What is the ultimate technology? Let’s start with a definition of technology: “The specific methods, materials, and devices used to solve practical problems.” “Practical” is a tricky word though. For example, the “practical” solution to the problem of designing a better weapon could be entirely counterproductive to the “practical” goal of peace on Earth. A [...]
Most of the time I prefer to stick to the specific niches that I regularly write for, whether that means writing about brainpower research or financial ideas. I don’t often like to give general “self improvement” suggestions. But I just found an old file where I collected some “tips for life,” and I thought they [...]
Why argue about politics or other matters? In theory we can convince the other person of our viewpoints. It isn’t a common event though, is it? And even if we do win that “victory,” is it possible that we lose something too? Let me explain… One man says that business needs to be heavily regulated [...]
This post about mental movies will perhaps appear as “self improvement” advice, and who knows–you might learn something useful to apply to your own life. But the purpose is really just to introduce a new idea, and to get you thinking. It ends with several unanswered questions, as many of these posts do… Suppose a [...]
Today I have another post that is meant to stimulate thinking on a subject rather than answer the questions raised. This one is on self-image and objective thought. The tendency to create and defend a ‘self” clearly gets in the way of the most powerful and objective thinking. Consider the fact that we can often [...]
Today I have a very short post on maturity and authority. It is meant to raise questions more than to answer them, so you can decide for yourself what a mature approach to dealing with authorities consists of. The questions at the end are borrowed from The Radical Thinking Course. We can see from history [...]
There are different ways to think about time and different ways to think in terms of time. These constitute what might be called one’s time perspective or perspectives. Flickr photo by Myphotosshare Let’s look at an example, and play around with how you think about the time you have left in life. Here is a [...]
I’ve done a few of these posts that list questions without answers. Flickr photo by Brian Hillegas This one is a list of reflective questions, meant to get us thinking about ourselves and our relationships to the people and things of the world. Greater self awareness is possible through exploring questions like these, and there [...]
By Steve Gillman Our thinking on a given matter often starts with hidden assumptions We have unspoken, unacknowledged ideas about how things are or should be, and we try to apply them to every situation. We want simple guides to follow, and these assumptions provide them. The problem is that they may not always result [...]
I recently did a review of Nudge, by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein. In it they introduce us to the concept of “choice architecture.” It is common for writers of non-fiction to invent new terms or revive obscure ones, and it often comes off as sounding too artificial. In this case, though, the [...]
