Why blog, and why here?

Why would I spend money to buy a domain for blogging when social media platforms such as Medium, LinkedIn, and Facebook make it free and easy for me to post my thoughts and ideas in those places?

Because I would like to see the arts of conversation, persuasion, and logical reasoning flourish in a place in which we are less likely to get caught up in the dopamine addiction of likes, claps, and smiley faces.

A common thread about the topics I plan to discuss is that they often benefit from us taking a deep breath to consider multiple perspectives as well as the longer view. I believe/hope it is easier to accomplish that at a clean simple blog as opposed to on a social media site where endless scrolling tempts us endlessly.

I do still plan to post many short, fun, funny, and thought-provoking ideas, memes, jokes, and pictures on social media. But this blog is where I aspire to write longer pieces on topics that interest me, including:

• Quantum mechanics, relativity, and non-locality.
• The source, nature, and implications of human consciousness.
• Social justice, with a focus on improving our education systems.
• Aviation safety, with a particular focus on instrument flying.
• The future of the human race, given the growing ubiquity of technology.
• Economics, civics, and statistics literacy, with a focus on how we can better understand each other.