The Problem with Atheism by Sam Harris

I’ve been a quiet non-believer for most of my adult life but have always felt uncomfortable with the term “atheist.” I never liked the idea of representing my beliefs–yes, I know a bad word–with a term that describes what I don’t believe in. The term “atheist” feels nihilistic and negative, and does not describe what I believe in (secular humanism, rationalism, skepticism, reasonalism?, non-supernatural spiritualism). Sam Harris’ speech captures this issue perfectly. It’s long, but worth every minute. I just bought his “Letter to a Christian Nation” and will buy “End of Faith” very soon.

I hope you enjoy the read as much as I did:

http://newsweek.washingtonpost.com/onfaith/sam_harris/2007/10/the_problem_with_atheism.html

See the video at: http://www.samharris.org/site/media_video/

What you know vs. what you don’t know (part 2)

This is my second attempt to explain this little jewel taught to me by Dr. Dan Garber, professor of Engineering at the University of Maryland (sometime around 1979). See my original attempt.

A couple of people have commented “doesn’t the yellow circle represent your current knowledge better than the blue circle?” Answer: “No.” First, the total body of knowledge is roughly infinite and thus needs to have infinite dimensions, and is therefore represented by the infinite plane that the circle is drawn on. The area inside the circle represents your current knowledge. In this metaphor, it would need to be an area covering gained knowledge, not a line with zero area. As you grow older and gain more knowledge, the circle expands and the area grows. [Obviously, a more sophisticated model would be n-dimensional and much more uneven than a circle, but let’s not go there. ] The yellow circle is the edge between what you know and what you don’t know. You can think of the edge as your `knowledge horizon.’ Beyond the yellow is the stuff that you don’t know. And, so the point is that as your knowledge grows (area in the circle), your `knowledge horizon’ also grows, and thus your perception of how much you still have to learn grows too.

Again, it’s simple, maybe a little trite, and cutesy, but it reminds me of Dr. Garber’s kind, fatherly mentoring and reminds me not to get carried away with my own brilliance.

What you know vs. what you don’t know

A few of my friends and I were talking the other night about professors that had left a deep impression on them. And, I recalled Dr. Dan Garber at the University of Maryland Civil Engineering department around 1979. He taught me “Statics” and “Dynamics” classes and was a tough, but fair teacher. I would occasionally stop by his office to ask questions and often received jewels of wisdom (and fatherly advice). He was a wonderful teacher.

The jewel that I remember the most clearly was a response to me complaining that there was just too much to learn. He smiled and said something like “Let me draw you a picture…” At which point he drew a small circle and said “the area in the circle represents how much you know.” He then pointed to the perimeter of the circle and said: “And, this is how much you THINK you don’t know. You know, the unknown and mysteries that you can see, but do not yet understand.” And then he added the kicker: “And, as your knowledge grows, so does the perimeter of the circle and your realization of how much more you need to learn. In other words, kid, it only gets worse.”

While simple and possibly trite, this image has stayed with me and has been a good reminder whenever I start thinking that I have it all figured out.

Added: Note: A couple of people have commented “doesn’t the yellow circle represent your knowledge better than the blue circle?” Answer: “No.” First, the total body of knowledge is roughly infinite and thus needs to have infinite dimensions, and is therefore represented by the infinite plane that the circle is drawn on. The area inside the circle represents your current knowledge. In this metaphor, it would need to be an area covering gained knowledge, not a line with zero area. As you grow older and gain more knowledge, the circle expands and the area grows. [Obviously, a more sophisticated model would be n-dimensional and much more uneven than a circle, but let's not go there. ] The yellow circle is the edge between what you know and what you don’t know. You can think of the edge as your `knowledge horizon.’ Beyond the yellow is the stuff that you don’t know. And, so the point is that as your knowledge grows (area in the circle), your `knowledge horizon’ also grows, and thus your perception of how much you still have to learn grows too.

Again, it’s simple, maybe a little trite, and cutesy, but it reminds me of Dr. Garber’s kind, fatherly mentoring and reminds me not to get carried away with my own brilliance.

Moved from Blogger to WordPress

I’ve been using Blogger for a couple of years, but decided today give WordPress a chance to lose my business. And just for the record, I’m no expert in blog tech or culture. But after feeling mildly frustrated with Blogger for a long time and noticing a better look and more flexibility at WordPress, I’m gonna give it a whirl.

