Playfulness and curiosity in Natural Selection “Necessity is the mother of invention” While we don’t know who first said it, many people have. Surely you have heard this phrase, if not used it. This quote means that urgency induces creativity. When humans need something, we search harder for solutions. It…
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A Stand of Trees Does Not a Forest Make
A system is more than its parts During my dissertation defense, I got into a mild argument with one of my committee members. He was a GIS remote sensing technologist, I was a tree-hugging hippie ecologist. The disagreement centered around how many 30 x 30 meter (this was the early…
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What It’s Like Being a Male Homemaker
I don’t deserve flowers Seahorses, am I right? You know, the male carries the newly hatched offspring in his pouch. We think it’s great when the dad steps in and participates in the parenting. “What a guy!” we say. “That’s amazing!” “Look at that dad alone with his kids!” Being…
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On Being a Good Steward of Earth
Socializing the gains You don’t have to look far to find something to complain about. Climate change Inequality Suicidal ideation Malnutrition Loneliness The world is full of problems. Now, I’m no doomer. My intent is not to illuminate human suffering. Rather, I accept the Buddhist notion that there will be suffering….
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Is Punctuated Equilibrium a Good Way to Change the World?
It’s monolithic Have you seen (or read) “2001: A Space Odyssey”? This joint effort by Stanley Kubrick and Author C. Clarke blew minds when it came out in 1968. And it still does, today. Some people complained that the story was too slow, but I think it is amazing that…
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Making a Good Life
The unexamined life is not worth living — Socrates Do you ever think about this quote? There are probably plenty of people who disagree with Socrates, but I, for one, do not. It seems natural, even innate, to want to make the most of one’s life. To have a good life seems…
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The Beauty of Your Comfort Zone
Do you ever think about your comfort zone? I’m sure most people are at least aware of the concept. To me, our comfort zone is like an invisible egg that surrounds our physical body. Near the center, we are, well, comfortable. As we near the edges we become less comfortable. …
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Learning About Where We Goofed Up
What went right? Do you ever wonder how we got here? Do you ever think about what has changed over hundreds of thousands of years of human evolution? The past few decades have seen exponential growth in technology. Smartphones. Passenger trips to space. Electric vehicles. Lots of crazy new tech. In…
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What Is the Matter?
Ranking importance is critical to mental health What IS the matter? Matter is an interesting word. It’s a noun and a verb. The noun means something of substance and can be physical or metaphysical. The verb means for something to be important. There’s matter, and there is the matter. I like…
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Does Neurodivergence Empower Us to Resist Conformity?
This week I’ll skip right to the punchline. The ability to see beyond the mainstream and to understand the continuum of whatever feature it is in the world is a special gift. This is enhanced awareness. I wonder if being neurodiverse or atypical or having a sensitive or different nervous system,…