Sofia Roma

The Missing Tile Syndrome and the Art of Happiness

The tendency of humans to focus on slight imperfections is called the “Missing Tile Syndrome,” which is a term coined by Dennis Prager in his thought-provoking book Happiness is a Serious Problem: A Human Nature Repair Manual. Of all the barriers blocking us from leading happy lives, our own human nature stands the tallest. Even though ...

Sofia Roma

Hand-painted tiles.

The Role of Information Cascades in Driving Public Opinion

As humans connect at increasing rates, it becomes all too common to influence each other’s behavior and decision-making through information cascades, which create a multitude of crowd behaviors that may offer us a better understanding of human relationships through opinion dynamics. In many social and biological systems, individuals rely on the observation of others to ...

Sofia Roma

Information cascades.

The Myth of Sisyphus Decoded

In Greek mythology, Sisyphus was the son of King Aeolus of Thessaly and Enarete. He was the founder and the first king of Ephyra (the glorious city of Corinth). The various and multiple accounts of this story, called the Myth of Sisyphus, portray him as being a cunning and selfish ruler who mocked and killed travelers and guests, mistreated women, ...

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A statue of Sisyphus at the Acropolis in Greece.

The ‘Terrain’ of Disease: Limitations of Germ Theory

In 1864, French chemist Louis Pasteur fathered the science of bacteriology and the germ theory of disease causation — one of the cornerstones of modern medicine. The process of Pasteurization is named after him. Yet after a lifetime of work with the germ theory, Pasteur himself, on his deathbed, is credited with having said: “I ...

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Engraving of Louis Pasteur conducting an experiment on a rabbit while two colleagues stand by and watch.

Important Message From the Hopi Elders on Current World Events

You have been telling the people that this is the Eleventh Hour.  “Now you must go back and tell the people that this is The Hour.”  Here are the things that must be considered:  Where are you living?  What are you doing?  What are your relationships?  Are you in the right relationship?  Where is your ...

Sofia Roma

Hopi Indians gathering water from a stream.