sculpture by christina sarantopoulou. picture by me. like it? click it!
three years ago today i started this blog. i wasn't sure what i wanted to blog about -- and i was even less sure if i could keep it up. i did know i was frustrated with the darkness around me and i felt that i needed to seriously examine my worldview. the blog has served as a notebook for the things that interest me and material i want to keep for future reference.
during most of this time, i've contributed very little original content -- mostly i've shared things that made an impression on me in the hope of replicating more positive memes. a few people have told me it's useful and i guess you never know what will help in the end.
in these three years, i've greatly deepened my perception of the world. it helped that half the time i lived in china and half in greece. i've experience glorious, worldwide events and mundane daily existence. presently, i'm obsessed with photography, riding a steep learning curve and working on improving my images so that they better reflect my thoughts and move others.
compared to three years ago, i'm
more hopeful
less optimistic
more weary
less surprised
more insightful
less patient
more capable
less willing
i have a little tradition at each blogversary to quote a bit of each chapter from carl sagan's the demon-haunted world: science as a candle in the dark. this is the start of my fourth year, so i quote from chapter 4, entitled aliens, which ends:
'the tenets of skepticism do not require an advanced degree to master, as most successful used car buyers demonstrate. the whole idea of a democratic application of skepticism is that everyone should have the essential tools to effectively and constructively evaluate claims to knowledge. all science asks is to employ the same levels of skepticism we use in buying a used car or in judging the quality of analgesics or beer from their television commercials.
but the tools of skepticism are generally unavailable to the citizens of our society. they're hardly ever mentioned in the schools, even in the presentation of science, its most ardent practitioner, although skepticism repeatedly sprouts spontaneously out of the disappointments of everyday life. our politics, economics, advertising and religions (new age and old) are awash in credulity. those who have something to sell, those who wish to influence public opinion, those in power, a skeptic might suggest, have a vested interest in discouraging skepticism.'
-carl sagan
happy blogversary to me:
