For some time I’ve been talking about upgrading human processes and behavior from a primate model – or, more properly from a hybrid model – to a post-primate model. I’m so deeply convinced of the importance of this that I’ve been devoting a good deal of time and effort to it. And recently I’ve found reasons to believe that a change from our hybrid primate model to a post-primate model would be in the range of a 2 sigma improvement… a very large improvement.
This line, which I’m swiping from Izzy Rabi’s mom, would be a good thing to write on billboards and bumper stickers, as persistent reminders that we should all ask something interesting every day.
Notice that I’m not saying “Ask the hard questions,” or “ask a smart question,” only that we each ask an interesting question each day. If we did, I think we’d be much improved creatures after only a few years. Continue reading “Have You Asked An Interesting Question Today?”
If you want millions of dollars thrown at you, find a way to suck a new part of people’s lives from the world of atoms to the world of data. If you can do that, your odds are excellent.
This is a problem.
Continue reading “The Corporatization Of Everything (Serfdom In Our Time)”
Humans have long been, and remain, deeply attached to morality. Even confirmed criminals will say things like “That ain’t right,” which is purely a moral judgment. And this focus on morality holds across the panorama of human of life. Examine any workplace and you’ll find a long stream of moral judgments: “He didn’t treat me right,” “She’s arrogant,” “That’s a man you can respect,” and so on.
This moral obsession of ours is a good thing; it’s the bedrock that allows us to enjoy a civilized existence. That said, we’ve allowed our moral energies to be wasted, and that’s something we need to fix. Continue reading “The Dispersion of Our Moral Energies”
Your responses to my request for family-friendly entertainment were overwhelming. Thank you all.
At first I intended on vetting the list and commenting on the various titles, but there were far too many. And so, you’ll have to look into these yourselves prior to viewing. Imdb.com seems to be a useful resource for that. I’ve also appended a useful comment at the end.
Here’s the list, in no particular order: Continue reading “A List of Family Entertainment”
Young men get a bad rap, both in modern narratives and in assumptions that portray them as the aberrant sex. Neither sex is normative, of course; humans come in two basic varieties, and both are equally necessary.
My personal experience with young men ran counter to the narrative and assumptions, and I think it’s time that the boys of the West should be defended. Most of them are good kids, and they deserve to be seen that way… to be portrayed that way. Continue reading “A Defense of Young Men”
I don’t want to recall their suffering but I also can’t pretend it never happened. They were tormented daily, over extended periods. I can only hope and pray that they recovered.
They were children being abused… tortured if we’re to put it bluntly… by other children. And it’s still going on. Continue reading “Institutionalized Torture”
(Originally published June 1, 2022.)
There are, apparently, a lot of people who think Bitcoin is down for the count. Forget about that; Bitcoin is doing just fine and “the count” is just a sideshow.
I should probably say this more often, but Bitcoin is not a stock, not a bond, it’s not a company… it literally cannot go broke. Continue reading “Don’t Worry About Bitcoin”
I’ve been a fan of Star Trek since the original series was in its first run. When The Next Generation came along years later (and these can be fighting words), I thought it was even better in some ways.
But there were a few things about TNG that rubbed me the wrong way, and the biggest of those was the Prime Directive. I couldn’t define why it bothered me back in 1990, but there was something very wrong about it it… something anti-human. Now, however, I understand, and perhaps you’d like to as well. Continue reading “The Prime Directive is Evil”
The phrase “clean energy” has emanated from official podiums, world over, in recent years. The implication, of course, is that the energy sources we’ve been using are filthy. That, however, is not the case. We already have and use clean energy. And it is far, far better than replacements the podiums expect us to suffer for. Continue reading “We Already Have Clean Energy”
