ecology -

A Comprehensive Approach to Understanding Our Biosphere

By kpluseiswise | September 7, 2023December 20, 2023 by kpluseiswise

Would our ancestors be proud of us? When I think of the problems humans face today: suffering, anxiety, inequality, social justice issues, war, pollution . . . I try to put things in an evolutionary context. On the one hand, we have come so far. We have created many wonderful ‘science’, ‘technology’, and ‘engineering’ elements that benefit individuals and society. Clean water. Sanitation. Medicine. On the other hand, it hasn’t all been rainbows and unicorns. We can’t seem…

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Personal Growth as a Model for Society

By kpluseiswise | August 31, 2023December 20, 2023 by kpluseiswise

Much of our lives seem haphazard and disorganized. Sometimes doing our best simply means being able to get out of bed and go through the motions. As we gain awareness we learn how to better navigate life’s obstacles. We learn to see the obstacles as the way. It is possible – I am living proof. As my journey – specifically the work I am doing here on my podcast – evolves I go back and…

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Water is Vital to Being

By kpluseiswise | August 24, 2023August 22, 2023 by kpluseiswise

We can’t live without water. It comprises most of our bodies and planet. Water does so many cool things. Water is pretty weird. Even though particle physics tells us we are mostly space, we seem to be mostly water. We can’t live very long without it and it surrounds us and all we do. We live on a planet that has tons of water. Literally. As ice, and liquid water, and water vapor. Water travels…

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Growing Smaller is a Worthy Goal

By kpluseiswise | July 6, 2023July 4, 2023 by kpluseiswise

I used to own a brewery. In our rural location and with our small customer pool, we struggled to be profitable. My partners and I disagreed about how to best approach profitability. One had an MBA and swore by the neo-capitalist, Econ 101 approach to maximizing revenues. Following this popular approach, we were unable to generate returns on the money we threw at advertising, marketing, and solicitation. Though I was the introverted partner, I eventually mustered…

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Are all Leaders Narcissists? (KEW Episode 124)

By kpluseiswise | May 11, 2023May 10, 2023 by kpluseiswise

The words ‘leader’ and ‘narcissist’ bug me. I think these two words are overused. I also don’t think we really know what they mean anymore. Maybe we never did. Maybe the words have been usurped by the very people defined by them. Let’s start with leadership. What is this, exactly? If you look on LinkedIn (which I did, then I quit) you will see ‘leadership’ as being a top-tier achievement. The word is thrown around…

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Systems Thinking ( KEW Episode 122)

By kpluseiswise | April 27, 2023April 25, 2023 by kpluseiswise

While this is not a definitive treatise on Systems Thinking, I wanted to talk a bit about this topic as it is relevant to many of my posts. People tell me that out-of-the-box thinking is atypical. Most people seem to think of the world in simplified, or at least minimized relationships. For example, you might think your job sucks. When thinking about how to change that or do something about it, you might think about…

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Let’s Talk About Sex Part 2 (KEW Episode 118)

By kpluseiswise | March 30, 2023December 20, 2023 by kpluseiswise

In part 1 of this series, I introduced the difference between asexual reproduction and sexual reproduction. Asexual reproduction is basically mitosis or simple cell division. This leaves little room for variation. Evolution and change are slow, and your kids are basically clones of you. With the onset and ultimate domination of sexual reproduction, much more change becomes possible. New concepts like gender and parenting evolve. Evolution, itself becomes THE way organisms can adjust to changing…

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Does Technology Alleviate Human Suffering? KEW 113

By kpluseiswise | February 23, 2023February 21, 2023 by kpluseiswise

Are you a technologist? Do you think tech is going to solve all of our human problems? Do you see science, health advances, nuclear tech or some other human invention as being our salvation? Maybe you don’t even see problems around us. I find it hard to believe that everyone, in some way, doesn’t wonder where we are headed. As any follower on KEW will know by now, I think we need to take a…

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On the Shoulders of Giants. KEW Episode 112

By kpluseiswise | February 16, 2023February 11, 2023 by kpluseiswise

I recently came upon a podcast by a fella named Nate Hagens. The podcast, and Nate’s piece de resistance is called The Great Simplification and his ideas center around the future of humans on Earth. The idea behind The Great Simplification is that humans will soon run out of energy to power or current levels of consumption and have to drastically simplify our lives to compensate for that loss. Nate also talks about the concept…

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The Flow-Based Neo Pseudo-Scientific Method Approach (Flow-Based Inquiry – KEW Episode 105)

By kpluseiswise | December 29, 2022November 13, 2023 by kpluseiswise

The KEW Acid Tests ask how Nature can inform the big questions humans ask. “Why are we here?”, “Who am I?”, and “What is our purpose” have puzzled humans for years – perhaps millennia. In the past 4,000 years or so, we have employed philosophy, religion, and science as mechanisms to ask and answer these big questions. While we certainly have learned a lot, the questions are too big to have definitive answers. I don’t…