(New study!) Getting angry could kill you ⋆ AI of the week ⋆ Stoics on wealth

Did I warn you about getting angry so I could say things that might make you angry? No, I didn't. But you're making me rethink this week's topics...

Thing 1 - Getting angry could kill you

Anger constricts your blood vessels, making it harder for them to function the way they should. This sets the stage for serious issues like heart attacks and strokes.

And it gets worse. A new study led by a Columbia investigator suggests that if you experience intense anger, your risk of a heart attack in the next two hours can skyrocket by 8.5 times! Unchecked anger also messes with your brain’s emotion control centers, leading to more frequent and intense outbursts.

But the impact doesn’t stop there. Rampant anger can wreak havoc on your relationships and is linked to a host of health problems, including high blood pressure, heart disease, headaches, and even digestive issues.

What can you do?

Some research-supported methods to manage and reduce anger:

1. Deep Breathing
   Slow, deep breaths can calm your nerves and reduce anger intensity.
2. Exercise
   Activities like walking or jogging reduce stress and improve mood, making it easier to handle anger. (Becoming a gym bro, Z?)
3. Mindfulness
   Increase awareness of your emotions and stay calm in stressful situations with mindfulness practices.
4. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
   Helps you recognize and change thought patterns that contribute to anger.
5. Relaxation Techniques
   Use methods like progressive muscle relaxation and meditation to ease anger.
6. Problem-Solving
   Develop skills to address issues that trigger anger in a constructive way
7. Humor
   Finding humor in a situation can change your perspective and diffuse anger. This makes me think of Deadpool for some reason.

(source 1, source 2, source 3, source 4, source 5, source 6)

Thing 2 - AI of the week

• Google DeepMind and Isomorphic Labs introduced AlphaFold 3.
  It predicts the structure and interactions of all of life’s molecules

• Stack Overflow and OpenAI today announced a new API partnership
  This gives OpenAI users access to Stack Overflow’s technical data and aims to improve AI models and developer tools on both platforms.
• OpenAI published a specification of how they want their models to behave
  It's supposed to give you a better sense of how we tune model behavior and start a public conversation about what could be changed and improved
• Perplexity launched an incognito search.
• ElevenLabs showed a preview of ElevenLabs Music.
  Generate whole songs from a single text prompt with no edits. Results seem better than those of Udio and Suno
• Udio's new Audio Inpainting feature allows users to edit and enhance their audio tracks with remarkable precision.
  This streamlines the process of editing individual vocal lines, correcting errors, and smoothing transitions

Thing 3 - Stoics on wealth

It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor.

- Seneca

Wealth consists not in having great possessions, but in having few wants.

- Epictetus

It's because of quotes like this that most people think stoics are against wealth.

But nah...

They just didn't think it was a requirement for a happy life. But also that if you live a life of virtue, wealth might come as a byproduct.

And it's better to have it than not have it.

For the wise man does not consider himself unworthy of any gifts from Fortune’s hands: he does not love wealth but he would rather have it; he does not admit into his heart but into his home; and what wealth is his he does not reject but keeps, wishing it to supply greater scope for him to practice his virtue.

- Seneca

Wealth amplifies your character and expands your circle of influence. Don't avoid it so you can virtue signal, acquire it so you can make the change you want in the world. But don't chase it for its own sake.

Cheers, Zvonimir