Mini Posts

*None of these are meant to be authoritative, rather they are meant to be treated as casual remarks that are supposed to be argued*

Also some of these no longer makes sense to me (lol)

On "Unpopular Opinion"

People attach "unpopular opinion" to his/her opinion instead of "popular" because the latter risk the person giving the opinion an imperious image to the opinion, and indirectly to his own self. Paradoxically, people don't give unpopular opinions as they are supposed to do. It is normal to avoid unnecessary conflicts. This trend happens also due to the illusion of one's own uniqueness that can be portrayed by putting forward these "unpopular opinions". "Unpopular opinions are not attempts to give uncelebrated opinions a voice. It is a trend that rides on individualism, where it is driven by the illusion of uniqueness perceived by individualism as a virtue based on how it differentiates oneself from a group. 

Why I celebrate irrationality

Irrationality in actions can be seen when someone refuses to do something just because he/she does not feel like it. Most people will regard this stupid or naïve. While I don't disagree, I prefer to also add another dimension to this irrationality, where I see it as one of the things that makes us human. I see it as both one that creates trouble but also opens up doors for progress.

IQ Tests

One of the essentials of understanding is detecting patterns. IQ tests use this as a way to evaluate intelligence by displaying questions that contain certain patterns. The time taken to answer and the score are examples of parameters used to dictate one's score. IQ tests are however, guided isolations of elements. In a real life situation, elements involved are more ambiguous because of the myriads of possibilities. This is due to several factors: perspective, definitions, etc. To confine a real life situation, requires another skill which is to understand the inherent quality/definition of the elements considered involved. Different elements have different interrelationship and thus, bring forth different patterns.

The "analogical" nature of the world

The world isn't analogous by nature, but by observation. We make sense by relating and thus, a connection is fabricated in the process. And the connection is an imitation of another connection. And thus, an illusion of analogy is formed. Since we are restricted to only communicate our analogies among ourselves, the variations aren't too far fetched. Whether we want to regard our own analogies as unique, depends on how we want to accept different combinations of similar fundamentals as unique.

A good observation

What is more valuable in a good observation? The meticulousness in the act of perceiving or the good judgement that follows?

Unpredictability of behaviour

I underestimated the unpredictability of behaviour. And perhaps the blame is on me for trying to thread to the workings of a heart with futile calculations.

Repetitive application

It is difficult to navigate through reality with newly acquired knowledge. Application of knowledge gets better with repeated application, not repeated reading. Problem probably roots from the limited capability of our memory which leads to the need for experience in forming good intuition. There are exceptions, especially in situations that do not require extensive understanding of particular technical knowledge. These kind of situations will not demand us to rely on experience based intuitions. Applications doesn't always have to be evident. Solving a question mentally is considered as an application of knowledge (with the help of necessary facts/guidance)

Bias in science

Whatever that requires assumptions is susceptible to bias. In science, 2+2 can be 5. You only need framed empirical evidences, and tweaks to your conclusion.

Understanding systems

Understanding a system is an art. Is it a traditional one to two sequence? Or does it involve going back and forth? What are the one and two representing?

Ladder of abstraction

Amazing that it is possible to propose the idea of loving humanity as a whole, when it is nearly impossible to do so for every single living human (due to flaws in character for example). This is a form of abstraction according to the Ladder of Abstraction. A voluntary form of ignorance.

Seeing knowledge

I'm trying to recall how I see "knowledge" or even more accurately, "humanity's collective knowledge". When I was a child, I thought of things that I have to learn as unnecessarily hard puzzles. Then, I grow to regard it as the real definitive truth. Eventually, I found out about the endless debates, arguments and the involvement of perspective, bias and opinions in the building blocks that constitute this collective knowledge that we have. Now, I've stepped back and am starting to contemplate on the existence of certain "knowledge" that will forever be outside of the realm that can be explored by this collectivity.