#featured

Just as terror, even in its pre-total, merely tyrannical form ruins all relationships between men, so the self-compulsion of ideological thinking ruins all relationship with reality. The preparation has succeeded when people have lost contact with their fellow men as well as the reality around them; for together with these contacts, men lose the capacity of both experience and thought. The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (ie, the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (ie, the standards of thought) no longer exist. [Read More]

Some things are in our control and others not. Things in our control are opinion, pursuit, desire, aversion, and, in a word, whatever are our own actions. Things not in our control are body, property, reputation, command, and, in one word, whatever are not our own actions. The things in our control are by nature free, unrestrained, unhindered; but those not in our control are weak, slavish, restrained, belonging to others. [Read More]

The Trump Presidency is often (rightly) portrayed as being divorced from reality. I believe these are the symptoms of his worldview. “Trumpism Projection SumOfUs Final 1” by SumOfUs is licensed under CC BY 2.0 Copy Trump believes that he has been successful in his life because he is genetically superior. He regularly talks about coming from “good genes”. In his eyes, his success is not the result of his starting with millions of dollars, or his willingness to make decisions that hurt other people for his benefit. [Read More]

Some of this is based on my understanding of scientific research. Some of this is based on my understanding of various philosophers. Some of this is based upon my personal observations. I’m certain it is flawed. I am also certain that it has been a useful model for me in trying to understand other people. We are a species in the Great Ape family who have developed the ability to understand and internalize an untold number of concepts, and to use them as tools to improve decision making. [Read More]

Our way of life is clearly unsustainable. Full stop. But that’s daunting, so we ignore it. Painting by Marie We pretend we’re not buying mansions in flood plains right before the ocean rises. It’s a culture of limited liability. You cannot shift liability on a global scale. It doesn’t go away, it merely moves. When the rich make risky bets, enabled by government, home owners pay the cost when it inevitably bursts. [Read More]

It appears that I have a different understanding of leadership than a large portion of the country. My former employers spent a lot of money making leadership training available to us. A real leader would let their actions lead. A real leader is willing to put in the effort to learn a much as possible in order to be able to make an informed decision. “Book: The Wisdom of Confucius” by John Drake Flickr is licensed under CC BY-ND 2. [Read More]

A few months back I worked with a friend to create a short video collecting information from a variety of sources that tell a really dark story of attempts to steal an election.

“cambridge analytica” by Book Catalog is licensed under CC BY 2.0 Copy rich text

Below I’ve collected some of the original source videos, as well as other material that influenced me even if I didn’t include footage.

Complex reasons for this kind of disaster can be elaborated at length by experts on banking and high finance who cannot see the forest for the trees, But it was just as if someone had come to work on building a house and, on the morning of the Depression, the boss had said, “Sorry, baby, but we can’t build today. No inches.” “Whaddya mean, no inches? We got wood, We got metal. [Read More]

Before last year, I was primarily focused in the technology world. “pingui” by roberto noe diaz is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 My primary focus was Linux systems, which had been my platform of choice since the late 1990s. Hand in hand with Linux is the Open Source/Free Software cultures. The Linux Kernel was begun by Linus Torvalds as a college student. His decision to create it as a project distributed for free under the GNU General Public License (GPL) opened the door to it becoming the dominating force in technology. [Read More]

Over the last few years, I’ve endeavored to be more politically active. My primary platform is Twitter, since it was Trump’s own platform. I’m able to directly respond to his messages, and directly interact with his supporters. Over time, I’ve built a fair sized following, which is useful for starting discussions on a topic. I’m able to share my concerns about the issues of the day. “1D3_16312” by Indiana Stan is licensed under CC BY-NC 2. [Read More]