Academic
“No man ever threw a life that was worth keeping”
– David Hume
Justified True Belief
Since a young age I found the beauty in learning. Growing up I was always surrounded by nature and culture, which led me to the curiosity of objective reality. In highschool I learnt about self-actualization and realized that my desire to know, was a reflexion of my desire to self-actualize. Upon reading I discovered I enjoyed books that kept me cognitively engaged, specifically ones that unveiled alternative theories that challenged my belief system. I decided to pursue an academic career and am now double majoring at the University of Toronto Mississauga. I believe that learning alone can change the future, of a nation or of an individual. The passion for truth and progression, bettering oneself for the sake of the whole, is an oath I hold dear to me.
My goal in the future is to use empirical methods borrowed from Psychology, to prove Philosophical theories. In doing so, I believe a movement of the kind that focuses on obtaining proof on how to improve future society, is possible. A movement that uses experiments to investigate how to eliminate the issues in society. Plato once said “The beginning is the most important part of the work”, for we must redirect the younger generation towards a more peaceful future by conditioning them away from the pleasures that have disabled us in the present. It is thus my goal to begin a movement that determines the proper way to inspire future generations to aim for true knowledge and self-actualization, by recreating the education system through empirical studies.
@itsmayafink
Thoughts
“There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to accept what is true”
– Soren Kierkegaard
Dialectical Discussions Posts
One Quarter Century Old
Maybe now you’re hyper-vigilant about your aging process because you’ve just turned 25. A quarter of a century. The quarter of the century. Arguably the most important quarter of any century – it’s the first quarter century. In this quarter century, you were born. Your soul was formed and you came into this world – you were created at the beginning of this quarter. In this quarter century, you went through some of the most formative years of your life; you learnt to breathe as you learnt to read and write, communicate with others, and understand the world. You went through puberty, you had all your ‘firsts’; your first kiss, your first time having sex, falling in love, your first cigarette or joint. For god’s sake, you got potty trained in this first quarter century, you went from a simple animal to a lovely cultivated elegant human being. This quarter-century and maybe the last one is the two parts of the full century where you change the most. They say by 25 years old our brain begins to stop developing, soon after on the decline. There’s a lot that I learned until now. But it wasn’t until I started looking at myself in the mirror pointing at different aspects I had never seen before, thinking “that’s not me”, that I realized it was quite naïve to have ever thought that only one-quarter of a century will give me enough of a foundation to truly know who the hell I am
Memory Enhancement; How plasticity affects ChroniC Cocaine addiction
Drug addiction has been considered to be a chronic brain disease, defined by a motivational brain circuit whose function can increase individual’s susceptibility to drug abuse. Addiction in general has been linked to a reward system that involves various brain regions. Activation in these brain regions have been associated to the increase of memory-related synaptic connection. This synaptic strengthening increasesusceptability of retrieving drug-related memory. Cocaine creates an excitatory response in the brain involving the dopaminergic pathways in both the brain regions involved with reward and with learning. This suggests that drug addiction is linked to the affects memory has on learning reward in association to the pleasurable affects of drug taking. In instances of chronic drug use, withdrawal creates stronger drug-seeking behavioural responses, and in turn increasing risk of relapse.
Effect of FKBP5 on the HPA Axis; Correlation Between Stress and Addiction Disorders
Psychological Mood disorders such as Anxiety, are one of the most prevalent disorders in the world, with most individuals admitting to feeling anxious or stressed for a prolonged time at least once in they’re lifetime (Mental and substance use disorder.
Dialectical Discussion Group: The Mission
As a student studying philosophy and psychology, my goals have always been oriented towards finding practical ways of bettering oneself. Recently I’ve realized that my answers keep pointing me towards the direction of analyzing the education system. In other words,...
Back to Reality
I’m not sure why I randomly got motivated to write about my life, maybe because I returned from vacation. This summer I spent three weeks away visiting my family and friends in Europe and Israel, sightseeing, hiking, relaxing at the beach and drinking wine accompanied...
The Art of Waiting
“Trust in the universe” my mind echoes dramatically at any situation where I feel the loss of control. Introduction Rationalists are those of us who believe that the world is made up of perceptions projected by our subjectivity. In other words, the rose coloured...
How’d I Get Here?
Sitting on a tan love couch situated in the centre of an empty room with nothing but a mini bar surrounded by a few white doors. The walls are white and empty, but the room is crowded with music-deaf drunk young adults; women’s stiletto heels sinking into the hotel...
