Occasionally on Facebook I get to point out that anything I post without comment is likely something I intend to read later because it strikes me as potentially interesting. These posts often result in comments, which then remind me that I meant to read the thing. It’s a way of outsourcing a reminder to read something […]
While overconfidence can be an extremely dangerous thing, the lack of confidence is one of the biggest inhibitors of progress that we face. People who try something and fail have done something extraordinary. Most people don’t try much of anything — out of fear of failure. Tremendous human potential is held back by a lack […]
In my new piece at H+ Magazine, I provide not so much a review of the movie Her as an exploration of the one of the bigger issues it raises, an issue that I don’t think is getting as much attention as it deserves. Some take the film to be a biting commentary on the state of […]
Check out this wonderful video from Jason Silva. I love what Jason says about changing perspectives. Right now I am standing at a desk, but I am also standing on the surface of a planet. (Actually, I’m standing a bit below the surface, seeing as I’m in the basement.) I’m also hurtling through space, following […]
This is my favorite XKCD strip ever, and that is saying something: Wow. Why do I feel so sad? Somehow, the idea of the bee image embedded in the orchid reminds me of this story, in which I raised the following question: This makes me wonder…are there other past events that we might get a […]
I was talking with a friend the other night about how much I enjoy the works of P. G. Wodehouse, especially the Jeeves novels. They are laugh-out-loud funny, even today, primarily because Wodehouse was a genius at ending a sentence differently than the reader expects. He does it dozens or hundreds of times in each […]
The Human Imperative is the relentless drive to improve the human condition. This is the one commandment obeyed by virtually of all humanity for all of human history: Thou shalt improve thine own circumstances, the circumstances of thy family, the circumstances of thy tribe, or the circumstances of thy species. This commandment is pervasive; […]
Tuesday was an important day in the future history of our planet, at least for those who buy into the future as presented in the Terminator films. Basically, for those not aware, Tuesday represented the beginning of the end of the world. Entertainment Weekly “reported” as follows: Last night — while you were eating dinner […]
JibberJobber Blog directs us to an inspiring piece by marketing guru Seth Godin, Reject the Tyranny of Being Picked: Pick Yourself. Amanda Hocking is making a million dollars a year publishing her own work to the Kindle. No publisher. Rebecca Black has reached more than 15,000,000 listeners, like it or not, without a record label. […]
Very interesting interview with Susan Blackamore in the Third Way. She talks about how she came to abandon paranormal research and discusses some of the reasons why memetics is still regarded as somewhat suspect as a field of study. Includes some pretty deep philosphical stuff. Blackamore rejects dualism but owns up to how difficult that […]