First Blog

 According to Jeffrey A. Tucker, founder and president of the Brownstone Institute, erudition is an important key to a successful life, and in particular to interviewing for a new job. He disdains memorizing mere talking points. Politicians rely on them, unfortunately. He advises you follow this path.  Most require a depth of personal knowledge, and a proclivity toward understanding truth.  1. Reading deeply and widely. 2. Knowing history. 3. Being aware of the best thoughts of the best thinkers. 4. Being truthful about what you know and do not know. 5. Expressing yourself with honesty and sincerity and without fluff. This is true in all walks of life. In particular, the interviewing officer may be listening to what you say. He advises against memorizing mere talking points. These become thin after the officer has heard them dozens of times.  P.S. Like college professors, who have heard every possible excuse, even though you think yours is original, recruiting people have hea

  If It Works? --- American style. These are all derivative of a French Proverb “I don’t care if it works, it doesn’t fit the narrative.” – American Progressive “If it works, the theory is pointless.” – American Pragmatist “It may work, but I see no profit.” – American Capitalist “It may work, but it won’t pass.” – American Congressman “It works, I know, but is it God’s will?” – American Theologian “It seems to work, but I don’t understand it.” – American Scientist “Even if it works, it is irrelevant.” – American Fanatic “Sure it works in practice, but will it work in theory?” - French Proverb

 TOO MUCH PLEASURE ...  If AI (Artificial Intelligence) had been available only two centuries ago, it would have advised bloodletting as the treatment for fever.   Too much pleasure becomes pain.   Riddle: What is stronger than democracy, communism, kingship, and dictatorship? Answer: Corruption. Once begun, it reproduces. It’s forever.   If you never had the brain in the first place, no number of memory improvement pills will help.   Three types of risk: a. Risks you are willing to take, b. Risks you are not willing to take, and c. Risks you don’t know you’re taking.   The no-man’s land between science and theology is called philosophy. --- Bertrand Russell.   Every great philosopher takes a crack at defining truth . All have failed.   The two qualities of a successful theory are (A) It is predictive, and (B) It explains new phenomena.

AI in the Courtroom  Our question today is whether AI results can be used in the courtroom. There are at least four major issues pending. If you recall, it was used, but not credited, in a recent case, but it cited non existent sources. But still AI is everywhere, and lawyers use it rabidly. But can you cite it in the courtroom, as an expert source? Here is a brief run down of the issues. They are complex and important.  The use of AI for expert testimony in a courtroom is a topic of ongoing debate and consideration within the legal community. While AI technologies can provide valuable insights and analysis in various fields, including law, there are several factors to consider when discussing their use in courtrooms: Reliability and Accuracy: AI systems can provide analyses based on large datasets and algorithms, but their reliability and accuracy can vary depending on the quality of the data and the design of the algorithms. Courts typically require expert testimony to be reliable an

  What makes us believe scientific theories? At the basis of scientific theories are its axioms, and its methods. For example, you can believe in physics but not have a glimmer of the nature of gravity, (This is a problem for physicists, as well). In this sense, we all believe in our scientific theories, but not so much in the axioms that form their basis. Even many mathematicians do not understand the regularity axiom, or even infinity, for that matter, but they believe in them. The hallmark of a good scientific theory is (a) its predictability, and (b) its ability to explain new phenomena. If the theory explains new evidence, this usually sustains the theory. If not, such as with anomalies in physics many times in the past, this becomes a trigger for a new theory or a revision of the old one. In psychology, Kahneman’s Prospect Theory has gained much validation as prediction and explanation are its hallmarks as evidence builds. This is why we believe them; it is because we trust t

  The Pig and I The question today is about the farm-raised pig from its birth to eventual harvesting. What can we say from a moral, sanctity of life or existential basis? This is an age-old problem of eating meat, particularly meat that is farm-raised. At first blush, you might think it is immoral to slaughter animals and eat them. However, this is only a more refined way of ancient hunting. We now even farm-raise salmon, shrimp, and other fish. Watching the nature shows, we feel pity for the seal attacked by killer whales, but that same seal consumes kilos of fish to reach its size. Or feel for the walrus, hunted by Eskimos, yet feeding on its vast gardens of mussels and clams to reach its multi-ton weight. Many are the contradictions of the morality arguments. In the animal world, few babies survive their first year. Some predators live exactly where the prey travels or resides. Abstractly, the lion farm raises the gazelle, and consumes them as needed. Or consider the Nile cro

