Enlightened Caveman

The Slide Into Oblivion Continues

2006-01-31T11:31:00.000-05:00

I've just returned from signing my son up for pre-school in what can only be called a "highly competitive" environment. We're applying at three different schools, and we're not confident that we'll get into any of them. You'd think school in this country was actually something impressive. But no matter how bad we have it, there's always someone who has it worse.I'd consider myself a pretty

Ethical Capitalism

2006-01-30T23:15:00.000-05:00

This happens to me from time to time. Over a span of no more than a few weeks, without any preconceived agenda or plan, I come across several disparate pieces of information (books, articles, movies, websites, etc.) that all inadvertantly conspire to solidify concepts that have previously been loosely floating around my brain. The last time it happened was when I started getting the feeling

Grizzly Man - Must See Documentary

2006-01-29T21:41:00.000-05:00

This isn't what you'd call a formal review. It's more of a recommendation to check out this DVD I watched a couple of nights ago. Holy crap! That's all I can say. Grizzly Man is the story of Timothy Treadwell, a troubled guy who found salvation in spending thirteen consecutive summers in Alaska, unarmed and in the company of grizzly bears. The director of the film, Werner Herzog, uses actual

Google China - Commercial Practicality Versus Ethical Idealism

2006-01-25T20:43:00.003-05:00

I'll admit that my first response when I read that Google has agreed to censor some of its content in China was a resounding, "WTF"??!!! But then I settled down a bit and considered the situation. Here's a blurb from the article on Reuters:Google said on Tuesday it will block politically sensitive terms on its new China search site and not offer e-mail, chat and blog publishing services, which

Brokeback Mountain - Review

2006-01-22T22:27:00.000-05:00

"I think we really need to see this movie," my wife says. "It's supposed to be an important film.""Yes, but movies are first and foremost about entertainment to me, and I just don't know how entertained I'm going to be seeing a couple of cowboys roughing it up in a tent," I reply."Well sometimes you have to get out of your comfort zone to grow as a person," she concludes. And we go.In the end,

Dreams and Dream Killing

2006-01-18T20:32:00.000-05:00

Even though my kid is only a little over two years old, the household battles over how to deal with dreams have been joined in earnest. I, as you might imagine, am literally fueled by dreams. The prospect of working a nine to five till I'm 65 is horrifying. If I were to have to accept this as my fate, those in my life would find me insufferable (or more insufferable, I should say). My wife,

Drive Time Improvements

2006-01-17T00:11:00.000-05:00

In the category of stupid shit you can make at home to make your life easier, I submit the following. The first is a solution to a problem that has plagued multitudes for several years - the Red Bull koozie. That's right folks. Who among the Red Bull addicted has not cursed the Swiss jerk who came up with the mini-can? I mean, it's bad enough that the damned thing costs two bucks or more for

More Thoughts on Imperial America

2006-01-13T23:19:00.000-05:00

Michael Gersh responded to yesterday's post with the following comment. Now that I've had another day to think about it, my thoughts are crystallizing.The overthrow of Mossadegh was the first point of entry for the people of the former Persian Empire to enjoy the fruits of modern civilization. Our involvement with the overthrow of Mossadegh was no more and no less than our (and President

Imperial America?

2006-01-12T23:29:00.000-05:00

Those of you who've been around for a while know that I am intensely patriotic - I dearly love this country, not so much for the people who typify it today, but for the philosophical underpinnings of it. I have, for many years, taken issue with people who have argued that all of the foreign policy problems we have are of our own making. To argue that we gave Saddam all of his power in the 80s,

Relationship Is A Four Letter Word, Especially With Kids

2006-01-10T22:49:00.000-05:00

That word is simple - work. Yes, we've heard it a million times, but that's because it's true far more often than it is not. Maybe people get confused by this because they think in snapshots instead of movies. If you take a snapshot of your romance or friendship or family relationship when things are going well, it'll be hard to reconcile the idea that relationships are work with the picture

Book Review: Something for Nothing

2006-01-08T22:34:00.002-05:00

Whilst poking around the blogosphere in my jammies (I'm on hiatus ya know), I came across this review of a new book by Brian Tracy called, Something for Nothing: The All-Consuming Desire That Turns The American Dream Into A Social Nightmare. While the author, Rebecca Hagelin, provides a nice overview, I think there's more to be said.For those who don't know, I believe the first priority in any

Dick Clark's Precarious Fringe Reality

2006-01-01T10:01:00.001-05:00

Was anyone else appalled at seeing Dick Clark co-hosting the "New Years Rockin' Eve" on ABC last night? Granted, he is pretty much royalty when it comes to that kind of stuff, but he has clearly not recovered sufficiently from the stroke he had over a hear ago to be chaperoning millions in the migration from 2005 to 2006. It was like listening to Harry Caray at about inning 26 of a championship

Relationships 101 - Part 2 - Bridging the Gap

2005-12-27T22:23:00.000-05:00

This is a series about relationships - why we need them, how we get them, and how we keep them. There will be several parts. This is the second - it focuses on the changes you have to make. Additional parts will (or already do) include:identifying the target; (click here) how we take control of our environment to make it friendly to our efforts;the difference between getting relationships and

Relationships 101 - Part 1 - Identifying the Target

2005-12-19T23:42:00.000-05:00

What follows is a series about relationships - why we need them, how we get them, and how we keep them. There will be several parts. This is the first - it establishes the target, so to speak. Additional parts will include: how we turn our attention inward to become "relationship-friendly;" how we take control of our environment to make it friendly to our efforts; the difference

Abstract to Happy Fantasy - A Leap to the Abyss?

