This weekend's "to do" list:
- Simplify.
- Embrace absurdity.
- Write your own obituary.
- Use your left hand instead of your right hand as much as possible (or vice versa if you're a southpaw).
- Create something: poem, artwork, song, log cabin, whatever.
- Share a secret with a stranger.

Daniel Gilbert: "Economies thrive when individuals strive, but because individuals will only strive for their own happiness, it is essential that they mistakenly believe that producing and consuming are routes to personal well-being... The production of wealth does not necessarily make individuals happy, but it does serve the needs of an economy, which serves the needs of a stable society, which serves as a network for the propagation of delusional beliefs about happiness and wealth."

Existential risk is a topic that doesn't get nearly the attention it deserves. Although it would be very difficult to eliminate all life on this planet, human civilization is becoming quite fragile, and numerous experts estimate the likelihood that human civilization will not survive another 100 years to be 20-50%. If that sounds overly pessimistic, I encourage you to research the subject and learn why they're so concerned. Here are some great articles on the subject:
Existential Risks by Nick Bostrom
Cognitive biases potentially affecting judgment of global risks by Eliezer Yudkowsky
Artificial Intelligence and Global Risk by Eliezer Yudkowsky
How to Destroy the Earth by Sam Hughes
Risks to Humanity
Some scientists' views of the biggest threats to Earth
"Some people say that the global elimination of poverty will end the nuclear risk, but the U.S. used nuclear weapons in 1945 when it was the richest nation on Earth. People will justify their use. What holds it in check is the lack of knowledge, the degree to which materials are controlled, and deliverability. We are losing on all of those fronts." - Warren Buffett

Whether you're an entrepreneur looking for the next big thing or a student of life seeking to understand the world, asking a lot of questions is a good tactic. Here are a few questions I've been asking myself recently:
- Why isn't there a 'buy this song' button on my car radio?
- Why don't coats have a 'warmth factor' on the label, telling you how many degrees warmer you'll feel with the coat on?
- Why do our cars have power windows and keyless entry but our houses, which we spend ten times as much on, don't?
- Why is it that meaningful political change is almost impossible even in a democratically elected representative system of government?
- Why do we say the alarm "went off" when it actually went on?
- Is there a Zealand?
- Why are there so many songs about rainbows, and what's on the other side?

Here's the latest batch of nontrivia:
- According to a recent Gallup poll, about a quarter of Americans say they believe both in evolution's explanation that humans evolved over millions of years and in the creationist explanation that humans were created as is about 10,000 years ago.
- Of the $4 trillion in money circulating in the U.S., only about 10% of it is actual cash and coins. The rest is just information.
- According to Consumer Reports, 83% of fresh, whole broiler chickens in the U.S. contain campylobacter or salmonella, the leading bacterial causes of foodborne disease.
- One third of the world's population lives on US$2 per day or less.
- Mohammad (along with its variant spellings) is now the second-most popular baby name in the U.K., and is on track to be #1 soon. Thomas, which experts agree is the best baby name, is third on the list.

Four completely unrelated thoughts sharing space in my mind today:
Season 1 of one of the best shows ever, Picket Fences, is out tomorrow. The fact that so few people appreciate good TV that a show like this has been syndicated only very infrequently since it first aired is a sad commentary.
It looks like Stephen Colbert isn't going to run for president, so I guess I'll throw my substantial political clout behind Ron Paul.
Why is it legal to advertise and market to children, who our legal system doesn't see as qualified to make most other decisions by themselves?
Japan gets game shows like this and we get "deal or no deal"? It's not fair.

Interesting stuff I've come across recently:
Lotteries are terrible as wealth redistribution systems, but they're even worse as happiness redistribution systems.
Rob Gonsalves is my new favorite artist.
The federal government recorded a $1.3 trillion loss last year, about 5 times the official $248 billion deficit, when corporate-style accounting standards are used.
Funny (and pathetic) comparison of what products look like in ads and what they really look like.

Our culture is obsessed with intelligence. Media coverage of our society's smartest people is ceaseless. And savvy marketers know the masses want to be more like these special people, so it's almost impossible to watch TV without being subjected to a barrage of commercials telling you that you can become smarter too. And the claims they make are ridiculous... "10 IQ points in 10 days, guaranteed!" Don't believe these snake oil salesmen. The only way to get smarter is with years of painstaking effort. Or at least that was the case until now. I just discovered a site that really can make you smarter, remarkably fast, and you'll probably enjoy it as well. The site offers a collection of brain games to get your neurons firing the way they're supposed to. I've been using the site for only a week and I feel smarter already. Pretty soon I'm going to need to upgrade to a bigger skull, but it's worth it.
http://www.lumosity.com

A few more of my favorite quotes:
"Human beings are a species splendid in their array of moral equipment, tragic in their propensity to misuse it, and pathetic in their constitutional ignorance of the misuse." - Robert Wright
"Three million souls can be starved and murdered in the Congo and our Argus-eyed media scarcely blink. When a princess dies in a car accident, however, a quarter of the earth's population falls prostrate with grief. Perhaps we are unable to feel what we must feel in order to change our world." - Sam Harris
"If there is anything the nonconformist hates worse than a conformist it's another nonconformist who doesn't conform to the prevailing standard of nonconformity." - Bill Vaughan
"Ideas can flourish if they preserve the social systems that allow them to be transmitted. Because individuals don't usually feel that it is their personal duty to preserve social systems, these ideas must disguise themselves as prescriptions for individual happiness." - Daniel Gilbert
"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around you could miss it." - Ferris Bueller

In The Desert, Allen Wheelis argues that people want freedom of choice on small decisions but not on big decisions, so they contrive necessity. There are both mandatory necessities and arbitrary necessities; if one isn't paying attention the latter can become the former, and most people don't realize the distinction at all, so all necessities feel mandatory. Often the necessity is internal and conscious but not considered part of the "I". To an outsider it would seem that there was a choice, but a very easy one (i.e. one consideration overwhelmed the others, so the best choice was clear), but it doesn't feel that way on the inside. Is this position correct? If so, it might at least partially explain people's willingness to be controlled (by morality, government, cultural norms, etc), as well as the tendencies toward inertia and an unwillingness to ask the big questions. It also accords well with new evidence that having too many options leads to less happiness; perhaps a reduction of perceived control and the abdication of responsibility that accompanies it are mechanisms for coping with the modern world's overabundance of options.

It's been awhile since I rapped at ya. It's been a busy few months for me, but I should have more time in the coming weeks and months to post again. I suppose a quick update is in order. A few weeks ago I figured out the meaning of life but I forgot to write it down and now I can't remember it. Sorry about that! When CNN's coverage of the Anna Nicole Smith trial started to wane I became quite distraught... thank goodness for Paris Hilton! Following her trial and tribulations should keep me busy at least until there's something else newsworthy happening in the world. I'm happy to report that my screenplay, Unbreakable, is now running off-Broadway (specifically, the Paducah Community College Centre for the Arts) and has been receiving rave reviews. One critic even found it necessary to quote the Bard himself: "a tale... full of sound and fury..." or something to that effect. Other than that, my calendar has been pretty evenly split between relaxing, lazing, loafing, chillin', and sucking the marrow out of life in my own introspective, risk-averse way.