Are you comfortable in your own skin? If so, you're not alone.
The World Is Not Your Antagonist
Dear Daughters, A few days ago, one of you--no need to say which--returned from a sleepover to discover that your sisters, your mother, and (yeah, okay) your father had finished off the rest of your leftover birthday cake while you were gone. Understandably miffed, you complained that we had clearly conspired against you, depriving you …
My Original Scar
My first significant injury somehow makes for a fond memory.
Human Evolution, Step by Step
The long story of human evolution, in fewer than 800 words.
Country Roads: A True Fable
Going faster is only better if you know where you're headed and actually want to get there. Twice a year every year of my childhood, we would drive to Parkersburg, West Virginia, to visit my grandmother. In the early years especially, these trips could be pretty horrific. Our family car, a 1970 Chevy Nova, featured …
Listen: Each Person Hears the Symphony Differently
Dear Daughters, When it comes to our ability to take in information, we humans share a bunch of limitations. Our common genetic inheritance allows our eyes to see only in certain types of light, restricts our ears to hearing only certain sorts of sound, and establishes the relative sensitivity of our skin. Sure, each of …
Continue reading Listen: Each Person Hears the Symphony Differently
You Can’t Handle the Truth. (Really, You Can’t.)
Since graduate school at least, I've believed (and occasionally argued) that truth is best thought of as a property of reflections on or about the world--a characteristic of statements, arguments, or even works of art. This is hardly an original claim: Ludwig Wittgenstein, W.V.O. Quine, and many others have made more eloquent arguments for this …
Continue reading You Can’t Handle the Truth. (Really, You Can’t.)
Human Communication Always Happens in the Flesh
Two days ago, while I was working on a communications plan for a product release (which I promise I won’t go into), I was suddenly struck by a fundamental fact: Human communication is always incarnate communication. Period. Hard stop. No exceptions. We communicate in the flesh or not at all. Put another way: if and …
Continue reading Human Communication Always Happens in the Flesh
What Are Truths?
If I'm going to have a blog called "Truths and Wonders," then I should probably define "truths" and "wonders."
