Category, Everyday phenomena explained by Quanology

"Money is what makes a man not funny". Just saw Niall Ferguson interviewed on the Colbert Report. He says "anything can be money". True that. But I'd like to clarify what money is. Money is energy. If that sounds a little "New Age", forgive me. I'll give it legs. Wait. Let me stop real quick to eat a hand-full of nuts. ...2 minutes later. Ah, that's better. You see, I can't think straight if I'm too hungry. The little mouse in the wheel in my brain doesn't have enough energy to run. So I need to eat - recharge the batteries with food. And food, is of course, energy. Not just "converted to ener...

People seem to be having a harder and harder time keeping their heads financially above water in today's society. Why is there so much opportunity and so many maxed-out credit cards? Evolution and natural selection have often been associated with a fight for resources. As your average "Joe the Plumber" (sorry, I couldn't resist) tries to make ends meet, he is fighting the competition for his slice of the pie. Animals do this and it is called natural selection - the ones who get their slice of the pie get to pass on their genes. In life, it is called competition. But it is ultimately the sa...

There's something about chilly cities and dense populations that lend themselves to progress and sophistication. Let's take a look at how cooler weather and higher population density have helped some countries progress well and how the same principles can be applied to progress you. Hot in the City It may be cliché but warmer climates trigger the lazy gene in people. When it gets too hot things start to slow down and not much work gets done. There's a certain energy involved with work and progress and it has to take long breaks when it's hot. It's all on a macro level, but it's just like an ...

We have a winner. By applying principles of evolution and systems theory, we conclude that the Jews are set up for success.  I am not a Jew, nor do I necessarily favor the Jews as a people. I simply find them and their success on this planet fascinating and in this article I'll apply the principles outlined in this site to the Jews and their existence on this planet. And in doing so, they fare quite well. The Bible is full of metaphors and so I'm just taking a "page out of their book" in calling the Jews "God's Chosen People". I don't personally believe God consciously chooses anything. Whet...

Radiohead just released an album. Yes, we're all a-tingle and anytime Radiohead does anything, it's a big deal. But what's notable about this release is that it's being posted on the internet for free download and fans pay what they want to pay. The theory goes like this: like it a lot = pay a lot, like it not = pay nothing. I haven't heard the album, but I'm expecting them to do pretty well. What a cool place we're at in time where products and services are paid for via donations. And that's what this amounts to - some communist business model where you pay what you feel like paying. No hard...

Yes, this is a gross generalization and no this is not based a specific scientific study and yes, I was going for the catchy title. Taste is a matter of opinion, not something quantifiable. But guys can attest, most women have bad taste in music. Enough guys have bad taste in music, but over a large population, men tend to listen to more artistic, intricate, and authentic music than women do. Guys like The Police and women like Sting. Get it? Why is that? Let us explore. Music? First off: what the hell is music anyway? I mean, why do humans take different sounds and put them together in an or...

Brian Tracy and now the movie, The Secret talk about the Law of Attraction. This says "like attracts like". That is, you attract into your life the people, ideas, and experiences that are in line with your most dominant thoughts, feelings, and perceptions of the world. Sounds great and I believe it, but I want to give it some credibility. Often these self-help gurus declare these laws and use them as the basis for their methods but give little to no evidence that they are laws at all. And that, of course, is one of the major complaints of the whole self-help movement. Law of science? Law of th...