George Allen Miller One Geek's take on all things SciFi

I love this topic. Mostly because it fascinates me how two groups can argue about something when both core issues have nothing to do with the other. Are you a creationist? Guess what, you're wrong. Are you an evolutionist? Guess what, you're wrong. How can this be? Let's find out shall we. Before I do, in the interest of full disclosure. I am a scientific thinking agnostic. Nuff said. Evolution What is evolution anyway? Is it the principle belief of evolution that God does not exist? What? No? Well what does it have to do with God anyway? Nothing you say? Then why all the hubbub? Evolution is the change in the gene pool of a population from generation to generation by such processes as mutation, natural selection, and genetic drift. So, really, it's how life works. We see this in day to day life. Animals can change to the environment. They do change, they must change. They change mostly in relation to food supplies and weather. We can see that in us. If we didn't change based on diet, people wouldn't look so ... More

Long ago, while talking with a psychologist, I came to the realization that most people act in a certain way most of the time. People tend to approach situations with a preset mindset. Some people approach most situations aggressively, honestly, angrily or happily. Others may approach it with some other mindset at work. I began thinking why this was and it occurred to me, people are acting that way because one or two emotions are their primary emotions. For some people, they are locked into an emotional mindset at any given time. We all have emotions. We all have all emotions in fact. Everyone gets happy, sad, angry and depressed. It's part of being human. What is also true is that most people are generally happy, sad, angry or depressed. When approached with new situations, people will handle this situations generally with a similar mind set. If a person that is mostly happy most of the time, they will more times than not, be happy. It sounds simple doesn't it? People that are angry most of the time are angry most ... More

Before I delve into this topic, let me say that I am not a skeptic. I am someone that believes in the scientific method and scientific principles. That does not mean I am a skeptic. This also does not mean that I randomly believe in things. I do not believe in ghosts just because lots of people have seen them. I do not believe in UFOs just because lots of people have seen them. I also do not dis-believe in either topic just because no one has proven they exist. I recently read an article on ABC about why people believe in impossible things. One of those things was why people believe aliens are coming to the earth. That made me think for a moment. How exactly does this author know that that is an impossible thing? One of them was that people believe in the impossible fact that aliens have come to the planet earth. He is assuming two key points. First, that life does not exist anywhere else in the universe and two, that we can never go faster ... More

I am employed as a Software Engineer. Recently I attended a two day SCRUM training session. For those that do not know, SCRUM is an AGILE software development methodology. It was developed out of a need from the failures of the traditional methodology commonly referred to as the water fall methodology. How the waterfall methodology came to be used as the central software development method used by most companies is simply astounding. I have to post this story with the hopes that everyone sees it, reads it, exonerates poor Dr. Royce and perhaps even learns to read between the graphs. In the 1970's, the DOD was being faced with projects that included software development. The time spent for software development projects were represented on Gantt charts as a large block of time. The DOD required more insight into this time and what they were spending money on. They decided to research methods to handle software development. A member of this team went to the IEEE, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, to look for articles on the subject. What did he find? An ... More

I am a software engineer but I have a degree in the behavioral sciences. Some of the things I know to be true I have learned in classes and some from life experiences. It is from both that I come to my beliefs on group psychology and the bigger topic of how people defend their groups. The second point is a growth from the first. I will first briefly discuss the first case and then go into more detail on the second. Group Psychology - acting like everyone else does Have you ever been in a group of people and found yourself acting like an idiot? No, not an idiot, but acting like everyone else did? Maybe you were not acting like yourself. Whatever the circumstances, we tend to behave like those around us. The more people that are acting in a certain way the more likely we are to act in that way. Are you normally a passive person? Ever been to a football game? While there did you stand up and cheer when something happened? Maybe sports isn't your thing, ... More