Lost Girl
A few years ago, I experienced what I like to call an existential crisis. A year prior I had finished high school and moved to Milan, where I spent my time working every weekday; in the morning at one restaurant, in the evening at another, taking courses online to...
Smiling Old Man
The green pharmaceutical sign flashes in the distance as I wait for the tram back to my apartment at the heart of Milano. The crisp air whisks around my hair. I unzip my jacket to let out the heat I’ve held inside my body from my day at work. I fit my earphones into...
Consensual Non-Monogamy: Behind the Habit
Evidence has shown that a large amount of negative attitudes towards Consensual Non-monogamous (CNM) relationships are due to the fact that they have been deemed a deviation of social norms, where non-exclusivity acts as a ‘devil effect’ (tendency to judge people’s...
Personal Life Posts
One Quarter Century Old
Maybe now you’re hyper-vigilant about your aging process because you’ve just turned 25. A quarter of a century. The quarter of the century. Arguably the most important quarter of any century – it’s the first quarter century. In this quarter century, you were born. Your soul was formed and you came into this world – you were created at the beginning of this quarter. In this quarter century, you went through some of the most formative years of your life; you learnt to breathe as you learnt to read and write, communicate with others, and understand the world. You went through puberty, you had all your ‘firsts’; your first kiss, your first time having sex, falling in love, your first cigarette or joint. For god’s sake, you got potty trained in this first quarter century, you went from a simple animal to a lovely cultivated elegant human being. This quarter-century and maybe the last one is the two parts of the full century where you change the most. They say by 25 years old our brain begins to stop developing, soon after on the decline. There’s a lot that I learned until now. But it wasn’t until I started looking at myself in the mirror pointing at different aspects I had never seen before, thinking “that’s not me”, that I realized it was quite naïve to have ever thought that only one-quarter of a century will give me enough of a foundation to truly know who the hell I am
Memory Enhancement; How plasticity affects ChroniC Cocaine addiction
Drug addiction has been considered to be a chronic brain disease, defined by a motivational brain circuit whose function can increase individual’s susceptibility to drug abuse. Addiction in general has been linked to a reward system that involves various brain regions. Activation in these brain regions have been associated to the increase of memory-related synaptic connection. This synaptic strengthening increasesusceptability of retrieving drug-related memory. Cocaine creates an excitatory response in the brain involving the dopaminergic pathways in both the brain regions involved with reward and with learning. This suggests that drug addiction is linked to the affects memory has on learning reward in association to the pleasurable affects of drug taking. In instances of chronic drug use, withdrawal creates stronger drug-seeking behavioural responses, and in turn increasing risk of relapse.
Effect of FKBP5 on the HPA Axis; Correlation Between Stress and Addiction Disorders
Psychological Mood disorders such as Anxiety, are one of the most prevalent disorders in the world, with most individuals admitting to feeling anxious or stressed for a prolonged time at least once in they’re lifetime (Mental and substance use disorder.
Dialectical Discussion Group: The Mission
As a student studying philosophy and psychology, my goals have always been oriented towards finding practical ways of bettering oneself. Recently I’ve realized that my answers keep pointing me towards the direction of analyzing the education system. In other words,...
Back to Reality
I’m not sure why I randomly got motivated to write about my life, maybe because I returned from vacation. This summer I spent three weeks away visiting my family and friends in Europe and Israel, sightseeing, hiking, relaxing at the beach and drinking wine accompanied...
The Art of Waiting
“Trust in the universe” my mind echoes dramatically at any situation where I feel the loss of control. Introduction Rationalists are those of us who believe that the world is made up of perceptions projected by our subjectivity. In other words, the rose coloured...
How’d I Get Here?
Sitting on a tan love couch situated in the centre of an empty room with nothing but a mini bar surrounded by a few white doors. The walls are white and empty, but the room is crowded with music-deaf drunk young adults; women’s stiletto heels sinking into the hotel...
Lost Girl
A few years ago, I experienced what I like to call an existential crisis. A year prior I had finished high school and moved to Milan, where I spent my time working every weekday; in the morning at one restaurant, in the evening at another, taking courses online to...
Smiling Old Man
The green pharmaceutical sign flashes in the distance as I wait for the tram back to my apartment at the heart of Milano. The crisp air whisks around my hair. I unzip my jacket to let out the heat I’ve held inside my body from my day at work. I fit my earphones into...
Consensual Non-Monogamy: Behind the Habit
Evidence has shown that a large amount of negative attitudes towards Consensual Non-monogamous (CNM) relationships are due to the fact that they have been deemed a deviation of social norms, where non-exclusivity acts as a ‘devil effect’ (tendency to judge people’s...