Ambigamy

Insights for the Deeply Romantic and Deeply Skeptical

Jeremy Sherman is an evolutionary epistemologist studying the natural history and practical realities of decision making. See full bio

November 18, 2009

Ego: Distinguishing between self-assertive and self-centered

Eckart Tolle says "Recognize the ego for what it is: a collective dysfunction, the insanity of the human mind."
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November 15, 2009

"Everything happens for a reason": Simple phrase opens worm-can of wonder

It sounds so true. People seem to take such comfort from that phrase's wisdom. There's something proudly accepting and resolved in their tone when they declare it, as though they're sharing a hard-earned profound lesson.

What it means though is very much up in the air. And therein lies a tale of our era's confusion regarding causality, or what we mean by "a reason."
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November 12, 2009

Getting Smugged: A common crime against your sanity

You know the feeling, maybe from an infuriating debate with a self-satisfied, complacent, and condescending bureaucrat. Your temperature is rising. His is not. He finds it very amusing to see you getting so worked up. He admires his patience with you.
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November 9, 2009

Lazy Gene theory: A whole new take on self-confidence, love, addiction and co-dependence

Evolutionary psychology generally focuses on the ways in which life's age old pursuit of biological reproductive success shapes our mind's activities. Evolution and behavior are related in another way as well. Evolutionary epistemologists like me are interested in how the minds activities are evolution by other means. Read More

November 7, 2009

Self-confidence: Less self-generated than you notice until you're unemployed

Unemployment has reached its highest level in 26 years. If you're un-, or under-employed this one's for you. It's for you too if your children recently moved out, if you just quit a club or ended a friendship or partnership. Really, its for anyone whose life somehow became less populated recently.
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November 4, 2009

Constraint propagation: A completely new take on souls

With synergy it's not that the whole is more than the sum of its parts, it's less. Read More

November 2, 2009

Causality's gremlins: We think we've exterminated them, but nope.

Witches, goblins, and gremlins with magical powers, kings hand-picked by God, glass spheres with star-holes encapsulating the earth, rocks falling to earth because they want to be where they belong... Read More

November 1, 2009

Broken Symmetry: Nobel physicist explains why you miss old places, friends

The bittersweet sad intense pain of missing a place, a person, a crew, a time.

What's with that? How does that happen? Here's a take on it you probably haven't heard before.
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October 30, 2009

Emergence research: Just how did matter become mattering?

I work in a field called emergence which is trying to solve such ginormous mysteries as how information emerges from energy, how life emerges from chemistry, how selves emerge from atoms, how soulishness emerges from life, how purpose emerges from non-purpose.
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October 28, 2009

Get a life: Should it mean understand a life or just move on?

When things don't go well, those of us who are receptive/prone to self-doubt wonder why and whose fault it was. We toss and turn the hot potato of guilt. We want to hand it off quickly but the potato comes back. So we cycle.
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Relationships Basics

Love is the most profound emotion known to human beings. For most people, romantic relationships are the most meaningful element in their lives. But the ability to have a healthy, loving relationship is not innate. Almost all of us have experienced a failed relationship, and most of us have to work consciously to master the skills necessary to make them flourish.

Go to the Relationships Basics page for more on Relationships including:

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