Facing Education

1. What's wrong with American education?
   We don't teach. We force students to memorize. You can't force learning. And memorization isn't learning, anyway. You have to inspire learning. Until educators learn this, nothing will change. Copy Finland's system.

2. What's wrong with "teaching to the test?"
   Education loses priority. Second, forget the arts. Music, art, dance. Bye. kids are computers. Before, they were machine parts. We've upgraded to Cog 2.0.

Facing Morality

1. How should I live, for myself or for others?
   Unless you’re a hermit, both. On one hand, people need people. On the other, all sacrifice is strategy. Think human chess. Ultimately, we care only about ourselves.

2. Isn’t everyone equal?
   Equality is the myth of inferiors. Some have more than others. Think of anything - intelligence, talent, athleticism, compassion. That’s life.

   But none of that matters. What matters is to live while you can. Be all you can. Do all you can. Mostly, have fun.

3. Is morality relative or absolute?
   If relative means no one has to agree and that's natural, then that's bullshit, because the whole point of ethics is to live together. If absolute means everyone should agree on a supernatural standard, then I call elephant shit on that one, because look around.

   But some things are universal. No one enjoys involuntary pain. No one wants to die given a way out (or, in). No one wants to fail at goals. No one wants testicular or ovarian cancer.

   Think of anything that you and everyone you know—or almost everyone—wouldn't like or want. These are absolutes, meaning universal agreements. Meaning anything else is meaningless.

Facing Philosophy

1. Do we have free will or not?
   If you mean freedom to choose, then yeah, but limited. You can't fly like Superman.

   Plus, the past is fixed and it leads to the future, so there's only one future if you think about it.

   If you mean control of your thoughts, then same answer. Touch a hot stove sometime.

2. Why do philosophers have to make everything so complicated?
   Ego and necessity. Some think too much of themselves. Some need tenure. But, mostly, that's what a philosopher does - question, explore, imagine. Think of philosophy as mental anthropology.

Facing Physics

1. Is quantum physics the end of the story?
   No, it needs to work with general relativity and vice versa. That would be the beginning of the end.

2. Shouldn't quantum physics add up?
   Uncertainty principally depresses me, but probability is it. It's position or velocity, not both.

   Take parallel worlds. Move A to B. Straight path? No, all possible paths, at once. Then, sum.

   Result: It adds up, sumwhat.

Facing Pseudoscience

• Do aliens exist?
  The best answer is maybe. The word alien in this context simply means life off Earth. While proof evades us, life off Earth almost certainly does exist. We, ourselves, are evidence that space is condusive to aggressively emergent life and there is no reason to think we are unique in this regard.

Facing Religion

1. Does God exist?
   No. Deities were invented to explain life's mysteries.

2. If God doesn't exist, why do millions believe it?
   Comfort.

3. If God doesn't exist, why do we?
   Evolution. Beyond that, who knows?

4. How can you be sure God doesn't exist?
   Logic: Draw a square circle. Can't. Why? Impossible. Same for God.

5. What if you die and God exists?
   Impossible. See above.

6. Isn't belief in God the basis for truth?
   The basis for truth is reality, even if God did exist.

Facing Sociology

• Who's happier, the rich or the poor?
  If you could probe the hearts and minds of everyone who has ever lived, average their happiness over the course of their lives, and then neatly divide them into rich and poor, then I suspect the rich would be happier, but not much. The difference would be significant, but not enough for the poor to work and worry nearly as much as they do today about not being rich.

  But there is no such neat dividing line between rich and poor. Were there one, what would separate the two, namely, amount of ownership and the happiness it affords, becomes indisputably inconsequential at the time of death. All men are created—and destroyed—equal.

  It is better to have the basics of food, shelter, clothing, and medicine, and one should try to earn enough money to satisfy the few desires that can be bought with it. But sacrificing one's life for the sake of it is irrational and a complete waste of time. Most people fail to realize this and spend their lives miserable, always looking forward to a happier future that never arrives due to that very fact.

  Our best bet is to seize the day. In other words, play.