  Wasting Energy Are you an energy-saving device? Let’s take a brief inventory of wise vs. waste in using your energy. After all, you have only so much energy to expend. A.     Things that waste energy. ·         Hate ·         Worry ·         Vengeance ·         Futility ·         Obsessions ·         Bad habits B.     Things that use energy wisely. ·         Health ·         Thinking ·         Reading ·         Loving ·         Teaching ·         Caring ·         Creativity

  Doubt is the beginning of knowledge . It suggests that you will not accept anything without substantiation. Doubt forms the cornerstone of all sciences. The genius who thinks of the great idea begins with doubt on their journey to prove it, to use it to predict, and to harness it in leading the way to further discoveries. Self-doubt is as essential as self-confidence.   Doubt is the enemy of the demagogue. It says, “You can’t pass this one off on me with just a few words.”   Doubt is a form of uncertainty  - but a constructive form. .  Self-doubt is as essential as self-confidence.   Doubt is the main tool of the detective who seeks to solve the crime.   Doubt is the constant worry of parents about whether they are doing the best for their children.   Doubt, or more precisely, reasonable doubt, is the cornerstone of establishing verdicts within the corpus of the Law.   Teachers use doubt to measure whether their students are understanding the lesson and pose questions con

 Comparing the Tesla and the home oven seems like comparing apples and oranges. Yet, apples and oranges can be compared, say by averages of weight, density, texture, and more.  For the Tesla and the oven we can compare electrical power consumed. Here's the result - and note there's a whole lot of averaging here because of the varieties of models of each.  A. One hour of your home electric oven at 400F (204C) consumes about 3000 watts of power.  B. One hour of driving your Tesla at 60 mph (96 km/h) consumes about 300 watts of power.  That's right. Your oven consumes 10 times the power of your Tesla. 

  How do you determine whether is a Website is legitimate? First, if you are an expert, you will know. But how will you know? Experts will do the same as you must try to do. If you do not notice outright errors, you look for validity, inconsistencies, incoherencies, and incompatibilities, internal to the website, and comparatively to similar websites. This usually requires a deep knowledge of the subject and a lot of work. An amateur is probably unequipped to detect this. It may help to read reviews of the website if any can be found. You might think AI could do this. However, AI machine learning makes determinations on plurality, not upon understanding. Thus, if there is a lot of similar false information, compared with correct information, AI will normally report the plurality of reports as its response. Of course, you can forget bias, which is always present with AI. Few can resolve this without both knowledge and consensus.   ChatGPT: As an AI language model, I don't

Beauty is not easy. Consider Countless hours taking care of the skin, with Creams, rubs, cleansing, moisturizers. The right diet with vegetables, fruit, and protein. Careful hair care. Plenty of sleep and exercise. Taste with clothing. Total expertise with makeup. Intelligence helps a lot.   For the young, beauty is mostly natural. For the next thirty years, it is hard work and very expensive.   For the men folk: This is not unlike the athlete who performs analogously, but less rigorously, at a different “sport.”

  Think agriculture. In the last few centuries, it has helped the world far more than all the TVs, computers, and other electronic advances.  Over the centuries, agriculture has not only provided food, fiber, and other basic necessities of life but has also contributed immensely to economic development, population growth, and social stability. Agriculture remains the cornerstone of human survival and development. One of the greatest foresight of our (ancient) politicians was the creation of land grant universities, a result of Morrill Land-Grant Acts, which were passed by the United States Congress in 1862 and 1890, and their resulting colleges of agriculture , science, and engineering. Their work is now feeding the world.   Also, the family farm helps us maintain knowledge about the frailty of the human condition, as these folks live in a world of uncertainty, depending on the weather far more than us city slickers. We all live with uncertainties of many kinds, but with extra mone