2005-11-09T00:44:00.000-05:00

My thinking right now begins with the idea my brain (and yours, too) has an approximation of reality digitally represented within its physical existence. It all hinges on two things. The first is the notion that there is such a thing as absolute truth, if you take it to mean that there is a consistency to things, an immutable quality (or multitude of qualities) that permeates the perceivable

Postmodern or Grasping at Straws

2005-08-18T20:40:00.000-04:00

I've been neck deep in philosophy of late, getting to know some of the most twisted minds of the last two hundred years. Stephen Hicks, Professor of Philosophy at Rockford College, Illinois (named, I think, after the cheekiest of all TV private investigators, Jim Rockford), wrote a book called Explaining Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault. As the title suggests, the

God and Hurricanes

2005-07-12T22:48:00.000-04:00

I am amused by the thought that hurricanes are God's way of asserting his property rights - kind of a supernatural Eminent domain thing. It's the absurdity of it all that cracks me up, but, as usual, most folks don't see things as I do. A couple of nights ago on Fox News, which is increasingly demonstrating its Christian bias, some news guy (a Shephard Smith look alike - I forget his name) was

The Rational Morality Debate

2005-07-01T23:53:00.000-04:00

A recent post led to a fairly extensive thread that wandered into the subject of morality. At issue is whether morality can be rationally conceived, and whether it really makes that big of a difference. I think it can be and that it makes all the difference. Our welcoming wench, Alice, however, has finally got my number. Or does she...Alice: Chris. You believe that there is a right way to

Riding The Horse

2005-06-17T01:12:00.000-04:00

I don't know about you, but I'm pretty nervous around horses. They're very big, and they are (as far as I'm concerned) very unpredictable. I've heard horror stories of people who got kicked by horses, and I'm pretty much soured on them. But it occurred to me this evening that managing the caveman within each of us is very much like riding a horse. First you have to tame him, then you can take him

The Publishing Biz - Episode 7 - Back to the Drawing Board

2005-06-01T00:01:00.000-04:00

Well, dear readers, it's time to face facts. One or more of the following statements is true with regard to my book:1. It sucks2. I am not publishable as a self-help authorI shudder to think that number 1 is the reason I have been unable to get an agent or a book deal. However, at this point, my book has been read (at least some of it) by about 25 people, and only four or five have really

Personality Typing I: Electrons with West's Disease

2005-05-08T23:47:00.000-04:00

Did I mention I'm addicted to Deadwood? Okay, maybe addicted is a strong word, but I'm really enjoying it, and as it happens, I'm in kind of a weird place, temporally speaking. I've absorbed the whole first season because I rented the DVDs. Now I'm ready to jump into the second season, but it's already underway, four or five (or is it six?) episides worth. What to do? Rather than lose the impact

You Gotta Have Faith

2005-05-01T23:25:00.000-04:00

In response to yesterday's post, Freedomslave came back with an interesting comment, and I think it warrants a post of its own.Now I hate bible thumpers as much as the next guy, and I don’t go to church (except on Christmas). But the one thing I know for sure is that you have to have faith. Your faith might be that when a species hits a point in its evolution that the DNA mutates and evolves into

Books That Will Make You Think Differently About Yourself

2005-04-13T23:10:00.000-04:00

The concept behind this site is fairly simple. Our genes are controlling us a lot more than we think they are, but this is not a bad news story. We can, if we understand what our genes are up to, take control and live according to our rationally conceived objectives in life. This is not an idea that I have come up with on my own (though I may be one of its most ardent proponents). I've just

Intellectual Property and Table Clearing

2005-04-10T03:09:00.000-04:00

Here's where capitalism and the concept of intellectual property clash. The Time Life folks hit me with a Greatest Soul Ballads ad tonight, and it got me thinking. I'm not really interested in every song on the list, but there are quite a few that I'd love to have on my iPod. Wouldn't it be nice if someone had a website that provided the songlist for all these great compilations that get

Thin-Slicing and Attraction Triggers

2005-04-05T23:12:00.000-04:00

Even though I finished it a while ago, I continue to dwell on the notion of thin-slicing that Malcolm Gladwell writes about it his latest, Blink. " 'Thin-slicing' refers to the ability of our unconscious to find patterns in situations and behavior based upon very narrow slices of experience." Gladwell covers a variety of situations that exemplify how thin-slicing works, and more importantly, how