It is important to note that I have not done a detailed comparison or analysis. But, this is how most consumers behave–on whims or after something goes wrong–and decided to just follow my instincts.

Blogger was good to me. And, I believe that it is perfectly fine blogging service. It’s free for <insert-deity-here>’s sake. It’s perfect for novices and beginners. But, I always felt hampered or constrained using Blogger. And after asking my active blogging buddies for their opinions, WordPress usually came out on top as the blogging service to use.

So here goes…

Have you ever seen Nicholas Cage and Blake Commagere in the room at the same time?

I worked with Blake Commagere at Plaxo and could not stop thinking how much he reminded me of Nicholas Cage. So I did a little forensic analysis in Photoshop (see photo). You decide.

(ok, so it’s not perfect, but really I see Nicholas Cage in this dude’s face…)

Halo Hunter

Here’s Marius’ costume for Halloween 2006. We worked way too hard on this.

Back to the Future (2006)

This is Dan Ambrosi and I dressed for Halloween 2006. Dan gets the credit for the idea and execution, Redgee Capili (“the greatest guy in the world”) graciously loaned us his Delorean, and I just showed up. [When I was younger, people often said I looked like MJF.] We won “Best Theme” at the Half Moon Bay Yacht Club party.

On the way to Dan’s house, a woman saw me driving the Delorean in full costume and went nuts on the side of the road, hooting and hollering. I guess those movies really had a lasting effect on folks.

Before we made our grand entrance to the party we drove to Half Moon Bay Brewery and pulled up to see what would happen. It was crazy, lots of people came out to the parking lot and had their picture take with us. We were stars (for five minutes).

Our wives and friends dressed as Stepford Wives (and husbands), and won Best Group.

Ring of Dingle pano

Here’s me first try at a pano shot. [darn, it got clipped by blogspot!]

This was taken on the interior arm of the Ring of Dingle drive on the west coast of Ireland. width=”1280″ height=”152″

Dingle is heaven

Just came back from a glorius trip to Ireland. We took Rick Steve’s advice and went directly the west coast, where many of the Gaeltracht (protected Gaelic regions). The west of Ireland is considered the most “Irish” (Gaelic) because many Irish folks migrated in that direction during the centuries of English domination to avoid the cultural laws the prevented the Irish from being Irish.

Anyway, we headed for the Ring of Dingle and Dingletown (aka An Daingean). The Ring of Dingle is a breathtakingly beautiful peninsula drive on the southwest coast of Ireland. We drove the ring twice, even though it is perilous at times with extremely narrow, winding cliff roads. Dingletown is the perfect, little Irish fishing village with amazing pubs playing traditional (“trad”) Irish music every night. This is where the magic happens: both the music and the “craic” (conversation).

So, if you have any interest in the “real Ireland”, here’s what you do: 1) go west to Dingle, Kerry, etc., 2) find a nice B&B (avoid hotels), and 3) go to the nearest pub at 9:30pm and enjoy the music and people. It helps to go back to a pub and start to feel comfortable–you will be amazed at how quickly you feel like a regular.

NOTE: Beware of large crowds of tourists in July and August (you’ve been warned). June was fine.

Here’s a few highlights of our trip:

I couldn’t resist (apologies to Ireland)

View from Ring of Dingle (and our new friend)

Cliffs off Ring of Dingle

Harbor of Dingletown

Harbor of Dingletown

Main road leading to center of Dingletown

Dewey’s turn to be a tourist

Colin (Heather’s brother), Sue (Colin’s wife), and me

Dewey enjoying traditional Irish music.

Typical scene in west of Ireland (Ring of Dingle)

One of hundreds of cairns (ancient burial grounds) across Ireland

Cliffs of Moher (near Doolin, in County Clare)

See my “Ireland (2007)” set at Flickr for more photos…

2007 Bucharest Trip – Day 11 (Last Day)

I’m exhausted in so many ways. We finalized Plan 3.0 today, repeated it about a million times, and got some good stuff done.

I will report more details later, once my head clears.

I cannot wait to get on the airplane, whimper, and stagger back home to my family.