Includes stuff about anything where feedback causes the system to adapt, including the systems of nature, those that are man-made or cultural, and those of the human mind.
What are “grups,” you might ask? It’s from the original Star Trek: “Grups” is a nerdy reference to an old Star Trek episode in which Kirk and crew land on a planet run entirely by kids, who call grown-ups “grups.” All the adults have been killed off by a terrible virus, which also slows the …
Continue reading ‘“Up With Grups: The Ascendant Breed of Grown-Ups Who Are Redefining Adulthood”’ »
In the two years since I discovered that my condition had a name, I’ve learned a lot about autism. This article, from the blog that originally drew my attention to it, has a very good summary of it — and indirectly points out that, despite the challenges that it creates, a little autism can be …
Continue reading ‘“An Autistic Mind Opens Mine (Can It Open Yours?)”’ »
I’ve mentioned a couple times before that machines just seem to like me. Apparently I’m not alone: The one thing I do have in my favour is fairy dust: I have the innate ability to correct computer problems, especially software issues, by magic. Allow me to explain. Have you read in the more fantastical papers …
Bruce Schneier, the well-known security expert (warning: that’s an extremely tongue-in-cheek encryption-geekery fan-site), has a new essay on his (real) site today, and it touches on a subject that I’ve talked about before: how at some point in the near future, technology will make it possible for single individuals or small groups to cause destruction …
This is why I say that we should make no drastic changes until the science results are final. (They’re not, yet — the conclusions there could still be reversed by fresh evidence.)
Those of us who think about these things have been saying that for decades. I hope people listen soon enough for it to do humanity some good.
Last Sunday I was out with a friend, and through distraction and inattention I made a dumb and very visible mistake. My friend didn’t seem to feel that it was any big deal, and I quickly corrected it and figured out how to prevent such mistakes in the future, but for the rest of the …
In which the villains finally get their come-uppance. Remember the scammers I talked about several times last year? They didn’t stop, I just stopped reporting on them. We’ve been averaging a call from them every couple weeks since then, all from the “Windows Support Department” or “Windows Technical Service Department” (of what company, they never …
Playing with some random thoughts recently, I wondered: if the Lefkoe Belief Method can eliminate deep-seated false beliefs from your subconscious mind, is it possible to install new ones that you’ve chosen? It wouldn’t be as straightforward. Given the success of the Lefkoe method, the model of beliefs it proposes is very likely to be …
(This is a continuation of my last two articles, here and here, on a mental health technique I discovered a few months ago.) It used to be that your mental health didn’t matter much to most people. Your family probably cared, assuming they weren’t too screwed up to do so, as an unfortunate number of …
Continue reading ‘…and Why Your Neighbors Should Care Too’ »