Book Review: State of Fear

2005-04-01T22:06:00.000-05:00

Crichton's latest finally boiled up to the top of my reading list, so I mowed through it in seven hours of plane rides to and from Puerto Rico. (Don't ask. I hate Puerto Rico.) As is my custom with book reviews, I'll get the important stuff out of the way. I'd absolutely recommend this book, and not just because it affirms what I've been saying (click here and here and here) about global warming

Concurrence and March Madness

2005-03-27T19:13:00.000-05:00

A friend of mine, a Georgia Tech fan, said last night to a Louisville fan, "Yeah, y'all put it to us pretty good the other day."The Louisville guy: "It wasn't exactly hard. We had you beat by the end of the first half."My friend (following a deferential sigh), "Well, now that we're out, I'm rooting for you guys. I think you have a great shot."The Louisville guy: "Yeah, it's gonna be tough, but

The Pair Bond and the Chiiiildren.

2005-03-22T23:00:00.000-05:00

I went for a run today, a baby-jogger run (i.e. harder than your average hilly run, and sometimes complete with whining soundtrack). Coming off of the flu, a vacation, and a lot of travel for business, I found that the work part of the phrase work-out kept passing across my giant movie screen - it started hurting less than two miles in. Nevertheless, at one point, another runner turned onto the

Musing on the Blogosphere and the Nature of News

2005-03-18T17:16:00.000-05:00

Where does news come from? Before the blogosphere, you had two general kinds of news - word of mouth and subsidized news. Neither was (or is) particularly reliable. Word of mouth is unpredictably flawed. Though we'd like to believe that we can count on our ability to know when the news is coming from a good source, the skill is not 100%, not even close. We all get surprised more than we'd like,

Personality Paradigms?

2005-03-17T00:48:00.000-05:00

The time I spent recently in Canada got me thinking about some generalities in human personality. I have always found Canadians to be extremely accommodating and somewhat non-confrontational, and this trip was no different. They're nice, even when I wouldn't be, and even when most people I know wouldn't be. I don't mean they take abuse with a smile; I mean they go out of their way to be nice to

We Have It So Good - Perspective Part 2

2005-03-14T21:10:00.000-05:00

This country is still very much divided, unnecessarily so. Yes, there are issues about which many people disagree, and there are worthwhile opinions to be found on both sides of the divide, but the fact is that most of the fuss is manufactured by politicians who have everything to gain by pitting one side against another. Given that the political philosophies that once underpinned the Democratic

In Dire Need of Perspective

2005-03-10T00:13:00.000-05:00

I've spent the past five days snowboarding in Whistler, British Columbia. What a staggeringly idyllic place, even if this year's snowfall has been only a fraction of what they usually get. As cancellation policies prevented me from choosing another destination, I resigned myself to short days on the mountains accompanied by aesthetically-inspired writing sessions. I was wrong on both accounts. It

Zero-Sum Versus Wealth Creation

2005-02-27T21:58:00.000-05:00

I keep thinking about Wilkinson's article on Capitalism and Human Nature. I spent some time on his blog site, The Fly Bottle, and I noticed a trackback to a blog (Mixing Memory) that is, you might say, less than impressed with his work, and with evolutionary psychology (EP) in general. The writer, known only as Chris, asserts that Wilkinson's reliance upon EP is unfounded at best, and illogical

Consumerism - Status Gone Haywire

2005-02-27T00:30:00.000-05:00

The last post prompted some back and forth discussion regarding the legitimacy of the Enlightened Caveman concept. I hold that there is a duality between what our genes were designed for and want and what we as conscious, sentient beings want. I also believe that the best approach to life entails having the latter control the former. But some seem to think that the more the latter controls the

Sounds Better When He Says It

2005-02-23T22:23:00.000-05:00

Thanks to our old friend Tallahassee Joe for alerting me to this Will Wilkinson article in the latest Cato Institute Policy Report - Capitalism and Human Nature. It's absolutely great, and it's the first time I think I've ever seen a political think tank use evolutionary psychology as the basis of its arguments. The times they are a changing. I have to admit that, emotionally speaking, I'm a

Robitussin and the Gauche Theory of Mind

2005-02-22T20:52:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the absence - the guy who never gets a flu shot cause he never gets sick got the freaking flu, and I do not handle sickness well. On a scale of 1 to 10, I operate between a 9 and a 10 pretty much every day. So, on the ultra-rare occasion that I fall ill, I bitch and moan and wail as if I'm on my third week of chemo. I act like, as the Scots would say, a big Jessie. Fortunately for all

The Lobby and The Appearance of Dignity

2005-02-15T23:27:00.000-05:00

Here's my day - I learn (or maybe notice) two interesting things.I wake up in DC for a meeting with a prospective customer, emerge optimistic but wary of the work involved in finding out, fly back home to Atlanta, arrive at 6pm, repack, apologize to my wife on her birthday, take my son to the basement so he can play my drums (which he can only incessantly call "bum" and which also includes my

