Category: General

  • Does an objective universe exist?

    If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around, does it still make a sound? In my paper on multiple dimensions (Ideas on Consciousness) I point out that one attribute of a dimension is that it is necessary for a physical object to exist. For instance, an object needs to exist in…

  • Why DIY funerals are a bad idea

    Imagine a time, say, in an English village around the thirteenth century. Life revolved around the church and services were held on sundays and holy-days. For better or worse the priest was the guide and mentor. Death was common and unlike today the format of the funeral service followed a strict pattern. Certain prayers were…

  • Cognitive dissonance

    Cognitive dissonance has been defined as the perception of contradictory information. I have written about the importance of cognitive dissonance before. In fact, I would argue that it is essential for a healthy evolution of the mind. If you hear an opinion that contradicts the view of the world you hold there are three options:…

  • On making mistakes

    Many so-called ‘self-help gurus’ will tell you that making mistakes is part of life. You have to make a mistake in order to learn. In fact I recall a business investor who invested in startups saying that he was wary of investing in someone who hadn’t had a business already. If they had a successful…

  • Problem solving

    I read that a well know entrepreneur (I think it was Elon Musk) said that schools should teach problem solving. Well, schools nowadays teach some strange subjects and have moved away from the ‘old fashioned’ three R’s, so I’m sure it would fit in with the views of many progressive school principles. For instance, there…

  • The myth of science

    I’ve written many times before about science and what is called the philosophy of science. That is, the rules of science, the scientific method and the assumptions that scientists make when they do experiments. Nowadays an understanding of real science is becoming more and more important as ‘science’ (or what is referred to as science)…

  • Numbers and words

    There’s an old Jewish joke of the man who sends his son to school – presumably at some expense – so that he could become successful. When the son returns home the father asks him what he has learnt: “We learnt that if I have two apples and Greta has three apples we have five…

  • The holographic universe

    The universe as a brain The concept that the universe is like a hologram is not new. In fact it is the title of a book by Michael Talbot. A hologram is a three-dimensional photograph taken using lasers. Making a hologram A laser beam is split so that one path is reflected by a mirror…

  • The language of the mind

    There’s a view held by many so-called ‘rational’ people that the world works logically, and if we want to understand the world we must use logic (which is often confused with science). There are two kinds of logic: deductive logic and inductive logic. Deductive logic is of this kind: All fruit grows on treesThis is…

  • Why Darwinism can’t explain evolution

    The classic Darwinism theory of evolution is very simply explained as follows: Every organism in the process of reproducing produces random mutations. These mutations may result in no apparent affect to the offspring up to an affect that is so catastrophic that it is unable to survive. Sometimes, however, the change may be such that…