Stefan Klein

Stefan Klein (born 1965 in Munich) is a German science writer.

Life

Klein studied physics and analytical philosophy in Munich, Grenoble and Freiburg and received his doctorate in Freiburg with a thesis on theoretical biophysics. He was from 1996 to 1999 science editor of the " mirror ", where he quickly made ​​a name by his science reports and numerous cover stories. In 1998 he was awarded the Georg von Holtzbrinck Prize for Science Journalism. 1999 to 2000 he was editor of "Geo". Since then he has worked as a freelance writer.

In 2000 he came out with his book, The Diaries of Creation, published in 2002, the formula for happiness or the good feelings arise. Klein's works have been translated into more than 20 languages.

Klein is married with science journalist Alexandra Rigos and has two daughters and a son. He lives in Berlin.

Works

Science of Happiness

The formula for happiness or How are the good feelings examines the phenomenon of luck from the perspective of brain research and social psychology. As is common in neuropsychological research, "happiness" is understood as an emotion - that is, as a largely automatic and temporary response of the brain to an external or internal stimulus. ( The philosophical literature, however, often defines the term "happiness" as a euphemism for " successful life ". )

Klein describes how the programmed evolution of the good feelings are triggered and what they are for: happiness, curiosity and learning are inextricably linked. With numerous research results Small thinks he can prove the thesis that the brain can be trained so that positive emotions are perceived more intense and frequent. In a final chapter on the " happy society " the social conditions are studied that are conducive to life satisfaction. Decisive for this are not wealth, but the highest possible degree of justice, citizenship and self-determination for each individual.

As in all his books describes Klein 's most complex topics in an easy to understand narrative; the language is ironic and sometimes humorous. Fragments from the literature are used as examples and are intended to show, such as the question of happiness has been addressed in earlier eras. In the description of current research findings will be omitted large amount of detail to bring out the central concepts and ideas.

Everything random

All random revolves around the question of how much we can see of the world in which we live. Accident was a result of ignorance: appear as random processes, behind which we recognize no rules, either because the relationships are too complex, or because there is no rule. Chance is but also when specific operations ( quantum physics, evolution) part of any possible theoretical description. From Klein is described in many examples of where and how the random acts. This small spans a broad range (according to some critics to wide ) sheets of physics and evolution, the economy and politics to love. In the second part of the comprehensive book addresses how people deal with the accident. At the core of this is the recognition of neuroscience that the brain needs to underestimate the role of chance, because it can only do so acquire knowledge. This explains, according to Klein not only phenomena such as fatalism, but also in today's complex world, often devastating assessment of risks; Examples include aircraft disasters and other calamities, but also wrong decisions in life. In the third part Klein advocates recognize the importance of chance rather than to fight it, and to seize the opportunities of an open society.

Time

In time, Klein turns to the human perception of time. Klein analyzed the function of the biological clock of the body that regulates the exact second all processes in the organism, and thus all of our actions, as it sets the stage, but was not but from awareness to read. So the man must make do differently in order to divide his time: he needs crutches like the clock and is based on all sorts of time characters, such as your own breath or the memory. Time was, like the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, " a single protest against the deeply unfair fact that unforgettable time speeding away, while the unbearable time is at a standstill ." The author argues for a " new culture of the time ." Because in modern society with its overabundance of stimuli and demands more and more people feel as " slaves of foreign watches ". This new culture is to put people in modern society back into a position where it can no longer be regarded as slaves of foreign watches. By handling time, based on the findings of brain research and neuropsychology, we could learn to experience ourselves again as designers of our own time.

The purpose of giving

In the sense of giving: Why selflessness in the evolution wins and we will not get to small busy with egoism with questions from the field of practical moral philosophy, which he tries to relate to modern social needs. Post it goes to prove that not only the selfishness, but also altruism is crucial for human societies and their advanced development. He distances himself from both human image of conventional economics ( with the image of homo economicus ) and the popular evolutionary psychology.