Guy P. Harrison

I have a deep passion for science, history, anthropology, and nature. The best version of reality that we currently know is infinitely beautiful and endlessly fascinating. It's tragic that some people, too distracted by deceptions and delusions, never quite glimpse the wonder of it all. I love sharing, teaching, and inspiring people to better connect with the wild ride called existence. All around us there is life, large and small, doing fascinating and important things. Geological processes play out beneath our feet every moment and have profound impacts on our lives. And, of course, an entire universe hangs all around us ready and able to stretch perceptions and excite every mind. Understanding these things, whether in-depth or merely scratching the surface, can be life altering. Neglecting the human instinct to explore and learn means living a dimmer and duller life. This may sound like emotional drivel to some, but there is real value and power here. I have experienced it in my own life and witnessed it at work with many others. Science may be a cold tool, a heartless process of discovery, but it is also the key that unlocks infinite excitement, wonder, and beauty. The more we know, the more we can imagine. The more we can imagine, the more we can do. This motivates me write books and articles. I often write about critical thinking issues. I am widely described as a positive and constructive skeptic. I want more people to appreciate the value of good thinking and try harder to avoid wasting time on intellectual dead ends. There is no shame in being fooled or fooling yourself. We all believe silly things. What matters is how silly and how many. Think of me as a human who warns humans about being human. I use my imperfect brain to talk and write about the human brain’s imperfections. I try to overcome my irrational beliefs and subconscious derangements so that I can better teach others about the challenges of irrational belief and subconscious derangements. I believe our world would be much better–certainly a lot less crazy—if more people simply understood how science works and appreciated the protective value of scientific thinking in their everyday lives. I've held numerous positions in the news industry, including editorial writer, world news editor, science writer, sports editor, photographer, page designer, and columnist. My work has been published in Reader’s Digest, Skeptical Inquirer, Free Inquiry, Skeptic, Red Book, and others. I am a longtime essayist for Psychology Today. Random House selected one of my books as recommended reading for all first-year university students and another was incorporated into an anti-racism program in South Africa. The San Diego Union Tribune named my most recent book a top-five summer read. I have traveled extensively, 30 countries on six continents where I chatted with or formally interviewed a remarkably diverse sampling of humanity. I’ve had some very rewarding jobs teaching history and science to bright kids, educating the public about wildlife and conservation, and giving guidance to abused and neglected children. I earned a degree in history and anthropology but I’m still a student and always will be. I've won some nice international awards for my writing and photography, including the WHO (World Health Organization) Award for Health Reporting and the Commonwealth Media Award for Excellence in Journalism (first place, 54 countries). Strangely, I almost was eaten by both a shark and a lion, though not on the same day. If I'm not staring at a blank computer screen attempting to harvest another sentence from the old neural forest, I'm likely to be running, hiking, pushing a weight sled, reading, or forcing a family member to watch Star Trek with me. When normal people are consumed with thoughts about politics, economics, sports, the Kardashians, etc., there's a good chance I’m daydreaming about time travel, the Singularity, ancient Greece, microbial life, the possibility of extraterrestrial life, World War II, robots, interstellar space travel, viruses, Homo erectus, the Apollo Moon landings . . . ------------- A FEW WORDS ABOUT THINKING One of the biggest mistakes we can make in life is to ignore or reject the possibility that we might be dead wrong about something that is very important to us. Don't do this! Question everything. Embrace doubt. Revisit and second guess your conclusions. Remember that humility is a pillar of good thinking. Sure, you might be the first perfect person in all of history and prehistory who is incapable of being fooled by all the mistakes, lies and delusions swarming around you every second—but I doubt it. I supposed you could be the first one ever to rise above the many deceptive quirks, traps, and biases that come standard with every human brain—but I doubt it. Understand that your brain instinctually fights hard to defend the beliefs it hosts, no matter how unjustified or irrational. That’s just what brains do. Know this and resist that impulse. Use your amazing, powerful brain to keep a check on your bizarre, flawed brain. The goal should not be to avoid changing your mind at all costs. The goal is to be correct, or at least as close to correct as possible. Wisdom is recognizing that you don't know everything (you don’t) and you can be fooled by your own thoughts (you can). Wise people change their minds when evidence and logic demand it. Honest people don't pretend to know things that they don't know. None of us will achieve perfection, but we all can expand our awareness, grow intellectually, and do our best to keep moving in the general direction of truth and reality. Guy P. Harrison, Marooned in the 21st century Earth, Virgo Supercluster