with the cyclists at the Tour de France from the comfort of your own home.

No risk of sexually transmitted disease.
Its not far out to think eventually it will be preferable to have sex in virtual reality. It will be safer and better. Less healthcare costs as a result and I mean perhaps the cessation of sexual assault.

Transcendental education.
Teaching human anatomy, geography, tennis... anything I can think of will become more accessible, more effective, and less resource intensive.

Heightened experiences.
The most exciting thing would be completely new experiences that only work with interfaces in VR. Things we cannot even begin to imagine. A new lease on life for the physically disabled, new forms of subjective experiences etc.

This is going to change the way we see and think about the world, the way we solve problems, and perhaps leave us being OK with leaving more of nature untouched and letting the animals exist without disturbance from human activity. I am excited at the possibilities, and I hope you are too!

As a vegan people often ask me whether I believe eating organic is important etc. While I do think eating local, organic, whole foods should be at the top of ones priority list when it comes to diet for health reasons. I do not recommend going over your budget strictly to eat the most expensive produce at whole foods. The main focus should be eating a low fat high carb diet. Here are 5 reasons why.

1. Calorie Density

One can start by looking at the energy density of certain macro-nutrients.

One gram of carbohydrates = 4 calories.
One gram of protein = 4 calories.
One gram of fat = 9 calories.

It is easy to see that in a world of scarcity, perhaps like the one our ancestors inhabited 10,000+ years ago, that fat was an easier way to reach our daily energy requirements. Nowadays many of us in the first world live in luxury, and calorie over-consumption is more of a concern than starvation. because of this many of us are in the restriction mindset, limiting the amount of foods that we eat, not the type of foods that we eat.

Oreo Cookies

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 100 grams (100 g)

Per Serving% Daily Value*

Calories 474

Calories from Fat 174

Total Fat 19.412g29%

Saturated Fat 6.176g29%

Cholesterol 0mg0%

Sodium 421mg18%

Potassium 184mg6%

Carbohydrates 72.059g24%

Dietary Fiber 3.529g15%

Sugars 40.294g

Protein 3.529g

Vitamin A 0% · Vitamin C 0%

Calcium 3% · Iron 26%

Potatoes - baked with skin, without salt

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 100 grams (100 g)

Per Serving% Daily Value*

Calories 75

Calories from Fat 1

Total Fat 0.116g0%

Saturated Fat 0.058g0%

Polyunsaturated Fat 0.058g

Monounsaturated Fat 0g

Cholesterol 0mg0%

Sodium 10mg1%

Potassium 419mg12%

Carbohydrates 17.572g6%

Dietary Fiber 1.329g5%

Sugars 0.694g

Protein 2.023g

Vitamin A 0% · Vitamin C 31%

Calcium 1% · Iron 4%

This is an example of how much fat can add up. It would take just over 400 grams of Oreo cookies to exceed the 2000 calorie mark (36.7% calories from fat). On the other hand it you need to eat 2.6 kilograms of potatoes to have consumed 2000 calories. Which one can you eat more of without feeling guilty? The potatoes! There is the misconception by a lot of people that 'carbs make you fat' but I believe it is just the opposite. While you CAN overeat carbohydrate foods, it is the hidden fat in junk food, oils, and animal products that accumulates and makes up a huge chunk of our calories. When we look at pastries like donuts and cake, our automatic reaction is limit ourselves because we don't want to overdose on sugar. But often times pastries can be 30 - 40% calories from fat, which is the same problem as the Oreo. The energy density is simply too high and we are then caught in this neurotic mode where we 'restrict'. You want the food, but you tell yourself "Oh no I can't have that" and all the rest. If you fill yourself up on carbohydrate rich foods you won't get the cravings that most of us all believe are inevitable.

2. Dietary Thermogenesis & Fidgeting

Lets say your daily calorie expenditure was 2500 calories, and you had a dessert at night that brought your total calories consumed to 3000 calories. That is an excess of 500 calories and if you repeated this for a week you could expect to gain around a pound of fat. But if you over consume low-fat high carb foods, there are two things your body wants to do before storing those calories as fat.

First it will burn a decent percentage of those excess calories as heat energy. I provide a link to a study below.

Stimulation of Thermogenesis by Carbohydrate Overfeeding

Second is the phenomenon of non exercise activity thermogenisis (NEAT) or fidgeting. Which increases with overfeeding and decreases with underfeeding. This could be as simple as tapping your foot or twirling a pencil in class, or walking back and forth to the kitchen to fill up your cup with water from the tap. In some cases you can burn up to 700 extra calories a day over your basal metabolic rate just from NEAT!

Non-Exercise Activity Thermogenesis – It’s NEAT!

