December 1, 2010

What Took You So Damn Long?

HELLO WORLD, first post here, it is long overdue. I have been itching to do this for awhile now, to put up a blog and make time now and then to write about some of the important things rattling around in my brain, going on in the world, or merely taking place in my little personal sphere. It feels good to have a place to get my thoughts out into the cloud, if for no other reason than to maintain a working archive of all my thoughts and major life experiences. I think it makes a lot of sense to have one's own place to do so.

This will probably be a space for a huge mishmash of topics, both in my life and outside of it. There are a number of pretty complex topics that I hope to spend multiple posts addressing, and it is my hope that I'll find some smart people to engage in discussion on these topics. My job in the real world is investment analyst at a buy side investment firm so I spend a lot of time analyzing change and future outlooks in business, economics, government, and sociology. A lot of what I think about and would like to write about involves intersections of these topics as well as other broad areas such as energy policy, technology, education/training, health, and religion. I'll even have some personal posts about my own life because hey, it IS my blog after all.

Tying all these posts together will be some core beliefs/characteristics of mine. One, I am an optimist who believes in change, progress, and the collective capacity of the human race. I have recently been reading Matt Ridley's "The Rational Optimist" and it has certainly reinforced these ideals. More thoughts on ideas from that specific read later. Second, I value problem solving and problem solvers. I do not value idealists who can't reason or change their position when new facts are presented. One of my favorite quotes is from John Maynard Keynes, who said: "When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do sir?" We all come to our own deeply held beliefs in life via circumstances largely out of our control: where we were born, what religion our parents/community have embraced, the organizations that taught/trained us, who we made friends with, etc. It is hard to challenge deeply ingrained opinions, but we MUST do so in order to progress as individuals and as a species. If I ever attract any commentators here, I want to foster an environment of civility and careful, clear thinking. Ideas may be attacked, but not people. This just may be an unusual and refreshing change from a lot of the mainstream "discussion" circles out there.

Thus it begins. Hopefully I am able to post as frequently as I would like.

"The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep. " - Robert Frost

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