Five years ago I would’ve read that title and thought I was crazy. But it’s what the mathematical model says… Creativity, almost by definition, is taught to us as something that you’re born with and cannot be developed or predicted, let alone calculated. That’s why this is going to take some time.

Please, before we get into this, take a moment and write down when, where, and how you feel when inspiration, originality, and creativity hit. We’ll need this towards the end.
Originals, Outliers, and new Paradigms
We’re not taught to be creative because ‘creativity’ is incredibly challenging to teach. We don’t know … » More …

1. There is no review panel or editor preventing you from making an ass of yourself, including publishing something just plain wrong.

2. You’re paranoid everyone is trying to steel your best ideas and want to be first to publish.

3. You’ll publish fewer “journal” papers because it’s already on the blog, and that’s good enough — it’s only read a few (thousand) times a month anyways.

4. You’ll get frustrated by the ~100x increase in readership compared to your journal papers, but still no credit from your institution.

5. You’ll start obsessing over the number of hits, links, and time on pages based on … » More …

“Gentlemen, we’ve run out of money; now we have to think.” ~Winston Churchill

If you’re reading this, it’s because of science and technology.

You know someone who is not reading this, but should, and is looking around themselves at a room enabled by science and technology, thinking they’ve never benefited from science or technology. It’s time to have a conversation with them.

It’s no longer possible to get away from science and technology. We simply no longer have the knowledge, stamina, or natural resources to go it alone as cavemen — you’d likely be dead in a month.

So really, if science is so important, … » More …

I’m researching case studies to apply the Social Thermodynamics framework and stumbled upon an interesting find. Walter Scheidel, a renown author and Professor of History at Stanford University just published the book “The Great Leveler: Violence and the History of Inequality from the Stone Age to the Twenty-First Century.” A nice summary is given in this article in the Atlantic.

Wealth inequality is closely connected to social thermodynamics through the property Temperature, which is analogous to resources. It’s time I really explained what temperature is from a thermodynamics standpoint and how it relates to societal imbalance as Professor Scheidel has presented.

Thermodynamic Temperature
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Conformity versus Originality

Reproduce versus Reinvent

Generalize versus Customize

Sophistication versus Evolution

Work versus Heat

In Richard Dawkins’ 1976 book the Selfish Gene, he defines the word meme as the propagation of memories, ideas, and values in cultures similar to the propagation of genes in Darwinian evolution. Stated simply, advantageous memes or genes propagate from individuals into the collective. This concept is the core of the spiral value-Meme (vMeme) … » More …

The Montessori method is legendary for childhood development. Many engineers are familiar with the system and often enroll their children within the preschool system due to a reputation for developing science and mathematical skills. What many do not know is that Maria Montessori classified and wrote about the development of 18-24 year olds in the University. I recently completed a search and could not find ANY articles linking the Montessori Method to engineering education. So where did the disconnect emerge and how can we re-envision an engineering education to infuse the magic of the Montessori Method?

I’ll first review the Montessori Method, connect this to modern … » More …

This Thanksgiving we’re thankful for empathy,

that social form of law in entropy,

to help us when we’re not quite sure,

of the prevailing social temperature.

Cause we’re often tempted to think lesser,

especially under social pressure,

and forget that our stomach’s capacity is able,

to appreciate the values of others at our table.

For in this diverse richness of our cultural dish,

we find the opportunities we may have missed,

and begin to realize the number of ways,

we can … » More …