Changing Your Cover - Appearances - Part 2

2005-02-13T23:00:00.000-05:00

They say you can't judge a book by its cover. Of course, sometimes you can, but let's put that aside for a moment. Whether or not this statement is true, the fact is that sometimes, lots of times, people will try. Furthermore, it's usually really tough to tell who's "thin slicing" based upon looks, and who's not. As I mentioned in the last post, I think there's a real value in understanding that

The Appearance Delta and Gimmick Theory

2005-02-11T00:02:00.000-05:00

I've written, on occasion, about the influence of looks in our society. Let me attempt to codify my thoughts. The whole thing hinges upon the generalization that individuals in America (and elsewhere, but America, in particular) respond differently to people they perceive as physically attractive versus people who come off as unattractive. I believe this is largely genetic.In his new book, Blink,

What Is Consciousness? A Trip Into The Mind

2005-02-03T22:37:00.000-05:00

I'm not trying to be a scientist. I'm really not. I've just read a wide variety of scientific topics, particularly those related to evolution, the brain, and thinking, and over the years and I've come to my own interpretation of, you might say, the gestalt of the mind. It's sort of a general feel for the the physicality of it and how layers of abstraction are built upon that, a feel for its

You Animal You

2005-02-02T22:30:00.000-05:00

A couple of recent posts have generated some lively discussions, and some of them have led to the nature versus nurture debate. I have been arguing that we come with many of our basic emotions pre-wired, and that it is only the relatively new emergence of malleable cognitive faculties that gives us the chance to change the outcome of situations that would otherwise go down as instinctive

Bullets Versus Bombs - Feminism for Dummies

2005-01-27T23:20:00.000-05:00

There's a point of view out there that women who are stay-at-home moms are somehow betraying their female gender by letting themselves be type-cast into forsaking their minds and talents for the perennial male fantasy world. This view is, in my opinion, held by women who have never really managed to enjoy the most egregious of female stereotypes, which is of course, that of the bimbo. Name three

I'm Feeling Your Pain - An Intro to Concurrence

2005-01-26T23:29:00.000-05:00

Perhaps the most regularly recurring theme in this blog is the interplay between the quest for status and the human tendency to cooperate (both genetically driven) and our modern environment in leading to the behaviors we engage in and witness every day. That humans learned to cooperate is taken as a bit of an axiom in the study of hominid history, but something has been nagging at me for a while

Airplane Chatter and the Bar of Belief

2005-01-23T22:11:00.000-05:00

I very rarely get chatty with people on airplanes. I am generally nose down in a book or I'm crashed. But this afternoon, for some reason, I got to talking with the guy next to me, and we ended up talking for the entire 80 or so minutes we were in the air. He noticed that I was reading (still reading - it's taking forever, for some reason) Susan Jacoby's, Freethinkers: A History of American

"Million Dollar Baby" - Movie Review

2005-01-21T23:37:00.000-05:00

I feel cheap. I feel violated. I was lured in by a Rockie movie with Stallone as "Mick" and Swank as Stallone. And, it delivered, in spades. Poor girl comes from nothing, decides at age 30 that the only thing that makes her happy is boxing, or at least trying to box. Old, wise, curmudgeon of boxing trainer, estranged from his daughter, finally sees she has heart and decides to train her.

Evolution versus Creationism - Part 3 - Intelligent Design

2005-01-17T22:39:00.000-05:00

(Warning - this is longer than usual. What'd you think - enlightenment is free?) How do you get from primordial soup to living cell? That's it. That's the kryptonite in the creationist's napsack. But that seems to be where it stays. They rarely (if ever) actually pull it out and examine it. How many times I have heard, "Ah, but intelligent design disproves everything you're saying." When I try

Evolution Versus Creationism - Part 2 - Ring Species

2005-01-17T22:00:00.000-05:00

It appears, from my inbox, that I've started something here. (He says as he feigns surprise.) All objections point to "intelligent design" as the achilles heel of Darwin's elegant theory. It appears that this is the real anchor for creationists. They envision it as the AHA! moment in the debate, when deity denying evolutionists will scamper for the corners. Ahem. Not this one. But before I

Evolution Versus Creationism

2005-01-16T23:02:00.000-05:00

There are far too many people who approach evolution as a theory which opposes most religious creation myths. So I have no choice but to spend some time on the evolution versus creationism debate. There are large books dedicated to making a case for creation science – as if it could ever be considered scientific. Rather than make this a treatise on the evolution versus creationism debate, I’ll

Life, Einstein, and Texas Hold Em

2005-01-15T01:16:00.001-05:00

Having been in Las Vegas for the week on business, my mind has been swirling around gambling. Something occurred to me as I was watching some folks play cards in the MGM Grand. Actually, as my main objective was to get a bit loose, I was trying to do the math on which was the better financial move - dropping $10 a drink every half hour or losing money gambling while getting free drinks. This kind

