There are some facts that it's worth knowing about addicts and addiction, because these facts have started to broadly affect the world. Not just that there are a lot of addicts, but that some aspects of their behavior have started to influence the culture. But first, let's talk about those facts about addicts. The first and most important thing to know about a person with an addiction is: AN ADDICT WILL SAY ANYTHING IN ORDER TO GET THEIR "FIX."

In the world today, there is a lot of celebration of the completion of work, but not as much celebration of the effectiveness of work. You see this in all industries and in all subjects. It is very common to see a news article celebrating the fact that some project has been done, and then operating on the assumption that it was successful because it was expensive, or beautiful, or done by some famous person/company. Rarely do you see actual numbers demonstrating the effectiveness of that work.

Whenever there is a disaster, people are prone to want to do something about it. As a result, most people will accept any solution that is provided, most of the time, as long as it counts as "doing something about it." If a person sets fire to a building, there are tons of things you … Continue reading Root Causes →

How can people believe things that are obviously untrue? Well, I can demonstrate it to you. Everybody knows that people have five senses: sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell. Except that this is obviously untrue. Like, so obviously untrue that I can easily prove it to you in this post. Have you ever experienced an … Continue reading Things that are Obviously Untrue →

Most politicians seem to have some vast idea of these huge groups of people that need to have "something done about/for them." As a result, they take these actions that are vast generalities that end up harming as many people (or more people) than they help. In fact, most human rights disasters throughout history are … Continue reading People want to live their lives, not your agenda →

A lot of people (and a lot of philosophers throughout history) have been confused about the subject of truth. Some people believe that if somebody has done "a study" that means that the data produced by that "study" is true. Others believe that if something is written in a book by an authority, then that … Continue reading What is truth? →

I've had a few people say to me, "Wow, you're good at everything." That's not really true, but there are some things I've become pretty good at. I get the impression that some people feel like it's magical or that I have some special ability that others don't have. But that's not true. To explain … Continue reading Competence →

A lot of people have been tricked into "fighting" things in a way that actually reduces their own freedom and perpetuates the thing that they are trying to eliminate. I've had some trouble expressing this, because it's hard to explain, but I think I've found a way to explain it adequately. There are three types … Continue reading Fighting →

I'm all for stopping people from spreading hateful messages that attack people for their race, religion, country of origin, etc. It's foul and harmful. But when you support laws against hate speech, you're essentially trusting the government to make a decision about what is and isn't okay to communicate about. Okay, you say, maybe that's … Continue reading Hate Speech →

One of the qualities of an insane person is the inability to differentiate things that are different--to say that two things that are actually different are instead similar or identical. Consequently, insane people (or at least, evil people) tend to take two things that are different and say they are the same. A classic example … Continue reading Differences and Identities →