Month: November 2012
-
There are two ways to measure life expectancy: objective (wall clock) time and subjective time: life as we experience and remember it. A long boring life is subjectively shorter than a short, exciting life that is full of memories. The boring, repetitive parts (commuting to work, sitting in a cubicle, watching television) get compressed while…
-
Why I am a radical
Conservatism: the philosophical position that one should oppose new ideas and practices. Moderatism: the idea that one’s pursuit of truth should never conflict with the majority opinion — too much. Extremism: the belief that one should adopt beliefs opposed to the majority. In relation to reality, in any given society, conservatives, moderates and extremists have…
-
Us and them
Human beings naturally group people into those we identify with and “others.” We understand and empathize with “our” kind of people, but simplify others into stereotyped models. We treat our family, school, city, country, race, sport team, political or sexual identity, or whatever with various degrees of familiarity. And then perhaps we travel to another…