Hope, Despair, and the Need to Believe - An Argument for Reason

2005-01-07T02:29:00.000-05:00

I want to follow up on a comment about the post from two days ago. Michael Gersh (of Zero Base Thinking fame), has this to say about the opinions of many of secularists who come off more as anti-religious than agnostic: "Maybe I have missed something here, but isn't religion, or at least the need to believe in that which we have no logical answer for, hard wired into the human brain, by the

Musing on Logical Consequences and the Absence of Religion

2005-01-04T22:53:00.000-05:00

Some people, and I am one of them, have so internalized rationality that we carry out the logical consequences of what unfolds before us in everyday life. This is a good thing and a bad thing, mostly good. On the bad side, it is easy to get distracted by playing out scenarios in your head - you can easily miss the big picture. However, good discernment skills (that is, being good at separating

Your Genes Want You To Drive A BMW

2004-12-27T00:18:00.000-05:00

Given some of the mail I've received of late, perhaps its time to go back to basics... Your genes want you to drive a BMW. They also want you to be thin, tan, and to have a lovely smile. Your genes want you to be the life of the party – perhaps a musician or an artist or a celebrity of some sort. “What?” you say. That’s right. Though you probably don’t realize it, humans are genetically

From the Mailbag - Taking Aim At The Caveman

2004-12-25T21:45:00.000-05:00

Here's a comment that was posted to the site recently by a new reader. Without coming right out and saying it, this person pretty much disagrees with my entire Enlightened Caveman concept. So, I'll mount a modest counter-argument and leave it to you to decide. Keep in mind - my interest here is truth. If someone comes along and reasonably discredits these concepts, I'll pull the plug right away.

Panamanian Economics - Corruption Versus Capitalism

2004-12-22T22:27:00.000-05:00

I went to Panama last March on a fact-finding mission. A buddy and I had been hearing for months that there were real estate opportunities aplenty in cool areas like Bocas del Toro, Panama's Caribbean archipelago. So we flew into Panama City (not the one with Spinnaker's and wet t-shirt contests) and then made our way to the islands the next day. One of the things I pay close attention to when I

Musing Between Theory and Practice

2004-12-21T23:27:00.000-05:00

Yesterday's column raised some eyebrows. I got a few notes from folks who felt it was totally out of character and even somewhat irrational. They were concerned that I was standing atop one of the slipperiest slopes known to man. Indeed, they were right. I am, but it's no cause for alarm. It seems to me that the difference between conservatism and liberalism is often the difference between theory

Being Poor is Whose Fault? The Time Horizon of Maturity Reprise

2004-12-20T22:08:00.000-05:00

Neal Boortz, my favorite radio guy, is fond of saying that poverty is a mental disease, that poor people are poor because they keep doing things that make people poor. It's all about choices, says the talkmaster. I tend to agree, but there's more to it than that. I concede that making bad decisions is the fastest way to get poor and stay poor. However, the question on my mind has to do with the

From the Mailbag - One Reader Objects To His Genes

2004-12-20T16:59:00.000-05:00

I got this email recently in response to the "Is Man Inherently Selfless?" article. It is chocked full of object lessons in how not to think about this stuff, so I figured I'd take it apart piece-by-piece. One thing I read over and over again from evolutionary biologists is how men are genetically programmed to want to impregnate as many women as possible. Men are genetically predisposed agains

Scandinavian Economic Prosperity and Merits of the Welfare State

2004-12-17T23:53:00.000-05:00

I was listening to the Michael Medved radio show today (He's really good, by the way.). The topic was Scandinavian family values, or rather the lack thereof. He was referring to a USA Today article that talks about how 82% of Nordic children are born to unwed mothers. Though it is somewhat shocking to think that an entire culture has embraced such a backwards mentality as to consider marriage

Random Thought on the Variation in Animal Behavior

2004-12-17T11:14:00.000-05:00

I love nature shows, but I'm always alarmed at the confidence with which folks like Steve Irwin and Jeff Corwin approach dangerous animals. They consistently refer to the exhaustive body of research on these animals as evidence of what these critters will do from moment to moment. This seems odd to me, even though the fact Corwin and Irwin are still alive reasonably substantiates their

Is Man Inherently Selfless?

2004-12-17T01:15:00.000-05:00

Scientific American is putting out a new quarterly magazine called Scientific American MIND. I picked up what they’re calling the premier issue (although there are letters to the editor regarding the previous one – go figure) and found an interesting article on a topic I’ve written about before. That topic is altruism. My thesis, the one I’ve gotten from evolutionary psychologists, has been that

Buy American?

2004-12-15T01:26:00.000-05:00

I just saw David Oreck, the vacuum cleaner guy, on Cavuto's show. He was going on about how we really need to be buying American products. Apparently, our comfort with buying whatever happens to give us the best bang for the buck is going to be the cause of our demise. Among other things, says Oreck, we need to ask merchants for the comparable American product when we're shopping. That way,

Jesusgate? A Case Study in Bias

2004-12-15T00:32:00.000-05:00

Looks we have a new controversy on our hands, at least as far as many conservatives are concerned. The fuss is over a story in this week's Newsweek magazine. I happened to catch a little of the Hugh Hewitt radio show today, where Hugh and guests were in an uproar over Jon Meacham's, "Religion: The Birth of Jesus - From Mary to the manger, how the Gospels mix faith and history to tell the

Another from the Mailbag - What Emotions Do We Keep?

