Category: Philosophy
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Speaking the Language of Love
Yesterday I wrote an essay on love, loneliness, and the deleterious effect of social isolation on society at large. I had also, in honor of (late) tax day, shared a quote from a Thomas Sowell essay with a comment that charity cannot be compelled. The essay and the quote meme are related. One of…
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Lonely Birdhouse in My Soul
Now that song is going to be stuck in my head all day. I took a photo this spring, in one of the conservancy prairies around Dayton OH, and looking at the final edits got me thinking. Not about the song. No, I was thinking about loneliness, and friendship, and the connections every human needs…
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Irrepressibly Meaning-making Species
The human brain is very good at one thing. Seeing patterns. We’re so good at this, as a species, that if there is no pattern, our brain will trick us into thinking that there is one. That’s where having a second opinion can be helpful, but not always. You see, if we are persuasive…
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Condescension or Compassion
One is wanting to feel a little better than the other person, the other genuinely wants to help the other person. The first cloaks their feeling of superiority (whether warranted or not) in a guise of being helpful. One is odious, the other sweet and to be cherished. The Jr. Mad Scientist and I…
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Human Nature and the Progress of Lying
I’ve been having a fascinating conversation this morning with friend and fellow writer Tom Knighton. It started out discussing the article on mouse utopias I’d used as a platform for my Mad Genius Club post today, and then it wandered as these things do into the human pysche and how it affects science. This…
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The Future of Work
As I’ve been transitioning from one job to another, I’ve gotten into some conversations about work, and career, and planning for the future. Usually they run along the lines of ‘so why did you switch jobs?’ but they have also plunged deeper into discussions along the line of ‘you were your own boss a…
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Paleophilia
I suppose this love affair with museums comes from somewhere. I’m not entirely sure what that wellspring is, though, as I don’t recall many museums in my childhood. We did a lot of vacations to very remote areas – which I also love! – but virtually none into cities where you could find such refinements…
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Win the Game of Life
They say you should never read the comments. They would be right, of course. But sometimes I stray unwary in where it should be safe. Which is where my rant button got triggered, hard. And I thought I’d write it down, at length, only maybe with less f’bombs than in my head. So this is…
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The Shape of Responsibility
Yesterday I talked about how I savor my freedom, and the independence I have gained that means I can do whatever I want to do. But you mustn’t think that the responsibilities I have tie me down or restrain me from that freedom. Instead, they define me and give me purpose in life that propels…
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The Intoxication of Independence
Sometimes I could get drunk on my freedom. It’s heady stuff, and just like alcohol, if you get enough of it it makes you giddy. I get in my car, and think “I could drive… anywhere.” I could. I don’t, but that’s a choice I make. I don’t have to carry my papers with me…
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Dumbo’s Feather
I think I can safely spoiler the movie Dumbo here. In the movie the tiny but spunky baby elephant is bullied for his big ears, but with the help of a ‘magic’ feather, discovers he can use them to fly. Only… when he loses the magic feather, he starts to fall without it. It takes…
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Why Different?
It’s different, he said. Good different or bad different? I queried curiously. Just different. I don’t know why you had to make chocolate cake different. I don’t know either. Because I could? Because I was curious and wanted to see what would happen if I baked a cake with S’mores flavored porter as the liquid?…