What we learn from this talk is that there are two different ways of thinking about happiness. The father of behavioural economics and Nobel Prize in Economics winner, Daniel Kahneman, explains this dichotomy well. Before explaining what the Experiencing and Remembering Selves are, it is worth quickly reviewing the history of happiness. It would not … Read more
George Carlin once said (roughly): “People who read self-help books should be killed. Life is simple, you wake up, go to work, eat 3 meals, shit, and sleep. You don’t need a book for it. And why is it called Self-Help? You’re reading someone else’s advice. It should be called “Help.”” But really, why should anyone … Read more
Many months ago, “logos” was re-popularized by Jordan Peterson, who has used it as a weapon against atheists. To Peterson, “logos” proves that atheists only think they are atheists – they are just fooling themselves. In a debate he had with Susan Blackmore, Peterson said that “secular” societies are built on top of Christian foundations … Read more
In the story of Cain and Abel, God asks Cain why he killed his brother. Cain tells him that he was angry because he had been cursed by God. This short story in the Bible talks about two brothers, Cain and Abel – Cain was the older brother. Cain worked the soil, while Abel kept … Read more
Many thinkers including Kierkegaard, C.J Jung, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Carl Rogers, and Plato have all written about the discovery of the self. To Kierkegaard, there was only one greater tragedy than failing to become oneself – it was succeeding in becoming something you were not. Or as Kurt Cobain famously and cogently said, “I’d rather … Read more
You cannot accuse someone of being dogmatic, because to do so you must be dogmatic yourself. When you accuse someone of extremism in their beliefs, it must be relative to a lack of extremism in your beliefs. But you can be extreme in your lack of extremism. You may believe that those that have extreme … Read more
There are many ways of categorizing people according to their personalities, but a simple and effective one is into doers vs thinkers. Here, I define the thinker as someone who’s main profession is to think about matters abstractly, this can be the professor, novelist, or artist. The doer is defined as someone who is reacting … Read more
Confirmation bias is a form of cognitive bias and while it is not considered a logical fallacy, it is considered irrational. But this is not necessarily true. Intuitively, one would imagine that rational behavior is the same as scientific behavior in that it excludes bias. That is, if you wanted to act rationally, you should … Read more
The Law of Accelerating Returns The Singularity is near is a documentary that features Ray Kurzweil. It tells us about a future that is post biological – when human beings transcend their natural limitations and merge with AI. Kurzweil believes that this will happen approximately around the year 2045. Kurzweil has grown his credibility over … Read more
Peterson vs Dillahunty When Jordan Peterson debated Matt Dillahunty, what unfolded was a fascinating discussion about morality. Peterson didn’t seem very calm during this debate as he usually does, in fact, he seemed a little anima-possessed, constantly interrupting Dillahunty before the latter made his points. In the same way Peterson got stuck with Sam Harris … Read more