Death This one is a bit macabre, so watch out. Death, as a concept, is one of those ideas that’s defined as being the absence of something. Struggling to comprehend it is a prevalent aspect of the human condition. Because of that, it’s an easy hook into the psyche of […]
Stories pt 2 Last time, I focused on the integral part of narratives in human culture and our proclivity to remember stories over rote memories or facts. This week, I’ll be moving into a discussion more about the individual implications of that. One of the biggest being justification vs motivation, […]
Some of the things we reference: First baby drop-off box for unwanted newborns installed in Indiana xkcd: Words that end in GRY
Stories One of the greatest mistakes you can make, when looking at people, is to assume that we are a rational, logical species. (I, myself have made this mistake on a few occasions). This assertion doesn’t hold up to the slightest bit of scrutiny (insert scathing political satire here). Anyone […]
Paradox of Change Humans are paradoxical. Many of our characteristics exist in direct opposition to others. We drift down a very narrow path between two extremes in many different contexts. Freedom vs Security. Comfort vs Excitement. Light and Dark. Good and Evil. Pepsi and Coke. One of the precarious balances […]
Novelty makes the world go ‘round Humanity is fundamentally a novelty seeking species. We’re always driven to experience new and different things. We lose respect for the old experiences and constantly seek the next dose of experience. Even as we seem to frown on those that would be deviations from […]
Re-Epistemology, rewinding our own minds Alien Worlds – Alternate Dimensions: A series of brief what-ifs meant to hold up a mirror against our own experiences and expectations by exploring alternatives built on different assumptions and presuppositions. Epistemology, aside from my favorite word to bewilder coworkers, is the study of knowledge. […]
Xenomorality, Relativism on a Planetary Scale Alien Worlds – Alternate Dimensions: A series of brief what-ifs meant to hold up a mirror against our own experiences and expectations by exploring alternatives built on different assumptions and presuppositions. While there is a tremendous debate about Moral Relativism, I don’t have quite […]
Desensitizing to Death For today’s article, I’m starting with a quote from our inimitable bard in reference to the recent rash of celebrity deaths: As time goes on, the amount of celebrity deaths is going to seem to increase. That’s because our metric of recognizing famous people has significantly increased. […]
