A Follow Up Thought on Mr. Jobs' Speech

One additional thought on my last item, the video from Steve Jobs at Stanford. Clearly, he believes that there is an underlying purpose for his life. He is also willing to consider that some choices are not accidents, but part of a plan. Such as, for example, his choice of a typography course after he had "dropped in" on the college he dropped out of.

Because he enjoys remarkable goodwill with the students as an icon of creativity and inventiveness, it seems unlikely that he will draw the ire of any skeptics who doubt the existence of providence and wonder why he is turning these impressionable young minds into believers in the unseen forces of reality. These skeptics have bigger, and easier fundamentalist fish to fry. In other words, they might also be cowards.

The skeptic Michael Shermer said we are "pattern seeking beings" in the video I posted below. Seeking a pattern, he argues, must be restricted to the observable world of science.

While I have become much more suspicious of superstitious thinking about seeing "signs" in your life, I find it unsurprising how deep the hunger is to see such signs. The concern here is not with Darwinian survival, since purpose suggests finality. The concern is with meaning.

Try to deliberately not look for patterns in your life, as I have now, for a while. It's a remarkably difficult thing to do. Maybe you're in a casual habit of doing it yourself. Stop yourself for a while and see what happens.

As a young person, I looked for signs in everything, concerning my career, my romantic relationships, and more. I have stopped looking for signs in these areas because 1) I was often disappointed, and 2) (perhaps because of 1) I have stopped putting so much stock in these things to complete me as a person.

But sometimes, I also wonder if I'm not just clearing away the superstitious noise about every little thing so a bigger sign can make its appearance. LOL

Shermer on Critical Thinking

Here's a fun twenty minute video from the always interesting TEDBlog.com and TEDTalks featuring Michael Shermer of Skeptic magazine, who demonstrates the importance of critical thinking. This video has been around for a while, but my blog has not. Hence, I'm posting a link to it now that I've thought of it.

I don't endorse Shermer's entire worldview, which is atheist and naturalist, but he is clearly a sharp mind worth listening to. My favorite part is about the alleged satanic lyrics in the backwards Led Zeppelin songs.