not just random

Here’s Clifford Stoll’s talk at TED.

I especially enjoyed the ending - the anecdote in the last three minutes. Here is his quote from the very end, which I found particularly noteworthy:

All truth is one
In this light
May science and religion
Endeavor here for the steady evolution of mankind
From darkness to light
From narrowness to broadmindedness
From prejudice to tolerance
It is the voice of life
Which calls us
To come and learn.

The fact that he is teaching high school science classes is inspiring. He would be one energetic teacher, able to instill excitement into the minds of his students.

I recently read Blind Spots, by Madeleine L. Van Hecke. It was a quite enjoyable read and encourages to turn rhetorical, at-least-slightly annoyed questions, such “why would you do that?” or “how could you not know?” into the more serious equivalents, questions asked with genuine interest.

Why indeed do people not know things that seem blindingly obvious to you?

Especially during election season, it is often easy to come across discussions where participants have a hard time understanding, why some people just don’t get it. Are millions of people just not thinking that they don’t understand what seems so logical, so right? And often: We just need to make them understand!

Van Hecke discusses ten types of mental blind spots, causes as well as practices to check on and counteract them. Highly, highly recommended.