Our society relies extensively on statistics, which are an averaged measurement of effects over multiple instances. However, there’s a problem with these: they suggest a truth, linguistically, that they do not actually indicate. Those who specialize in statistics tend to be wary of their use except as a statistical assessment; they’re careful to point out [...]
Posts from ‘May, 2009’
Introduction to philosophy
People keep asking me about this, and I always feel helpless because it’s like asking for an introduction to science. Philosophy is stuff (arguments, proofs) you memorize, but it’s also a way of thinking that leads to a way of viewing the world. At that stage, it’s like a religion of meditative thinking. But you [...]
Critical thinking
Of late, I’ve been frustrated by the difference between sciences and the humanities. Scientists know the scientific method, but when it comes to implementation or abstracting principles from it, they get it all wrong. On the other hand, humanities people are good at grasping concepts but often let language fool them since they don’t know [...]
Unskilled labor
Genghis Khan divides people. Many love him because he was tolerant of different faiths and believed in a classless society. Others point out rightfully that he destroyed more than he created, and all of the good things he did were a means to his own power. However, one thing that Genghis Khan was which we [...]
On human entropy
I posted this in response to someone bemoaning yet another web site converting its healthy, intelligent audience into hivemind drones: Anytime something new forms, the pioneers are replaced by those who want to make it “safe.” Why safe? They fear themselves, they fear competition, and they fear reality. They will hide this behind any number [...]
A battle of absolutes
So much of politics comes down to the choice of where you want to place your disadvantages. Either you put them at the top, and minimize them through what you hope is judicious use, or you distribute them throughout the system. Here’s today’s blast to this effect on Reason.com, where a raging debate on marijuana [...]
Ten things to do when you live in a closed society
…where everyone is guilty and the only crime is… getting caught… 10. Pick on those weaker than you for their insignificant and arbitrary human characteristics. 9. Claim ultimate righteousness and authority based on some equally arbitrary rule invented and modified by generations of humans who failed to get at all close to the problem. 8. [...]
Linear thinking makes you a blockhead
I enjoy about half of what David Brooks writes. But sometimes, he just gets it wrong. Some people live in romantic ages. They tend to believe that genius is the product of a divine spark. They believe that there have been, throughout the ages, certain paragons of greatness — Dante, Mozart, Einstein — whose talents [...]