Is ‘being spiritual’ a cop-out?
A recent op-ed piece on CNN by Alan Miller critiques the trend of people identifying themselves as spiritual, rather than…
Category: Philosophy
Man’s Search for Meaning: Book Review
This is one of those classic books I’ve had on my shelf for over a decade, but never touched.…
On Free Speech vs. Religious Respect: in five sentences
Either people believe in free speech or they don’t. Some cultures do, but many do not. It’s inevitable that…
What I learned from losing a leg
Three weeks ago I tore my Achilles tendon playing basketball. Just like a well worn rope that snaps from…
The culture of the scapegoat
How do we choose who we blame? And why? In our own experience we know there are complicated reasons…
The hard way is the easy way
Sometimes the hard way to do something is the easy way. I am a bad guitar player. But I’m…
The three piles of life
Here’s an oversimplified theory to play with for today: there are only three piles in life. Things that are…
Why Common Sense is Not Common Practice
Knowing and doing are not the same thing. We think because we know a platitude we know how to…
What are the superstitions of our age?
In 1848 Emerson wrote a list of the superstitions of his age. He didn’t mean literal superstitions, like ghosts,…
Software Is Not Epic
[Updated August 6th, 2019] “The whole world is pretending the breakthrough is in technology. The bottleneck is really in…
On Truth, Daisey and This American Life
The news: Mike Daisey presented a story from his one man show about Apple’s labor practices as journalistic fact to This American…
Are societies more against individuals than ever?
Imran Farouk, one of my kickstarter supporters for Mindfire, had this request for a blog post: Q: How has…
Quote of the day
No introduction necessary: We believe life is a constant series of small decisions that most of us leave up…
When is it time to quit a job to follow a dream?
Andrew Rosen of Jobacle, one of my kickstarter supporters for Mindfire, had this request for a blog post: How do…
Answering Proust: a fun interview
My friend Sara Peyton at O’Reilly Media interviewed me in ’08 using questions from the famous Proust questionaire. Recently I…
Let time work for you
Yesterday, while running on a treadmill at the gym, I realized something: I do not like to run on…
Is Philosophy the Most Practical Major?
Edward Tenner has an article in the Atlantic, where he suggests Philosophy might be the most practical major. He…
The false dichotomy of false dichotomies
There is a false dichotomy in believing that all dichotomies are either true or false. To say “you either…
Don’t Punish Everyone For One Person’s Mistake
There are plenty of connections to be made here for parents, legislators, regulators, friends, neighbors, managers and of course…
Nothing is obvious to everyone
Nothing is obvious to everyone, but everything is obvious to someone. These two facts are something Socrates might have…