Funny religion

Some may read this story and think it is very funny that a god (Ram) had an army of monkeys build a bridge. But then there is a bridge-like structure there. How many silly things do Christians, Muslims, Jews and others believe in that there is absolutely no evidence for (like a certain arc story)? Who can help but laugh at the idea of a lion who hasn't eaten in 39 days sitting peacefully next to a rabbit, or a T-Rex depending on how silly you feel. Where ever there is faith there will be silly stories.

Things are very good, it's just you

As I've been saying to doom sayers and those who think ho terrible things are, they are just pessimists. A recent large survey by McCleans showed that Candian's (like American and other rich counties) are very happy! Most people, 60% don't think god has anything to do with their happiness and making over $40000 per year was highly correlated with being happy. Just to show that "old wisdom" is sometimes not very wise. Atheists are just as happy as believers. Canadians have a positive outlook on life and our future, much different from the past. This is why when people claim how terrible the world is it clearly is them. Things in the past were pitiful, dirty, more unfair and much poorer than today. Those nostalgics are clearly the product of faulty memory, today is great and most Canadians agree. So join the party, you only live once (even theists, believe it or not)!

Feeling cynical

It used to encourage me when politicians would speak about the lack of people with math/science skills since I knew I'd then be one of these coveted few. Now that it is time to graduate and look for an acedemic position one can only look around and say: OH that's why there aren't many people with these skills, there are almost no acedemic jobs! Obviously you can't give a professorship to every Ph.D, but it shouldn't look like it is more probable to win the lottery than a tenure track position. Yes, I do have a very coveted degree (or will have soon), but it seems like a very sick joke to learn all this very interesting physics and how to investigate fundamental questions about the universe and not use it or use it for non-academics. I know it can apply and the methods are applicable to almost any field but it's like learning all about detailed chemistry of taste to become wine taster.

Now there is nothing wrong with using the degree for other things and making more money, but when you always hear about the "brain drain" or "lack of skilled" it can only make you cynical when you are looking for a position. (Note: if it turns out I find a great position I may change my opinion depending on how hard it was :)

Smart man's burden

Now I am not the smartest person I know but I clearly am well above average and this leads me to some guilt.

As I view the evolution of humans it seems to me that societal and cultural evolution happens in discrete steps brought on by the best of us. Revolutions need their very bright and charismatic leaders, innovations need their geniuses. Now that our population has reached such large numbers the number of people capable of these things increases. Most migrate to the rich world leaving the poorer countries devoid of these people to live a better life for them and their families.

Then there is me. I come from a middle class family were I had many advantages most don't. I had parents who were involved with my education and provided with sufficient resources and opportunities to nurture my curiosity. After all that I started asking and being interested in the most fundamental of questions (knowing I'm an atheist these are non-superstitious questions obviously) and so I am completing my Ph.D in physics. But here is where I start to feel some guilt. There are many problems in our world such as malaria, cancer, global climate change etc that I could work on. I could help these efforts and I feel some guilt in not being fully interested. It's not that I don't want to save people (this is the source of the guilt) it's that the problems that need to be solved to do this aren't as interesting as the physics ones. In one sense I feel I should try and be like Dr. Borlaug (unarguably the greatest human who's ever lived).

To put this in perspective imagine if all the brilliance that went into string theory or into high temperature superconductors went into malaria or cancer! But I guess you just have to live with the guilt since if there is little interest and only motivation you'll go nowhere fast... at least that's what I keep telling myself.