My Thoughts to the World

I can't believe it's almost been a year since I became a father! There have been ups and downs throughout but the experience has been overwhelmingly positive. My daughter is just at the age where she can stand on her own and enjoy simple things like going to the park and social events with friends, family, and our community. I can already see her personality coming out little by little and she is, and hopefully will continue to be, a wonderful person. My first identity is now being a father, and being a scientist has shifted into my second identity. I am thankful to be a university professor since it does give me more flexibility to work from home and at least be around for parts of the day, plus I get four months off teaching, giving me more time to be with my daughter. 

Dear Friend: One of my best friends has been battling cancer for over two and a half years. This friend is especially dear to me since we share a special chemistry that few people experience in their lifetime. He is an incredible person and one of the most amazing human beings I’ve ever met. He lives in the UK, which is a 10-hour flight from LA. I was lucky enough to visit him this summer and spend a couple of weeks with him and his lovely wife, who is also very dear to me. We had an incredible time full of laughter, long walks, and great conversations. Before the trip, I told myself to make the most of it and save the tears for later. Sure enough, on the bus after saying our goodbyes, I couldn’t help but cry most of the way to the airport. Thanks to technology, we stay in constant contact, and I hope he can win the battle against cancer so we can create more memories together. Life’s Suffering: When I went to Asia in 2018, I learned a great deal about Buddhism. At its heart, it is a p...

    There is a natural human desire to survive and live forever, but all life eventually comes to an end. Life by definition includes death although some exceptions like cancer cells and  Tardigrades are found in nature. I believe that when we die, it means the end of our existence hence I do not believe in an afterlife. For a long time, this made me sad, since I grew up Christian and thinking there is a heaven. More recently, I see death as a positive thing nowadays, since it is the end of suffering and the only path to real eternal peace. I do value life more than death and desire to continue to exist, especially for my family who needs me, but I no longer fear death nor see it as a negative as I used to view it. Death is a necessary part of life that we will all go through eventually, so you just have to enjoy life as much as you can while (and if) you have good health.      If there is an afterlife, I would guess that there would be suffering there too,...

For a long time I have been suspecting that there is something false about life. I  remember watching the movie The Truman Show as a kid and for a a little while I thought my life was a show, that I was being observed and monitored somehow, that goes beyond my ability to detect. Since learning about simulation theory, it has slowly crept into my philosophical views of life, shifting my epistemology, ontology, and has even my axiology. This has led me to some mixed thoughts that seem to contradict each other:  The nature of reality doesn't matter. Simulation or now we may all be cogs in a wheel with little to no free will, as human behavior is dictated by evolutionary biology, genetics, the expression of those genetics, environment, nurture, social forces, and other factors that lead to our actions. Our ideas of what reality is or isn't has no effect on the reality we are limited to perceive.  A simulation would make theology true and atheism false, since the creators of ...

  I am a new father as of December 7 to a wonderful baby girl. I have felt a profound love for her while my wife and I were pregnant, but now I am head over heels for her. I wish nothing more than to give her the best life possible, which includes making hard decisions to benefit her. Her birth has triggered a huge shift on my mindset, and I want to be able to provide her with all the opportunities possible. I am so thankful to have her in my life and I am ready to do anything to make sure she will have the best upbringing possible. I hope she serves as a unifying force for my wife and I, so that we can provide her an environment where her parents love and respect each other. I hope to mature as a man and human being, since I recognize my faults and weaknesses and hope to become a better example for my daughter to follow. 

  I wish that all human beings were more caring of other people independent of ethnicity, culture or beliefs. I am firmly against the apartheid system that Israel has carried against the Palestine people, and the obliteration of Gaza.  The genocide of innocent women and children that Israel is carrying out for the whole world to see, will be remembered as one of the most cruel acts of violence from one group of people to another in the history of mankind.  I would never blame Jewish people for the atrocities made by the unpopular government of Israel and their horrible leader benjamin netanyahu. There are many Jewish people that are praying for a ceasefire, but the person calling the shots, netanyahu, wants to eradicate all Palestine people. He is a truly evil man akin to an adolf hitler in my opinion. He is a world leader none of the US presidents have got along with, with both Trump and Obama despising the man. The part that makes me feel particularly guilty is that the...

It turns out that we are all born with morality and it is a core innate attribute we all have. Studies show that infants as young as 3 months have the ability to make moral decisions, which may come at great surprise as traditional theories have always argued that morality is learned as opposed to innate. There are two main outcomes I think are most interesting, when it comes to this topic, and will discuss their vast ramifications. The first outcome shows that infants generally rather see people being helped than not being helped. The second outcome narrows down the scope to who do infants rather be helped or not helped, and it turns out that infants prefer those they cant relate to don't get helped. It is hard for me to explain these studies as I am not a psychologist, but the implications are that humans naturally, without considering nurture (good parenting), prefer that those who they can't relate to get less assistance. These findings explain how the human is evil towards...