3. Fiber

Fiber increases the volume of food without increasing the calories it provides. All whole plant foods have fiber and it is essential to our digestion and gut health. Barring any exceptional health and digestive issues, when eating fruits and vegetables you can never have too much fiber as long as you stay hydrated. All high carb plant foods are packed with fiber so they are naturally lower on the glycemic index because their digestion is regulated and slow. And come on, who doesn't want to be a 4 on the Bristol Stool Chart.

4. Energy

If you want to step up the intensity in your exercise or simply get more shit done. Then eat a high carb diet because it will help refuel your glycogen stores and the fiber will slow down the digestion enough to keep you satiated so you don't get hungry again until you would normally have your next meal.

5. Taste

This is a simple one, high carb foods are tasty! I'll be posting healthy recipes in the future.

Remember don't limit yourself from how much you eat, but what you eat. I often hear this as one of the complaints of eating a healthy diet... it goes something like this.

Breakfast: 1 banana, 1 apple, 1 orange
Lunch: 2 pieces of avocado toast
Dinner: 12 donuts, 4 slices of pizza, and 3 beers

The example above is common, people set out to eat healthy but they are still in the calorie restrictive mindset and don't realize they are only eating like 250 calories for breakfast and maybe 450 for lunch. Even a petite and completely sedentary woman needs at least 1500 calories to break even. Only eating 700 calories before dinner is a recipe for disaster and cravings galore! Our stomachs tune into the dense, high fat, high calorie later in the evening and we find ourselves stuffing our faces and feeling like shit afterwards. Without knowing it we are recreating that scarcity mode by restricting our carb calories and it almost always leads to overeating fat. Here is an example of a better diet, one that still allows for the fun flavors and tastes of the previous example.

Breakfast: 3 bananas, 3 apples, 3 oranges
Lunch: 2 pieces of of avocado toast
Dinner: 1 whole veggie pizza (no cheese)

For the same petite woman who only needs 1500 calories a day, this will provide all of her needs and fill her up without overeating and being overcome with feelings of guilt or bloating etc.
List of some high carb foods...

1. Sweet potatoes/Yams
2. Potatoes
3. Rice
4. Bananas
5. Dates
6. Pasta
7. Oats & Grains
8. Bread

After all is said, I do not want you to go and count your macronutrients or to count your calories. If anything this should give you confidence in knowing that as long as you eat high carb foods till you are full, you are probably getting enough calories. And even if you overeat a little... no big deal! So I urge all my readers to carb the fuck up and live a life of purpose.

Hey my names Peter Horvath. I'm 23 year old plant based trans-humanist cognitive science major, and this is my self-development blog. In this experiment, the goal is for you and I to learn how to best version of ourselves everyday. I wont be a bore with too much intro so lets get to the first lesson shall we?

What do most people want out of life? Most would answer that sort of question with "To be happy". But I contend that it is something more tangible than the ethereal idea of inner happiness that we desire. I think most of us want to see results or changes that are in tune with our goals, which in turn make us happier. Instead of quietly living a life of silent desperation we aspire to live the life of our dreams.

Whatever the results may be that you want. Here are 5 principles you can adhere to to help you achieve your goals.

1. Remove Distractions

If there is something that detracts from putting in the consistent effort to achieve true results. Remove it. If you don't need it, put your cellphone on silent. If you don't earn enough money don't go shopping etc.

2. Replace Habits

If there are habits that create cognitive dissonance, replace them with something that is more aligned with what you truly believe in. If you want to exercise for better cardiovascular endurance, smoking cigarettes will not help you achieve that goal. You could replace it with gum, healthy eating, or even vaping (hey its a start!).

3. Overarching Vision

You need to have an idea of what the result is that you want. Write down some goals, some may take longer to achieve than others. Its easier to break your goals into chunks, so for each potential goal its better to have something that you can aim for within the week. An academic example could be wanting to graduate with a high GPA. To make that a reality you would have the goal of completing your assignments on time each week and studying effectively. A fitness example could be wanting visible abs. To make that a reality you would have to keep you diet in check and make sure you are doing weekly core exercises to increase definition.

4. Time Management

You need to manage your time effectively. I recommend scheduling your entire day one day in advance. Not only does it put more pressure on you to get shit done, but it also formulates a clearer image in your head of how much you can expect to accomplish. Believe me, a lot of the times its more than you think. Eventually you can start creating schedules that extend further into the future. This helps you stay on track with your overarching vision as well.

5. Narrow Focus

Try your best to only work on one thing at a time. By removing distractions, replacing your habits, formulating a vision, and creating a plan. You will feel more purposeful in your actions which will help keep your attention. I recommend not spending more than roughly an hour on one task. Get up and drink water. Change your environment. Get up and stretch. Whatever you can do to keep yourself fresh and motivated.