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Some words are heavily dependent upon context to determine if they are negative or positive.

For example the word discriminating is actually a very positive word in most contexts and negative in only a very few contexts.

The word means having or showing refined taste or good judgment.

What could possibly be wrong with that?

It means that a discriminating person discriminates regarding what they value.

What could be said about a person who did not so discriminate?

Of course, we consider it negative...

I know that I am not alone in considering questions the most important tool in a person's intellectual tool kit.

So, why is that the case?

Let's begin by comparing propositions with questions.

Propositions make a statement.

For example: 'Your choice of a marriage partner will impact your happiness dramatically.'

When you hear that, what is the result?

Perhaps nothing more than a nod of your head in assent.

But very little thinking is generated. That's because propositions are not generative.

Now...

What are the characteristics of those who wish to rule over others?

The despotically inclined are without exception narcissists, and sociopaths, if not psychopaths.

Thus they are completely self-centered and incapable of empathy or sympathy for others.

They were often bullies growing up.

These figures are uniquely qualified to rise in political circles.

The term individualism often gets a bad rap these days.

That's unfortunate since the individual is the essential component of every group and the smallest minority on earth.

The term is often used in such a way as to insinuate that the individual is always inherently and negatively selfish and therefore unconcerned with the well-being of others.

This is not the correct way to understand the concept however.

The individual, like the atom, is the building block of any more complex structure or...

I find it fascinating that two people observing the same set of circumstances can come to such widely differing assessments of their implications.

The one holds a rather optimistic view of the future while the other seems to consider the universe as malevolent and the future dark.

Consequently, when one considers this disparity they realize that the divergent assessments have little if anything to do with the circumstances themselves and everything to do with the person's preexisting...

Tools of all types, are force multipliers.

This is the case with levers and pulleys, and is also the case with language.

Force multipliers do just what their name implies. They enable us to multiply human force (ability) of one type or another.

Pulley systems allow us to lift objects impossible for us to move using only our brute strength.

Levers make possible the same.

Language is a different type of force multiplier.

In enables us to aggregate the knowledge of the ages and thus increase our...

My best friend has a rather dysfunctional family. Perhaps dysfunctional families are more prevalent than I am aware of.

My friend has begun referring to these dysfunctional family members as twisted.

I've never considered using the term twisted to refer to such people, but I can see the logic in it.

The opposite of twisted is straight.

However, if we refer to someone as straight today we are construed to be speaking about their sexual orientation.

Some characteristics of twisted people are that...

Leave it to the French in the person of Jean Jacque Rousseau to come up with a nonsensical explanation regarding what you and I owe to society.

The notion is that at some point persons unidentified agreed to a contract which placed social obligations upon all of us.

This is utter rubbish, fabricated by minds too smart for their own good, and capable of making fine and superficially sound arguments for ridiculous ideas.

Some even go so far as to claim that our Constitution is just such a...

Evil is the absence of good as darkness is the absence of light.

Without the good and the light, the evil and the darkness could not exist.

I have a rule which I think everyone would benefit from adopting if they haven't already done so.

I am inflexible with regard to my moral principles, but quite flexible with regard to my methods of implementing them.

It has been said that it isn't who gets to vote, but rather who gets to count the vote that matters.

Likewise, it isn't who gets to make the laws or even the laws themselves that matter but rather who gets to interpret the laws.

It almost always comes down to who decides.

Ambition is often characterized these days as something negative and to be avoided.

This is unfortunate since it is the ambition of others which has served to make our lives healthier and in every other regard, more enjoyable.

Many times today when a person says that something is complex they are essentially attempting to throw sand in the gears of our thinking.

They are suggesting that viable solutions are inaccessible to our feeble minds, and that searching for them is a fool's errand.

This is nothing but rubbish of course.

It is indeed true that life in general today, and many specific aspects of it are complex.

That is why principles are so crucial. They can cut through complexity like a hot knife through ice...

We are entering another era of massive disruption.

Other disruptions were the printing press, the advent of the internet and social media.

This new disruption will be rather different in its societal implications however.

The nucleus of the disruption is AI.

In its orbit are such things as robotaxis, robobuses, robosemis and other AI driven robotic applications.

This disruption will leave millions upon millions without employment and almost zero options for any other worthwhile work.

The laptop...

When did I first notice

The loss I have acquired

Danced across my memory

An invitation long expired

Often wonder haunts me

As to what just might have been

Little left to ponder

When once the ends begin

Former times and lovers

Dimly light the way

To try and rediscover

What was the other day

No sense to second guess it

The past is never lost

We'll simply misremember

And never pay the cost

Escape now contemplated

No path yet clear perceived

Only wishful thinking

Hoping to be deceived

Why did no one tell me

Why hide such things from me

I might not have made the journey

On this tumultuous sea

Avoidance is no option

No chance escape provides

What role am I to play then

In what my fate decides

Is not it surely better

To such dark truths submit

Than thrash against reality

In vain to alter it

I tend to think of imagination as a third eye if you will.

It allows us to see what may not yet exist.

Einstein claimed that imagination was more important than knowledge.

Of course, they both have their place.

However, what raw materials would imagination have to work with if there was no knowledge preceding it?

I think a parallel exists with music. In order to improvise, the musician must first master the basics of his instrument and the mathematics of music.

There has been a good deal of speculation (so far, it's just that) regarding a connection between autism and creativity.

The jury is still out however since the studies which have been thus far conducted are too small to be conclusive.

In the end the connection may simply prove correlative and not causative.

On a similar note, many of history's most creative geniuses were borderline madmen.

"You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor," and "Courage is the first of human virtues because it makes all other virtues possible". Aristotle

I find the last part of this quote of Aristotle quite informative.

It most certainly requires courage to attempt anything worthwhile.

Imagine if you will, all that might have been, if timidity and cowardice had been overcome and the heroic in us had been allowed to emerge.

The idea of being inspired comes from the Latin inspirare, meaning "to breathe or blow into". The question then becomes: 'Whose doing the blowing?'

In other words, where does inspiration come from?

It can come from a variety of sources. Personal experiences, connecting with nature, exposure to works of art for instance.

Consequently, the responsibility for being inspired rests squarely upon our shoulders.

To be inspired and remain inspired we must make it our habit to expose ourselves to the...