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…
Tag: society

How Did I Get Here?
In the bottom of this hole Has it been that long? Have you ever gotten a glimpse of reality that disagreed with whatever truth you thought was real? I feel like I have been surrounded by darkness, gaslighting myself into believing it was the weather. The climate. Where I lived….

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…

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…

What we get wrong about self-love
And how to facilitate healing You’ve probably heard it 1,000 times. You have to love yourself first. Low self-worth is holding you back. It would help if on your self-esteem. When I shared my struggles and concerns with therapists, counselors, and coaches I would hear some version of these statements….

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….

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…

If Natural Selection Determined Human Value Systems
Do you suffer? Humans have problems. It’s hard to deny. Despite many pleas for ‘looking on the bright side of life’, we live in a world full of suffering. For whatever reason, I think about these problems, the causes, and potential solutions. While it is difficult to maintain a positive mental…

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…

You Don’t Need My Permission to Live
Do you ever feel like what you want to do goes against what society ‘wants’ you to do? Like, maybe you want to be a painter, but your parents and your school tell you that you’ll never make any money. Maybe you want to take a gap year after high…