Penny for My Thoughts?

The Exponential Function

I was having a discussion with my brother and he brought up a good point that I felt I should share. Although everyone knows what an exponential function is, we have a tendency to think linearly and fail to realize the effects of exponential functions. For example: 

Pretend that there is a jar with a single bacterium in it. Let us further assume that the population of bacteria doubles every minute. Finally, let’s assume that in 60 minutes, the entire jar is full of bacteria. How full is the jar on the 59th minute? The jar, of course, would be half full. Within one minute, the jar went from being half full to completely full. 

Now some may ask, “that’s cool and all but so what?”. We are living in a time where the population of the Earth is ever increasing and the amount of resources that we utilize with it. We may look at the all the natural resources and think “hey, we have nothing to worry about, we have plenty left”, but do we really? We could be in the 59th minute, looking at a half full jar saying we have plenty left. The next minute, we will have utilized as much resources as the 59 preceding it. Furthermore, let’s assume that we find an identical planet to Earth with all it’s resources. By the 61st minute we would have consumed all the resources on the newly found planet.

I am not trying to state that we are doubling or consumption of the resources, but am just trying to emphasize that we must be more careful in realizing the effects of exponential functions. We are definitely increasing our consumption of resources on the planet at an ever increasing rate and need to remind ourselves that although things may look like enough today, it may all be gone tomorrow.

I read this in a book once….. now I’m pro….

If there is one thing that I have now learned throughout my 20 years in school is that you have to take control of your learning. If you go to class, do your homework, study, sure you’ll get 80 maybe even a 90 on your test/course, but that doesn’t mean you know anything. 

The most important thing you can take out of any education is the ability to apply it. Unfortunately, this is not something that schools do, nor are they able to. The onus is on you to take what you have learned (in most cases the theory) and try to apply it to what’s going on around you. That is the only way that you will fully understand and appreciate the knowledge that has been passed onto you. 

Just because you’ve read the manual doesn’t mean you know how to drive.

Why am I doing the things I do?

I was having dinner with my parents earlier today and my father told me a story about a couple of university students at UofT whom spend endless hours gaming, surfing and/or streaming TV shows. He was amazed at how people my generation can waste countless hours each and everyday. Back in his days, people worked day in, day out, walked to school uphill both ways, built a life from the $10 they had in their bank accounts. Today’s youth/young adults seem to be lazy, impatient, and have no sense of priority. 

Although I can see where my father is coming from, I am one of these students that waste countless hours everyday and felt a need to shed some light on this topic. I explained to my father that times have changed. The world I am growing up in is very different from the world that he and my mother have grown up in. Unlike them, I do not have to worry about survival. I was born and raised in Canada and have the option of doing whatever it is I choose to do. This all thanks to their sacrifices and their hard work. Yes people may argue that my parents’ sacrifices and hard work are in vain as I waste my life swallowed up by social media and entertainment, but I urge these critics to see the underlying cause of these actions and not just judge the actions themselves. 

What I have come to realize over the years is that along with the opportunities that my parents’ have given me comes a lot of responsibility. It is much easier to be told to do something, or to do something because you simply have no choice than to CHOOSE to do something. When we choose something, the onus is on us to take responsibility of the consequences of that choice. As we go through elementary school, high school, and post-secondary school, everyone tells us that we can do whatever it is we want. It is our choice. Let’s be honest here, no one likes to take responsibility for a mistake. How do I know this is what I want to do? What if I’m wrong? Of course one can argue, who cares if you’re wrong? At least you’ll know what you don’t want to do which will bring you one step closer to learning what it is you do want to do. I agree, this is true. As Randy Pausch says “good judgement comes from making mistakes and making mistakes comes from bad judgement.” But not everyone enjoys packing up and going on a journey with no definite destination. 

I firmly believe that everyone needs a direction in life; even more, you need to believe in that direction. I’ve been in school for a good three-quarters of my life and I can’t help but question why? Why have gone through all this education? The answer is actually quite simple, that’s what society expects me to do. I am supposed to go to high school, go to a post-secondary institution, find myself a job, find myself a career, find myself a wife, have children, drive my children to soccer practice, pay for their education, retire, and pass-away blissfully with no regrets. But why? Why am I to do all of this? 

I am doing things right now simply for the sake of doing things. This is not a good enough reason to give life my all. I lack the direction and meaning in life and thus, I choose instant gratification (gaming, watching TV shows) over long run gains. I agree that sacrifices have to be made, but why should I make those sacrifices? Why should I do anything? 

It’s Your Life

Short and simple. It’s your life, you only get one shot at it. Take full control of it, no one else has the ability to control it to the extent you do. Acknowledge your strengths, acknowledge your weaknesses, and don’t think for a second that you cannot change who you are now. Strive to better yourself and become the best you can be; whatever that may be. It’s your life, it’s your responsibility; accept it and do what you need to do. Some say that our lives are only a speck with respect to the world; I say be the biggest damn speck possible.

Infinity and Beyond?? WTF does that even mean?

I have a question that’s been bugging me for the past couple of hours and any help would be greatly appreciated. 

If there is an infinite amount of numbers that exists between the numbers 1 and 1.1 (ie. you will never reach 1.1 because you can get infinitesimally smaller) how is that 1.2 is a real number? Would this not require you to surpass 1.1? 

This is a serious question and any insight on this matter would be amazing…. 

You Create Your Own Social Reality

When you wake up in the morning, the first thing you do whether you know it or not is create how your day will play out. If you stub your toe and focus on how much that sucked and how horrible your day will be, well guess it, it’s going to be a bad day. The self-fulfilling prophecy is powerful and grossly underestimated. Henry Ford got it spot it when he said “whether you think you can or you can’t, you’re right.” 

We’ve all heard the saying “if you think you’re going to lose, you’ve already lost” or “if you think you can’t do it, you probably can’t”, all these sayings are trying to tell you is that you have the power to create your own social reality. Our minds are very powerful and many people underestimate their minds. However, keep in mind that things are not going to be handed to you on a silver platter. Even the self-fulfilling prophecy requires effort. You may be the most gifted, talented person alive, but remember, even the sharpest of knives become dull without proper maintenance. You may have great potential, but without hard work, it will remain just that… potential. Having potential is useless unless it is realized.

My friend said something to me that really got me thinking and that I completely agree with. He told me that I need to stop thinking that the things I want to achieve in life are dreams, but rather think of them as goals. Dreams are something you do not necessarily believe you can acquire/achieve and when you dream it is usually something that you don’t but a lot of effort into trying to make into reality. Goals however are attainable. They are something you strive for. I find myself now setting goals rather than dreams. I will no longer hide behind the thought of “it’s ok if I fail, it was just a dream anyway”. I have everything I need to achieve my goals. I just need to get off my lazy ass and work hard.

Patience is something that we seem to be lacking today. Everything is about speed and efficiency. Indulging in activities that give us instant satisfaction. Please keep in mind, the things worth having require you to work hard and to have patience. Remember, we create our own social realities. However, it will require work and time. 

If you believe you can do it, you will be able to do it. Set goals, work hard and be patient. Remember, it took even God six days to create the universe.

A Simple Little Prayer

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
the courage to change the things I can;
and the wisdom to know the difference.

“Serenity Prayer”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serenity_Prayer