30 DEC 2013 by ideonexus
Everything is for You
Do you have doubts about life? Are you unsure if it is worth the trouble? Look at the sky: that is for you. Look at each person’s face as you pass on the street: those faces are for you. And the street itself, and the ground under the street, and the ball of fire underneath the ground: all these things are for you. They are as much for you as they are for other people. Remember this when you wake up in the morning and think you have nothing. Stand up and face the east. Now praise the sky an... 1 
notes
notesA nice thought for when you think you have nothing.
22 OCT 2013 by ideonexus
The Loser in an Argument is Actually the Winner
He explains, “Suppose you and I have an argument. You believe a proposition, P, and I don’t. I’ve objected, I’ve questioned, I’ve raised all sorts of counter-considerations, and in every case you’ve responded to my satisfaction. At the end of the day, I say, ‘You know what? I guess you’re right.’ So I have a new belief. And it’s not just any belief, but it’s a well-articulated, examined and battle-tested belief. Cohen continues, “So who won that argument? Well, the war...
1 The problem with the "war" metaphor for debate is that it defines winning as failing to adjust one's position at the end, while the "loser," the one who has conceded points based on the evidence, comes away from the encounter with a much stronger and tested understanding of the subjectmatter.
21 MAY 2013 by ideonexus
You Are Not the Same Person You Were as a Child
Think of an experience from your childhood. Something you remember clearly, something you can see, feel, maybe even smell, as if you were really there. After all, you really were there at the time, weren’t you? How else would you remember it?
But here is the bombshell: you weren’t there.
Not a single atom that is in your body today was there when that event took place … Matter flows from place to place and momentarily comes together to be you.
Whatever you are, therefore, you are not...
2 All your cells and atoms have been replaced since then -- this is not true, but it is partially true and food for thought.
28 MAR 2012 by ideonexus
Teaching a Child About Death
My dad used to take naps next to my daughter on the bed and I remember seeing them in there—my father with his oxygen machine and my daughter curled up next to him—and it was all so dreamy and loving and cute. And so, it was a big deal when he died. And my daughter had questions.
When she asked “What happens after we die?” I said, “To be honest, darling—we decompose.” And she wanted to know what that meant. A bird had died in our backyard and so we watched how it disappeared a ... 1 notes
notesJulia Sweeney describes how she taught her daughter about death after her grandfather died.
20 MAY 2011 by ideonexus
How To Enjoy Science
But you do not have to be a scientist to experience this sort of satisfaction. Nor do you have to make a profession of science to develop scientific attitudes, which will make you a better and a happier citizen. Research in the broadest sense is more a habit of mind and a method of approach to problems than a specific technique. Certainly there is nothing esoteric about it (as I hope this book has demonstrated about clinical psychological research, at least). You can develop this sort of atti...Why let scientists have all the enjoyment?
12 APR 2011 by ideonexus
On the Nature of Things...
No single thing abides; but all things flow.
Fragment to fragment clings-the things thus grow
Until we know and name them. By degrees
They melt, and are no more the things we know.
Globed from the atoms falling slow or swift
I see the suns, I see the systems lift
Their forms; and even the systems and the suns
Shall go back slowly to the eternal drift.
You too, oh earth-your empires, lands, and seas -
Least with your stars, of all the galaxies,
Globed from the drift like these, like these you ...An ancient poem on the nature of reality and science as the guiding light.
