We think...

that innovation in the classroom will improve student achievement and success. It won't. Students need supportive, interested parents who value education. Schools need to emphasize basic thinking and expression skills above all else. Computers, Smart boards, and all the other gadgets have nothing to do with motivation, perseverance, and encouragement.

that social media, emailing, or any e-communication is just as good as the real thing (face-to-face). It isn't. We are now seeing measurable erosion in empathy, communication skills, and increases in cyber bullying, malevolent gossiping and stalking-like behaviors. I'll take it a step further: I think that the greed we see in ever-increasing amounts in individuals and corporations and governments is the result of this disconnection.

we are smarter than our predecessors. We aren't. We haven't learned a Goddamn thing more about love, respect, art, music, and the long list of the most important things in life.

health insurance companies are on our side. No they're not. They are companies; they exist to earn profit, and the best way to do that is to charge through the nose, and to deny services. Doesn't anyone get this? Yeah, sure, insurance companies are on our side.

our FaceBook friends are really friends. How many of them would come immediately to your aid if you were in trouble? Almost none of them. Well, you'd get a post on your page like this: sorry you're having trouble - doesn't that suck?

we have to be right all the time. Actually, this has been found to be toxic in relationships of the romantic kind. And I suspect it is toxic in most situations. Born of narcissism, demonstrating that one needs to be right is a very destructive behavior when chronically exhibited.

we are very different than the next person, the pet we care for, the bacteria we extinguish without blinking an eye. I have news for you: we are inextricably linked. Your dog has the same core emotions you have. The bacteria you hate? We are killing ourselves by not allowing natural immunities to develop. Different than the next person? I guess so - other folks have different skin hues, different daily struggles, and different languages and customs (you know, the stuff that makes us interesting.) That's about it.

we need lots of stuff to be happy. Actually, we need lots of stuff to be sufficiently distracted from what really matters. No, really. Lots of folks - mostly Americans - don't want to get down there into the nitty gritty of living. They, we, want to stay with the superficial. It won't matter much for now. Not until we are laid bare on our deathbeds, asking whether anybody loved us.

Items to Ponder

I awoke this AM with thoughts to convey:

1.  A theory is a well-organized, extremely well-tested system that explains observed phenomena. We use the word extremely casually, and I am sure the average person has no idea that when you are confronted with a true theory, you are in the midst of a very sophisticated collection of hypotheses and explanations. A theory is high level; it is not just what you think at the moment about something, which is its most common mis-usage. We ought to be using the word "hypothesis" instead.

There are "big" theories and there are "little" ones. Most are small, specific and not necessarily connected to bigger pictures. Big ones include Einstein's relativity theories, Freud's theory of mind, and the theory of Evolution. Most of the big theories are well-tested by perhaps tens of thousands of experiments, although Freud's is unable to be directly tested using scientific experimentation. The theory of evolution, despite what those who would deny it, is so well-tested that it is incontrovertible in most of it's parts. Good theories predict well and are widely applicable: the theory of evolution is a good theory.

Evolution, while officially labeled a theory, is actually so consistently shown to be predictive and accurate at all levels of investigation, that most scientists refer to it as fact.  Even the last pope stated he believed that evolution and the "bible" are not contradictory. How could they be? Seems to me the bible is a theory about the beginnings and procession of life. But it is an unreliable one, not more than  Freud's, because it is not in any way testable or predictive. Faith is not science.

Science is a system of knowing, and religion is about conjuring faith and belief. If science was about faith, we would have none of the gadgets, conveniences, many of the necessities (like vaccines), and few of the fun things we enjoy. If faith was science, we could test it in ways other than simply deciding that our faith is measured in our withstanding trials and tribulations.

2.   Well, anyway, I am glad that some people have more positive energy because of religion. I think some people need a system of rules to be productive, to live a good life, to treat others fairly and justly. I have no desire to take that from them. The world would soon descend into chaos! Religion, as with anything else, can be an agent of good or far less. Sometimes religion is about control and the greed of church leaders. It's also sometimes about the need for nations to justify their horrific treatment of their citizens or of other nations.

What would the world be like if the money spent of church edifices and "missions" and the lining of leaders' pockets all went to helping the poor and disadvantaged directly? Isn't that what God (if you believe in her) would want?