Shouting From the Rooftops (What, Why this Blog)

The first famous quote I ever bothered to remember, back when I was a child, was Ralph Waldo Emerson: "There is no knowledge that is not power." For all my life, I've been probably the most curious person I know; I *devour* information on a wide variety of topics from every possible source, and this is because I've always felt Emerson's dictum in my bones. I crave knowledge not just for its own sake - ivory tower intellectualism - but because I know that every obstacle I face, every goal I aspire to, is a problem that can be solved if I have the right information. The more I learn, the more possible problems I can solve, the more I can achieve the practical ends of greater health, wealth and happiness in my life.

So, I enjoy reading, thinking about all kinds of different ideas, and now I have decided to start writing about them as well. I will write on this blog to organize the many disparate thoughts that swirl around in my head, and hopefully to contribute to the universe of ideas through anybody who may read this blog.

This blog will be rather ambitious in its scope. I intend to write about a wide variety of topics across disciplines that aren't typically thought of as having much if anything to do with each other. The thread holding it all together will be my conviction that there, in fact, is a thread holding it all together. That is, the rules of the universe are fundamentally the same no matter what scale you are on. The scientific method and mathematical reasoning can help you build particle accelerators, predict the rise and fall of nations, and get you laid.

Most people construct their worldview (to the extent they have one) from a patchwork of non-verbalized intuition, religious doctrine, what they were taught in school, and whatever's in the latest New York Times bestseller. As a result, most people have an incomplete and inconsistent understanding of the world, often to their great detriment. A recurring theme of this blog will be that instead we should build our worldview upon the consensus views of the various scientific fields, and that doing so leads us to some interesting conclusions about how to get what we want out of life.

Life is very frustrating for me sometimes. Everywhere I look, I see bad ideas inflicting needless harm upon the people of the world, myself included. The tragedy of the human condition is not the result of a conflict of interests, a limited supply of resources, or the existence of evil in the world, but of a failure of knowledge. A nearly perfect world is available to us; it only lies off the equilibrium path, blocked by our bad beliefs. I will attempt to clear the way.