Engaging Life with Courage and Intelligence
The Caterpillar and Alice looked at each other for some time in silence: At last the Caterpillar took the hookah out of its mouth and addressed Alice in a languid, sleepy voice. “Who are you?” said the Caterpillar. Alice replied, rather shyly, “I—I hardly know, sir, just at present—at least I know who I was…
The translation of the news flash in Spanish is “Dictatorships Do Not Function.” For anyone who believes that authoritarian regimes are good for anyone but the dictator and his family, there is a perfect example to bet against authoritarians. The BBC, NPR, Al Jazeera, and South Korea’s intelligence service—consistently cite an initial North Korean deployment…
I hope my predictions of the future are wrong. Almost everyone except the very poor or the very rich plans for the future. Most of us need to plan and perform mundane activities, such as holding down a job, balancing our checking accounts, and keeping appointments. People who employ others must also be concerned with…
The movie character Forrest Gump was not the most intelligent man in the world, but he always tried to do the right thing under trying circumstances. His phrase “stupid is as stupid does” is a little pejorative, so maybe a better phrase is, “judge someone by their actions, not by what they say or how…
The Automation of Delusion Social media can be used in purely benign, even positive ways. Sharing photos with our friends and relatives, joining community interest groups, and building businesses are almost always positive activities. However, our ever-evolving social media technologies can also afford us with an efficient method to join a cult, become addicted, or…
Delusion is Real Delusion is part of the human condition. Whether we admit it or not, we all misperceive, misconceive, or distort reality at some point or another. However, delusion can become a powerful tool for extremists of all political stripes. They can artfully delude themselves, delude others, or both. Those engaging in industrial-scale delusion…
The facts have not been verified, but Vance Luther Boelter may be a religious extremist. Extremism can be an individual mental problem, but it can also be a cultural problem that some individuals can be very susceptible to. I read the early reports on him, and he seems to be a complex bundle of contradictions….
Knowledge is power, and COMPLETE knowledge is absolute power. Those who display the greatest paranoia and fear of being controlled and manipulated are unwittingly being distracted by a regime that will make their most alarming fears a reality. While the extremists on the Left and Right are fighting wars over LGBTQ+ rights, a little company…
Cringe: a feeling of embarrassment or discomfort in response to something awkward or unpleasant. Most of us, particularly younger people, have listened to confused fathers and uncles bloviating about topics they know little about. The fictional Archie Bunker from Queens, New York, is the perfect example. Here are some of his humorous witticisms: Archie was…
There can no longer be any doubt. The Trump Administration is hellbent on destroying American higher education. Trump is attacking higher education, as Mussolini did in 1931, Mao in 1968, and Viktor Orban in 2019. All dictators want to neuter and control the intellectual gold mines of their societies. This impulse is fueled by the…