First Blog

Twelve Don’ts for Living 1.        Don’t waste time on revenge. It takes energy, but don’t forget it either. The possibility may come along. 2.        Don’t waste time on hate. It takes too much energy. 3.        Don’t cheat your employer. You are paid for the work. Do it well. 4.        Don’t fake it. Only those less intelligent than you will be fooled. At most half of them will believe. 5.        Don’t co-mingle your beliefs with your understandings. They are different. 6.        Don’t gossip. You’ll get a reputation. 7.        Don’t palaver your politics. About half will disagree, but you’ll never know who. 8.        Don’t proselytize. It makes you look bad. 9.         Don’t believe it even though you want to. Check it out. 10.    Don’t shirk responsibility to your family. You made them. You owe them. 11.    Don’t lie to your kids. They sense it and learn to lie back to you.  12.    Don’t lie to your spouse. They hear you far beyond mere words.  

Seven Ways You Figure Things Out and Solve Problems The human brain is a marvelous organ.   It is designed for but one thing: survival of the body.   And survival means solving a non ending stream of problems. Ever thought about how you figure things out? Your marvelous brain has it covered. Indeed, you use six separate systems to make conclusions, resolve questions, problem solve, and just about everything else. Using the acronym BRAIPIE, we describe them in this order. The order and priority a person uses one or another of these systems varies from person to person, from religion to religion, from fine arts to science. Beliefs/Faith - You have a set of beliefs and a state of faith, both of which which function as guideposts on how to view problems and resolve difficulties. These are your strongest system, and can override all other considerations. The two overlap so much, it isn't really possible to distinguish them. The first is the second, and the second is the first. Ra

The new dark age of man is upon us.  Is technology at its base? Though I'm kind of a techie geek, I don't know, but...  Are we taking mental shortcuts to opinion?  Are we taking quickie paths to comprehension. Are we taking easy steps to problem solving? Technology has reached far beyond the ordinary person's ability to understand it, its basis and its implications.  This engenders a basic insecurity in the mental systems of humanity, politics, religion, and science.  It goes much deeper, way beyond technology.  When there is no firmament of comprehension, other tools are in play. Perhaps this is driving the religious right,  cult-type movements, the slavish adherents of left, and in general all fundamentalist type movements.  Each has the common quality of wanting, desiring, and needing something simply framed to follow.  The suspension of understanding has been achieved.  Folks can now barrel headlong into anything, such as literal biblical teachings, lite

Ever thought about how you figure things out? Your marvelous brain has it covered. Indeed, you use six separate systems to make conclusions, see describe them in this order though it varies from person to person. Beliefs/Faith - You have a set of beliefs and a state of faith, both of which which function as guideposts on how to view problems and resolve difficulties.  These are your strongest system, and can override all other considerations.  The two overlap so much, it isn't really possible to distinguish them.  The first is the second, and the second is the first. Random - When all else fails, and all considerations are equal, what do you do? Throw the dice. This means just take a guess.  We all do this from time to time, usually when there is little time to use your more considered systems to respond.   Analytic - This is the logical part of your brain. It channels you through issues using the strengths of logical deduction and induction. You try hard to use accepte

Thomas Henry Huxley* (1825-1895) maintained that “Science commits suicide when it adopts a creed**.”  This is not exactly so.   In the definition cited below, a creed is " A system of belief, principles, or opinions."    Sounds like science to me, though we might better say science is " A system of belief, principles, or opinions supported by evidence."    To do science and mathematics well does in fact require the scientist to believe in the strongest possible way the present tenets of his/her science.  The science is the creed.  The creed provides the guidance and rails upon which the research proceeds.   Without the firm beliefs in place, the research will flip and flop between competing firmaments.  Nothing happens then.  Seldom does any research project begin with the goal, “I want to prove this or that is wrong.”  That comes much later in the venture – long after the scientist has tried everything to support it and cannot find clear evidence to do so.

Atheists are curious types.  Let's take the strong view of athiests,  those asserting that no deity exists. (The link also discusses the weak form - more-or-less agnosticism.)   How do these folks come to this conclusion?  There are a couple of reasons: (1) Having no deity anywhere is rather convenient to one's life style.  It gives an excuse or ability to do whatever one wants without regard to primal causes or consequences.  (2) There appears to be a wide body of scientific evidence that the traditional views of creation have no credible place in their thinking and beliefs. Note, we are well beyond any religion, another topic completely, and are moving toward the existence of all that is.  Various views of the universe range widely, though mostly these days the "big-bang" theory is the lingua franca of  views. This means the universe has been created through a terrific explosion of all matter.  It created galaxies and everything else we regard as the material un