Feb 25 2013: Feiler backs up his statements with his own research. But you're right, that by itself is somewhat weak.
It's an interesting bias you have that it's "okay" for "this topic" not to have good backing. Family is a very important topic that affects everyone! There is absolutely no reason it should be held to a lower standard of proof.
Jan 26 2013: There's a hungry animal in a cage and a button to feed it and a button to give it a painful electric shock. I know which button is which. You don't. You have to push a button. You ask me which button is which. I may now either tell the truth, lie, or say I don't know. If I think it's likely you will try to give the animal a shock, it may be ethical to lie or say I don't know. If I have no reason to distrust you, it is ethical for me to tell the truth.
If I didn't know which button was which, it would only be ethical for me to say I don't know. But since I do know, ethics require me to use my knowledge responsibly.
Jan 25 2013: Good question. I don't really have any.
I was just thinking of the way it reached my gut when I recently saw http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0508194/.
Jan 25 2013: I want to rewrite math from scratch in such a way that not only is it highly learnable, it's so obvious how every single technique and concept is an analogy for real live things, that people who know it will use it in their lives all the time and thereby live smarter and better. Then a smarter and better society.
The way math is written now, it's not important how concepts are analogous to real phenomena. We don't practice drawing those analogies. So naturally no one cares and no one really benefits. But math is "the discipline which compares the most diverse phenomena and finds the secret analogies that unite them" - Descartes. And it's powerful. So let's use it!
Jan 25 2013: At first I thought I wouldn't do anything differently and seek happiness moment by moment. Then I thought about it.
When I die, society loses the contents of my mind. It would be to their enduring benefit to offer them my best thoughts before I go.
That probably wouldn't happen, though. For the same reason that I don't work on that in the first place. Low self-esteem. I don't feel competent that my ideas are valuable or that I possess the skills to pass them on at all. So I try to forget about it and live comfortably. It sort of works.
Death means no consequences the next day. So no consequences of trying to do something you can't do and failing. This gives people extra confidence. That's why they start thinking of acting on their values then instead of everyday.
Jan 25 2013: Salvador is right. Beat someone up and society puts you in jail. Trick someone into signing something they can't afford, society says you're an innovator. Society blames the victim and calls them irresponsible. Those who benefit from this state of affairs are those with the intelligence to direct the rhetoric to continue the victim blaming.
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A reply on Talk: Bruce Feiler: Agile programming -- for your family
It's an interesting bias you have that it's "okay" for "this topic" not to have good backing. Family is a very important topic that affects everyone! There is absolutely no reason it should be held to a lower standard of proof.
A comment on Talk: Drew Dudley: Everyday leadership
A reply on Conversation: If this were the last day of your life, how would you spend it?
A comment on Conversation: Does the possession of knowledge carry an ethical responsibility?
If I didn't know which button was which, it would only be ethical for me to say I don't know. But since I do know, ethics require me to use my knowledge responsibly.
A reply on Conversation: Can one teach young people to be moral? Is morality something that must be taught in the home? Is it innate?
I was just thinking of the way it reached my gut when I recently saw http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0508194/.
A comment on Conversation: What does the average citizen need maths for?
The way math is written now, it's not important how concepts are analogous to real phenomena. We don't practice drawing those analogies. So naturally no one cares and no one really benefits. But math is "the discipline which compares the most diverse phenomena and finds the secret analogies that unite them" - Descartes. And it's powerful. So let's use it!
A comment on Conversation: If this were the last day of your life, how would you spend it?
When I die, society loses the contents of my mind. It would be to their enduring benefit to offer them my best thoughts before I go.
That probably wouldn't happen, though. For the same reason that I don't work on that in the first place. Low self-esteem. I don't feel competent that my ideas are valuable or that I possess the skills to pass them on at all. So I try to forget about it and live comfortably. It sort of works.
Death means no consequences the next day. So no consequences of trying to do something you can't do and failing. This gives people extra confidence. That's why they start thinking of acting on their values then instead of everyday.
A comment on Conversation: Are our problems beyond politics?
Then a conflict arises. In the process of resolving the conflict, leaders emerge.
We have politics again.
Any conflict we face, we need leaders to resolve. The most challenging enduring conflicts demand leaders more courageous than we have ever seen.
A comment on Conversation: Proposed high school required oath in Arizona
A comment on Conversation: Survival of the smartest: Brains over brawn, why? (moral question)