Wednesday, March 12, 2025
Nature Documentaries Have Changed
Wednesday, March 5, 2025
Never Stop Learning!
“There is a theory of human behavior that says people subconsciously retard their own intellectual growth. They come to rely on clichés and habits. Once they reach the age of their own personal comfort with the world, they stop learning and their mind runs on idle for the rest of their days. They may progress organizationally, they may be ambitious and eager, and they may even work night and day. But they learn no more. The bigoted, the narrow-minded, the stubborn, and the perpetually optimistic have all stopped learning.”
-Philip Crosby
Almost 20 years ago now, I was approached by a successful business owner who told me that I was worth minimum wage from the neck down and it was what I knew that would ultimately determine how successful I was going to be in life. He then proceeded to mentor me for the next 5 years.
This changed my life and I'm fully aware it isn't the sort of experience most people go through which is why most people don't prioritize learning at all. For me, learning has been a companion all those years. I saw, first hands, the benefits of reading good books and listening to self-improvement materials.
This blog has been used for various purposes over the years including to help with my mission. Hopefully, you see value in it and I've helped, in a small way, instil a desire for you to learn.
Never stop learning!
Wednesday, February 26, 2025
The Majority Can Be Wrong
-Richard Dawkins
Having the majority believe in something without facts doesn't make it true but the opposition, being so great, may make it difficult for any competing ideas to take flight. Scientists of the middle ages were censored when they made discoveries that were against the popular religious beliefs of the day. Time has proven them right regardless but sometimes I wished we lived in a world where we would be more opened to challenge our own beliefs rather than discourage who ever is doing it. Let's constantly improve both ourselves and the society that we live in.
Wednesday, February 19, 2025
Friends Grow Apart
As a kid, I was told that would have different groups of friends as I would grow up. I couldn't understand how it could happen to me but as I grew up my interest changed and so did my friends.
What I didn't realize, in my younger years, is that a lot of what we had in common was the experiences we shared in school. We attended the same classes, we partnered up for projects, we liked the same sort of things.
Once school was over, and we went our separate ways, we all grew into new people that slowly left our past behind including our relationships.
We're all busy doing other things and over a period of 15 years we slowly drifted apart to the point that I don't think we would recognize each other. They surely wouldn't recognize me as not much remain of the person that I was - I've grown just from a year ago.
I just kind of accepted this as a part of life. Have you been able to keep up with your friends after 20 some years out of school?
Wednesday, February 12, 2025
The Truth Should Be The Focus of Arguments
“In all debates, let truth be thy aim, not victory, or an unjust interest.”
-William Penn
“Though everyone wants to be right, as soon as people start to air their incompatible views it becomes clear that not everyone can be right about everything.”
-Steven Pinker
- Validation - One's self-worth is tied to being right.
- Social Status - To enhance one's reputation/credibility.
- Cognitive Dissonance - Avoiding the discomfort of being wrong.
- Control - Being right gives a sense of control in an otherwise unpredictable world.
- Fear of Change - Being wrong means that a change in thinking is required.
Wednesday, February 5, 2025
If You Can't Do the Time, Don't Do The Crime
Wednesday, January 29, 2025
Nobody Cares About What You Know*
Wednesday, January 22, 2025
Book Covers are To Be Judged
Wednesday, January 15, 2025
Why is Pseudoscience still Around?
“Science arouses a soaring sense of wonder. But so does pseudoscience. Sparse and poor popularizations of science abandon ecological niches that pseudoscience promptly fills. If it were widely understood that claims to knowledge require adequate evidence before they can be accepted, there would be no room for pseudoscience. But a kind of Gresham’s Law prevails in popular culture by which bad science drives out good.”
-Carl Sagan
Years ago I met a woman who was training to be a "faith healer". When I inquired about it, she told me that she was attending classes out of a master faith healer's home, for a fee of course, and it was "really working" for her.
While I didn't ask her this I'm sure she also had extensive knowledge of astrology, card reading, rock energy or all other matter of pseudoscience.
What is a Scientist?
A scientist is a person who conducts research to increase knowledge in the natural sciences. They use evidence and research to form hypotheses, test them, and share their findings.
“…it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring. Which attitude is better geared for our long-term survival? Which gives us more leverage on our future? And if our naïve self-confidence is a little undermined in the process, is that altogether such a loss? Is there not cause to welcome it as a maturing and character-building experience?”
-Carl Sagan
To some, it's difficult to make the distinction between science and pseudoscience simply because the mass media is filled with the later. Today, there's a lot more shows about "Aliens have built the pyramids" than Carl Sagan talking about why going faster than the speed of light is impossible without breaking the math currently related to it.
“Pseudoscience is easier to contrive than science, because distracting confrontations with reality—where we cannot control the outcome of the comparison—are more readily avoided.”
-Carl Sagan
A great book on the subject is "The Deamon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark" by Carl Sagan (available here).
Wednesday, January 8, 2025
The Climb
“When you’re young; you learn. When you get older; you understand.”
Wednesday, January 1, 2025
2024 - A Retrospective from My Perspective
- We had an American election that didn't really go in the direction I would of liked.
- We had a Canadian Provincial election that went well.
- A.I. is quickly gaining ground everywhere.
- Tension all around the world are rising.
- The National debt of most countries is at an all time high.
- "The Better Angels of Our Nature" by Steven Pinker
- "On Liberty" by John Stuart Mill
- "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen R. Covey
- "The 5 love languages" by Gary Chapman
- "How to have confidence and power in dealing with people" by Les Giblin