2004-12-13T23:18:00.000-05:00

Got an email from Drew that also warrants posting. i've been perusing your archives and i must say that i enjoy reading, and agree with, virtually every point you've made. personal responsibility, something which has obviously gone the way of the dodo, if it ever found homes in the minds of the masses in the first place, appears to be both a theme of your work and a complaint i regularly voice

Self-Publishing - Since You Asked...

2004-12-11T17:53:00.000-05:00

I've had a number of folks contact me via email suggesting that I self-publish my book. Some have correctly pointed out that there are companies that do on-demand printing, which significantly reduces up-front costs. Nevertheless, I see self-publishing as an absolute last resort. Here's why. 1. Getting on a bookshelf in Barnes and Noble or Borders with a self-published book is REALLY difficult.

"Closer" - Movie Review

2004-12-10T00:42:00.000-05:00

Despite the impression I got from the masters of the backhanded compliment (that is, movie critics), I went to see Closer recently. The NY Times review, for example, was full of tidbits that gave the movie promise, but then it closed with the standard, "it failed to realize its ambition" sentiment. Never did A.O. Scott, the author, bother to mention whether or not the movie was worth seeing. (I

The Publishing Biz - Episode 6

2004-12-08T21:23:00.000-05:00

It's been a while since I've updated you all on my efforts to get a book deal. Admittedly, things are moving a bit slow these days. After spending months beating my head against a wall (also known as talking directly to acquiring editors at publishing companies), I am now 100% convinced that my only hope of getting the attention of serious literary agents is to demonstrate that I have built a

A Tribute to Solution Space

2004-12-07T23:43:00.000-05:00

There's concept in science known as solution space, and it colors my entire perspective. Solution space refers to the sum total of all possible solutions to a problem or question. For example, if you're asked in which month Arbor Day falls, your solution space is a list of the twelve months of the year. The thing about solution space is that most problems have a massive number of possible

Sympathy: Mother Nature's Bargain Hunter

2004-12-01T22:04:00.000-05:00

The concept of status heirarchies gets a lot of play here, but there's another evolutionary biology concept that is worth a mention. That is the notion of reciprocal altruism. It's no secret that the attribute that most accounts for the success of Homo sapiens over other hominid species is the ability to cooperate. While some other upright, hairless apes were definitely stronger and more

The Myth of the Better

2004-11-29T23:28:00.000-05:00

I’ve spent a fair amount of time discussing the role of social status in our lives today. The prevailing theme has been that we are genetically programmed to pay close attention to where we stand in the hierarchy and to take actions that lead to an elevation of our status. Moreover, this genetic influence is causing us more harm than good. What may surprise you is that I really believe things

The Mass Produced Individual

2004-11-23T22:24:00.000-05:00

As a teenager, I remember how important it was for many of my contemporaries to send a clear message to the rest of us that they were different. They loved music that no one had heard. They shunned sports and spent their free time in different ways. Some had weird haircuts. Some had piercings and such. But, above all, the prevailing method for individual differentiation was in clothing style

Here's to the Ironmen

2004-11-08T21:55:00.000-05:00

I'm coming off a weekend in Panama City, Florida. I went to watch a good friend participate in his first Ironman Triathlon. For those who don't know, this is one of the craziest sporting events on this planet. Competitors start by swimming 2.4 miles in the ocean. They then jump on their bikes and ride 112 miles. Not yet content that they've done enough for the day, these lunatics get off the

When to Internalize?

2004-11-01T21:43:00.000-05:00

I think there's a fine line between internalizing our environment too much and ignoring it too little. In fact, I've long thought that the nexus between the environment and the mind is where life, for most of us, is really played out. And, despite how much I've contemplated this idea, I don't have much to show for my musings. I can, however, offer some general observations. Let's begin with the

A Dangerously Unconstrained View

2004-10-30T00:54:00.000-04:00

At a National Press Club luncheon, billionaire Democrat activist, George Soros, said the following with regard to John Kerry: “offense is not necessarily the best defense if it offends those whose allegiance we need. John Kerry is aware of this other dimension. ... He is nuanced because reality is complicated...." As near as I can tell, this seems to be the distilled foundation of Kerry

When Is It GO TIME?

