Foundation – the sources and reasons for our motivations

In my foundational posts I write about our motivations and values, and why we do and should give a crap about anything at all. Everyone has something to protect, some cause or reason to wake up in the morning – but it’s not always easy to remember. I strive to take joy in the merely real.

Some specific topics covered: motivation, something to protect, the awesomeness of reality, fundamental values, the “reason’s why”, existential risks

We All Need To Be Behavioral Biologists

Foundation

Understanding human behavior is valuable. Robert Sapolsky strongly expresses this sentiment in the first class of his Human Behavioral Biology course, taught at Stanford University in 2010 (it is available for free online and I have begun to summarize it). It is a sentiment I share. In the very first class, Sapolsky takes the time to emphasize to […]

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Where This Blog is Headed

Foundation

Why read what I write? What are my plans for alexvermeer.com, and why should you care? The start of a new year is the chance to review our plans and get the most out of the next year. A big part of my review and planning this year revolved around this blog. A while ago […]

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First World Problems – reddit.com

Foundation

Sometimes I need to take a step back and remember how amazing we have it in a developed country, and have a good laugh at myself for being worried or angry or stressed about relatively minor things. Perfect examples can be found on reddit‘s First World Problems page. People post their problems that could only […]

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Our Pale Blue Dot

Foundation

It’s hard to truly grasp the incredible vastness of space. It’s equally hard to grasp how tiny humanity is. In 1990, at the request of Carl Sagan, NASA turned the cameras from Voyager 1 back towards earth. Earth, being around 6 billion kilometers away, is only a fraction of a pixel. Titled the Pale Blue […]

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