First Blog

  Nature and Thomas A. Edison We consider a quote from Thomas A. Edison (1847-1931) and a natural consequential commentary. “Nature is what we know. We do not know the gods of religions. And nature is not kind, or merciful, or loving. If God made me — the fabled God of the three qualities of which I spoke: mercy, kindness, [and] love — He also made the fish I catch and eat. And where do His mercy, kindness, and love for that fish come in? No; nature made us — nature did it all — not the gods of the religions.”   Thomas A. Edison Do you agree? Myself? I have opinions but on this one, I am unsure. But consider… It may have taken a countless number of big bangs to create a Universe capable of life. It is said our particular universe has embedded within it just the right array of constants, unexplainable by any theory, that makes life as we know it possible. This is commonly called the “fine-tuned universe.” And this is aligned with the Universe of philosopher Baruch Spinoza (1632

  "Settled science" refers to scientific theories and principles that are widely accepted by the scientific community because they are supported by a substantial body of evidence and have withstood rigorous testing over time. While no scientific knowledge is ever considered absolutely final, certain fields and principles are regarded as highly reliable. All of the examples below are rather solid within their scope.  Five hundred years ago, none of these existed*. 1. Newtonian Mechanics (in most everyday contexts - not at quantum level) 2. The Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection (but it is a process as much as a science) 3. The Germ Theory of Disease (yet other forms, e.g. prion have been found) 4. The Structure of DNA (as the key component of life) 5. Heliocentrism (the Earth revolves around the sun) 6. Plate Tectonics (originally rejected) 7. The Big Bang Theory (foundational in cosmology, but questions remain – big ones) 8. Conservation Laws (Energy, Mo

 

  Trump Assassination Attempt: Conspiracy, Incompetence, or Something Else? The recent assassination attempt on Trump's life at a rally was a shocking and horrific event. Various explanations have been suggested, from a sudden turn of Trump's head or a bad aim to the US Secret Service's (USSS) inadequate coverage of the event. This has lent credence to conspiracy theories. Another popular theory is that the USSS has become lazy and incompetent under the Biden administration. However, there's a third possibility: induction . The USSS covers numerous events for high-ranking government officials and former presidents, with almost nothing untoward ever happening. This repeated uneventfulness can lull agents into a false sense of security, leading them to assume that no problems will arise at future events. This principle of induction is something we all use constantly. We generalize that the sun will rise every morning, the tides will come in every day, and the weather will

Your Mental Toolkit --- It’s Huge   Introduction. No aliens. No animals. Only us humans. Humans operate at multiple levels, from the primitive to the highly intellectual, from skilled labor to the space engineer, and so on. All of us, with the same brains, do similar things in similar ways. In considering all the mental abilities we have, it is important to understand how we live and what we can do. In the first part of this essay, the foundations of the mind’s activity at various levels are discussed. In almost every case, they require training – the period of growing up. Even still they are distributed in unequal quantities between individuals. It is reasonable to suggest that the child growing up serves as a family apprentice, implying children were students long before there were schools.   Early tribes needed some rules to follow, plus many taboos about danger. The great modern civilizations also need rules to be sure but more than that, they need theories and beyond.

Assorted Commentary -   Res ipsa loquitur* It is always a pleasure to jot down very short passages that explain themselves. The economy of words conveys truth often better than a long discourse.  “ W hen I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not.” --- Mark Twain S ure it works in practice, but will it work in theory? --- French proverb W hen the "pity level" exceeds the "competency" level, a political candidate is doomed.  T he zero-sum game is often primitive thinking, even though it has theoretical value in war games and economics. When your thinking is every gain is someone’s loss, you are zero-sum thinking. This is the hallmark of a closed system.  O ne problem with the CIA and similar agencies is that they believe they can control the chaos they create. They fail to understand chaos is inherently unstable. T he most offensive is not their lying - one can always forgive lying - lying is a delightful thing, for it leads to truth -