2004-10-26T21:37:00.000-04:00

We all have a different sense for when it's go time. By go time, I mean the point at which we are committed to doing something that exposes us to the risk of personal harm. It's the point of no return. This concept applies to individuals and countries. We'll start with individuals. Some people arrive at go time very quickly. I can remember being careful not to stare too long at rednecks in

Taxation In America

2004-10-26T00:12:00.000-04:00

I recently had a discussion with some friends about taxation in this country. I was making the point that the left's obsession with taxing the high income earners is extremely dangerous to our economy. I pointed out that, when left unimpeded, liberals have imposed tax rates upwards of 90% on the highest tax brackets. The response from my friends was unanimous disbelief. They couldn't imagine

Jon Stewart Caught In The Crossfire

2004-10-24T23:50:00.000-04:00

I don't know if you happened to catch Jon Stewart of Comedy Central's, The Daily Show, on Crossfire a week ago last Friday. If you didn't, here's a link to a clip. He and Tucker Carlson of Team GOP went at it pretty good. Carlson was slamming him for supporting Kerry and for lobbing so-called "softball" questions at him, questions like, "How are you holding up?" In his notoriously witty way,

Insecurity Is A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

2004-10-20T00:41:00.000-04:00

I'm sure we all know people who are afflicted with what is often called "The Napolean Syndrome." This is a condition where a poor soul's consciousness is regularly occupied with the suspicion that his height is at the front of the minds of his contemporaries. They are not seeing him for his personality or his talents. They only see his height. He, therefore, compensates by being a jack-ass.

George Carlin and the "Ownership Class"

2004-10-19T01:26:00.000-04:00

Don't know if you've noticed but George Carlin is making the rounds on the talk shows promoting his new book, When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops? I must say that I have long admired his ability to cut through the BS of things. This is the main reason he's so funny - he can tell the truth in a way that bludgeons listeners with the absurdity of it all. But the Carlin I've seen recently on Real

The Publishing Biz - Episode 5

2004-10-18T01:08:00.000-04:00

I finally managed to have a conversation with that editor who passed on my book saying it wasn't prescriptive enough. Seems he meant that my topic is too general, that he is used to self-help books that are very focused. He publishes books on topics like being better at work or achieving financial independence. Happiness, says he, is far too general for him. At first, I thought I was talking to

Is It Too Late for America?

2004-10-13T23:57:00.000-04:00

After watching tonight's debate, I found myself really dismayed at the rhetoric coming from both of the candidates. Although I think Bush may have actually outscored Kerry, I came away feeling like maybe it doesn't really matter. Bush's response to the question about what he'd say to someone whose job has been outsourced tells the story. He immediately started talking the "government is going

Achievement - Three Kinds of People

2004-10-10T01:56:00.000-04:00

When it comes to getting what we want out of life, there are three kinds of people. There are those who know what they need to do, and they do it. There are also those who know what they need to do, but for whatever reason, they can't muster the discipline to do it. And then there are those who are too ignorant to know what to do. I would argue that the second group constitutes the lion's share

Who Loses When Freedom Comes To Town?

2004-10-08T23:45:00.000-04:00

I think it's interesting to ponder why the US has such a bad rep on the international stage these days. Many like to say that Bush's poor diplomacy are singularly responsible. I'd concede that the arrogance of the Bush administration has contributed. However, I think there's a bigger picture. America is the world's chief advocate of freedom and human rights, and these are concepts that have

The Publishing Biz - Episode 4

2004-10-08T01:46:00.000-04:00

The irony is thick these days. I was in the New York/New Jersey area on business this week so I attempted to arrange meetings with two editors in NYC. One was a guy I had previously spoken with on the phone who had asked me to send him a proposal. The other was a girl I met over Memorial Day weekend. She's actually a children's editor for a major publishing house. After a lengthy discussion

Super Size Me - Movie Review

2004-10-01T21:47:00.000-04:00

I've wanted to see this movie/documentary since it came out but missed it when it was in theaters (or the one theater, as it happened here). Director Morgan Spurlock's film explores the epidemic of obesity in America by mixing discussions with experts with his personal experiences going on a 30-day all McDonald's diet. Having been burned sufficiently by Michael Moore, I went into this documentary

More Musings on Status - We Should All Be So Lucky

2004-09-27T01:34:00.000-04:00

I continue to contemplate the importance of status in our caveman days. I think about the earliest days of man's history, when humans lived nomadic lives, in small groups with close kin. In those days, there couldn't have been much to build status heirarchies on but talents and skills related to survival. Being a good hunter would matter. Being good at making fancy clothes would not. Now

The Publishing Biz - Episode 3

2004-09-26T00:25:00.000-04:00

In the last installment, I mentioned that I had been contacting some publishers who seemed a bit more suited to take my book to market. One editor at a mid-sized publisher of science books recently expressed some interest. We had a great phone conversation where I explained the thesis of my book, why it is unique, and why it has tremendous mainstream potential. Not wanting to waste his time, I

People Are Sheep

2004-09-22T22:47:00.000-04:00

Imagine that you're driving up to a parking garage. It has two entrance lanes, each with an automated ticket machine. There are four cars in the first lane and none in the second. You notice that the first lane has an attendant pulling the tickets from the machine and handing them to the drivers. What do you do? Do you get into line or pull into the second lane? I experienced this very

Who Am I?

