First I read about the lack of women in the skeptics movement (I never did figure out how to log in to leave a comment there. I was going to point out that instead of listening to us women, the guys need to look at themselves to see what they might be doing to create an exclusionary group. Sexism isn’t just a women’s problem… But that’s not the topic of this post…). Then I read about the masses of women in the Tea Party. My reaction: WTF is wrong with us?!? Then that weird feeling of having seen this before … Continue reading »
Jul 082010
There is no question in my mind (whatever that might be) that most of what is happening in our behavior is driven by unconscious decisions (if we can even call them decisions). There is a lot of evidence for that (for an interesting review check out this book or this article). George Lakoff talks about this a lot, too. He is suggesting that to assume that most of our behavior is rationally driven reflects what he calls the 18th century brain – and that is based on wrong assumptions, or rather assumptions that science has proved wrong. In his book, … Continue reading »
In a recent interview of David Brooks by Charlie Rose, Brooks recounts experiments done by Walter Mischel. Mischel, starting several decades ago, presented 3- and 4-year old kids with the choice of eating a marshmallow now or receiving another one 10 minutes later if they could resist eating that marshmallow in front of them. Mischel noticed by following these kids as they grew up that those who resisted the temptation of instant gratification were more likely to be successful later on. He posits that there might be something genetic going on. It certainly has some deterministic overtones if we can … Continue reading »
Yesterday, two people told me that “people are talking” that there will be an earthquake soon. It scared me. Am I ready for an earthquake? Maybe I should review the meeting spots. Maybe I should… Then it started to puzzle me. We just had an earthquake drill. No, that wasn’t it, one person assured me. It’s the weather. It has been rather humid here lately and that’s what the weather was like before the 1989 earthquake. I didn’t think to ask: How often has the weather been humid between now and 1989 and no earthquake happened? As I continued to … Continue reading »
May 022009
I admit it. I am angry. Not exactly sure what precisely I am angry about but it’s a reaction to a talk Michael Mamas gave at the Commonwealth Club. I think what I am angry about is how he can present such nonsense so authoritatively and get people to believe it. Nonsense? Who am I to say something a DVM espouses is nonsense? Well, I don’t know it for sure but I have a pretty good hunch that his mixture of quantum physics, evolution, relativism, and hope is nonsense. Sorry. The universe is not filled with a consciousness that is … Continue reading »
Some relationships seem to be based on the exploitation of inner resources – viewing love as a commodity rather than something that’s freely flowing, unrestricted. But this doesn’t happen just between people. The whole capitalist system is built on it: Our inner resources – intelligence primarily – are exploited for the benefit of the few. And we have to use it within the confines defined by them. Take risk, for example: Whole groups of people at banks are worried about preventing the risk of fraud yet we completely missed the big risk of credit default swaps and other financial nonsense. … Continue reading »
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