Steve Patterson

Category: Academia and Self-Study

  • Logic and Infinity: The Errors of Calculus

    Humans are lazy when thinking about infinity. Usually it doesn’t matter, but sometimes, our imprecision comes with big philosophical implications. Profound logical errors permeate mathematics – in calculus and set theory in particular – due to an inaccurate conception of infinity.

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  • Assume Everybody is Wrong

    Skepticism is necessary to have an accurate worldview. You can’t simply believe something because somebody told you. You have to doubt, often. At the beginning of a philosophical journey, you must even doubt yourself – are you perhaps an unreliable narrator? Can your own mind be trusted?

    In the last several years, this perspective has become crystallized in my mind and developed into something like a life motto. It’s a simple principle:

    Everybody is wrong about everything all the time.

     The more I interact with people, the more this principle is affirmed. There are exceptions, of course, but it’s an incredibly reliable rule of thumb.

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  • Postmodernism is Anti-Mind (Literally)

    Human action is an expression of philosophy. Every decision we make is inescapably framed and guided by our ideas about the world. Sometimes these ideas are clearly communicated by our actions; we write a book or create meaningful art. Other times, our ideas are so silent we aren’t even aware of them; they become a kind of subconscious framework for our actions. I’d like to examine one particular philosophy which can be seen through a diverse range of human actions: postmodernism.

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  • Quantum Physics and the Abuse of Reason

    (Update: listen to my interview with Oxford professor Dr. Simon Saunders on this subject.)

    Patriotism has been called the “last refuge of a scoundrel,” and for good reason. But over the last few years, I’m afraid that phrase has become outdated. Patriotism is now the second-to-last refuge. Quantum physics has become the last refuge of a scoundrel.

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  • Can You Judge Intelligence Based on Beliefs?

    Here’s an uncomfortable question: can you accurately judge somebody’s intelligence based on their beliefs? The polite answer is “no”, but my own experiences make me think otherwise. Specifically, when people defend plainly inaccurate beliefs, it can reveal a few things: the amount of research they’ve done, their intellectual integrity, and/or their ability to critically think.

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  • My Bachelor’s Degree Means Nothing

    My shiny bachelor’s degree holds a secret: graduating from college isn’t impressive. It’s embarrassingly easy. Not because I’m smart, but because the standards are so low. For the last few semesters of my college life, I mostly wrote bullshit and got straight A’s. And after talking to hundreds of other students and professors, I don’t think my experience was unique. Here’s my story:

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