2004-09-19T23:04:00.000-04:00

Though the nature of consciousness is still very much an open question, it seems clear that the notion of self is a central feature. In other words, our consciousness is at least partly defined by our awareness of ourselves. And if we are aware of ourselves, it's reasonable to suppose that we can know ourselves. But a question arises. How exactly do we go about getting to know ourselves? I

The Publishing Biz - Episode 2

2004-09-16T23:26:00.000-04:00

In March of this year, I attended the Book Expo America (BEA) convention in Chicago. This is THE show for the book industry. Every decent publisher is represented there. There are aisles and aisles of booths for companies that specialize in any genre you can think of. I went because the one agent I had been hoping to convince to represent me finally gave me the thumbs down. In other words, I

Interpersonal Truth - Part 2: Emotional Coercion

2004-09-11T01:46:00.000-04:00

There's a little thing I call emotional coercion, and it is going on all the place. It's wrong and it needs to be talked about. Because it doesn't get much attention, I'll admit that I find it a bit awkward to describe. But hey, my intentions are good, so here goes. To coerce is to bring about by force or threat. To emotionally coerce is to bend the actions of others by threatening emotional

The Docilization of America

2004-09-10T14:36:00.000-04:00

No, I'm not trying to be one of the Williams of obscure words (that's Buckley and Safire). Don't bother with your dictionary; I made it up. Docilization is the process of making people docile. That, it appears, is what some of our social engineers are after, and it's no surprise that they are primarily Republicans. I am referring to Bush's New Freedom Commission on Mental Health, which came about

My Own Little Reality Blog - The Publishing Biz - Episode 1

2004-09-07T23:10:00.000-04:00

I occasionally get asked the question, "What made you start writing a book?" The answer is two-pronged. On one hand, many of the thoughts I have simply take too long to explain in any other way. You only need to see blank faces across the table so many times before you decide that maybe your ideas need a new vehicle. So, for me, the choice was to either let these ideas come and go or to start

This World Is Not Deterministic...

2004-09-06T22:28:00.000-04:00

This world is not deterministic. There is no fate. There is no "things happen for a reason." There is action and reaction. Period. And if there ever was a "grand plan," we humans would have ruined it long ago. At every moment in time, an infinite number of circumstances, some in whose creation we are accomplices and some that occur randomly, are triggering human emotions that define the nature of

Looks Like We Still Have A Long Way To Go

2004-08-30T01:03:00.000-04:00

Ever seen the ad for the 1933 Double Eagle Gold Coin? I saw it just now on the History Channel. "It's the rarest $20 gold piece and the single rarest coin ever struck. Our Treasury Department estimates its worth at up to $8 million dollars!" Now, so I heard, you can get your own government issued $20 piece at, are you sitting down, face value. That's right, if you act now, you get an $8 million

The Status-Oriented Inferiority Complex

2004-08-27T23:28:00.000-04:00

I know a Brazilian girl who is attractive, smart, and has a great personality. She's down to earth, open-minded, and accepting of everyone. The problem is that she doesn't know it. Or maybe she knows it, but it doesn't matter. There is something else that hinders her ability to realize her value as a human being. She comes from a poor family. In other words, she started life with very

Mindless Allegiance to Extinct Political Ideology

2004-08-21T00:25:00.000-04:00

I find it quite interesting to consider the terms liberal and conservative in the context of our two political parties. In the strictest sense, to be liberal is to support change; to be conservative is to support the status quo. So, given the fact that the democrats are the liberal party in the US, one would think that their platform would be all about change. On the other hand, we should expect

Education and the Time Horizon of Maturity

2004-08-20T01:56:00.000-04:00

Over time, I have become increasingly convinced that maturity is a function of how much considerations of the future play into one's decision-making process. Now that I am a father and am able to witness the development of a little human from birth, my belief is stronger than ever. My nine month old son is light years from mature, and it shows by the fact that his actions are dictated entirely

The Resistance to Truth - Part 2

2004-08-18T01:09:00.000-04:00

We all know the question, "If a tree falls in the woods and no one hears it, did it make a sound?" The answer is yes. We know because the laws of science that dictate how the impact of the falling tree will produce sound waves do not change, regardless of whether there are human ears present. The fact that the tree makes a sound is what you could call a truth, but is it an absolute truth? It

The Iraqi Federalist Papers - The Prerequisites for Freedom

2004-08-13T00:10:00.000-04:00

The latest reports say that US casualties in Iraq have topped 1000. Sad as it is, and recognizing that the number is still dwarfed by the 58,000 and 400,000 of Vietnam and WW2, the Iraqis, it seems, have not sufficiently taken up the burden of securing their future as a free country. This is not much of a surprise. History has shown that there is a tragic irony on the path to western nation

The Resistance to Truth – Part 1

2004-08-10T02:01:00.000-04:00

I am constantly smacked in the face by this country’s determination to deny the truth. It has not always been this way. I can remember being a kid and being told the story of how a boyhood George Washington admitted to chopping down a cherry tree, even though he knew his father would punish him. The point of the story, though I have since heard it isn’t true, was to