Category Archives: human nature

243. Who Minds the Minders?

Posted on June 22, 2012 by Thor

We have laws and police to dis­cour­age bur­glars, extor­tion­ists and mur­der­ers. That’s the low level stuff. Remem­ber that old idiom that laws are for the com­mand of fools and the guid­ance of wise men? Who han­dles the clever scoundrels? In … Con­tinue read­ing →

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242. The Strange Matter of Job Incompetence

Posted on June 6, 2012 by Thor

Some peo­ple are very good at their jobs. Some jobs are pretty easy to be good at. In my expe­ri­ence, extremely large num­bers of peo­ple are rather bad at their jobs, and a fair num­ber are a down­right men­ace. In … Con­tinue read­ing →

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241. Sell It!

Posted on May 7, 2012 by Thor

Over two thou­sand years ago, there was a philoso­pher, Laozi, who was sure that peo­ple were nat­u­rally good (some­one called Jesus Christ had the same idea). About the same time another char­ac­ter, Shâng Yâng, reck­oned they were nat­u­rally bad and … Con­tinue read­ing →

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240. Women, Men and Religion

Posted on April 8, 2012 by Thor

Men find secu­rity in phys­i­cal dom­i­nance. With­out that dom­i­nance most men feel sex­u­ally cas­trated. Lack­ing phys­i­cal dom­i­nance (on the whole) women often seek secu­rity in deceit, or fail­ing that, in magic. Magic is broadly expressed as spir­i­tu­al­ity. Magic, sorted as … Con­tinue read­ing →

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239. The Competing Engines of Action: Greed and Benevolence

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Thor

The sales­man and the teacher share much in method and imme­di­ate pur­pose. Both wish to move other human beings to deci­sive action, and in that quest they engage the target’s moti­va­tion. Each how­ever is dri­ven by a dif­fer­ent per­sonal need, … Con­tinue read­ing →

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238. Racism and the Paradoxes of Miscommunicaiton

Posted on January 26, 2012 by Thor

It is an axiom that we will be mis­un­der­stood. “All the world old is queer save thee and me, and even thou art a lit­tle queer” [Robert Owen 1771–1858]. It is chis­elled in stone that our writ­ing will be mis­un­der­stood. … Con­tinue read­ing →

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234. The Corruptible Career and its Friends

Posted on December 4, 2011 by Thor

The bot­tom line in most orga­ni­za­tions is that if you don’t at least appear to be cor­rupt­ible, they don’t want to have you there. Hmm, that sounds extreme, doesn’t it? The HR euphemism is that you should “fit the com­pany … Con­tinue read­ing →

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