Noah Halberg's blog

This is the second book in the Space Heretics series. I’ve uploaded it to the Kindle store here. I’ve also added it to the “My Books” page.

A lot of people say that persistence is a good thing, and there are a lot of times when this is true. But what if what you’re doing is wrongheaded? If you’re running into a brick wall over and over again and all you’re getting out of it is serious pain, then persistence is not a good thing. And what if what you’re doing is okay,but there is something better that you could do if you gave it up?…

I’ve been learning from experience that you should be careful with your toenails. It takes many, many months for a detached toenail to grow back completely—significantly longer than fingernails. If your toenail has been cut or broken so that it has sharp edges, trim them. The sharp edges will very likely catch on things and rip your nail further off the nail bed. This happened to me.

I read that…

If science is dependent upon empirical observation, and empirical observation is dependent upon our sense organs, then science is dependent upon our sense organs. The history of science proves this: great advances in science frequently follow advances in our ability to observe the world around us—microscopes and telescopes being the best examples of the latter advances. It’s possible, though,…

Almost nobody thinks about it, but “the West” has to be to the west of something. What is that? Well, China and Japan are considered to be “the Far East” while the Arab countries are considered to be “the Middle East.” “The Center” has to be between Europe and the Arab countries. It looks like “the Center” might be the lands that belonged to the Greeks during the Iron Age.

I wonder if it would really be so nice to be able to read other people’s minds. Maybe not knowing everything that people think about us is advantageous. Would you want to know, after you made a mistake, that lots of people think you’re a screw-up? You’re attracted to a member of the opposite sex; do you really want to know if they don’t like you? Would an attractive woman really want to know what…

I was thinking that maybe it wouldn’t be such a good idea after all for people to live forever. One problem I thought of was overpopulation, but there’s another serious problem. Younger generations would never escape the tyranny of older generations. In order for the young to rise in the world, places have to be made for them by the deaths of the old. If baby boomers held every important position…

The Space Heretics is available here at the Amazon Kindle Store. Here is the description for the book:

This is a history of the early Space Age as told by the court historian of the Galactic Empire centuries later. The Galactic Empire began in the Ur System, which hosts a number of habitable planets and moons revolving around the two suns Tiamat and Abzu.

The inner planets are divided into two…

Having Peculiar Tastes in Books

I only know of one person who reads the same sort of books that I do—Mencius Moldbug. It’s extremely unusual to read a lot of books with publication dates like 1843 and 1874 and 1912. People just thought a lot differently from us back then, and while that is great for a small number of people (like me), most people are turned off by it. They want to read books by people whose basic assumptions…

To Offend or Not to Offend People?

I enjoy reading and writing about and talking about provocative things. It gives me a lot of pleasure to play devil’s advocate with outrageous ideas. But I’ve noticed that a lot of people aren’t like this. They take offense easily and they frequently want revenge for having been offended. The trouble is that every group has its own taboos that it doesn’t want violated; if you respect every taboo…

Forcing Yourself to Create—It Works

At least that’s been my experience. Normally we think we have to be in the right mood to create things, or to do things we’ve never done before. However, if you push yourself, or if circumstances push you, then you can achieve things you wouldn’t have thought you could before.

To Communicate or not to Communicate Unpleasant Truths?

I’m not a proselytizer. I’m not one of those people who, upon finding out something that no one else knows about, feels the need to tell everybody about it. It appears to have been T.S. Elliot who said that “humankind cannot bear very much reality.” I agree with this. There are certain illusions which we have which we might not be able to do without. And yet, in order to make the best decisions…

Becoming Less Changeable as You Age

I’ve noticed that the older I get, the more fixed I become in my ideas and habits. In less than a year I’ll be thirty. When I was a teenager I changed a lot. I flirted with all kinds of wild ideas up until I was twenty or twenty-one, when I settled upon a general worldview. I filled this worldview out until a couple years ago, when most of what I did became tweaking it. I don’t think I’ll…

Am I the Only One Who Doesn’t Like the Beach?

It seems like everybody wants to live in a beach house in Florida or some place like that. I don’t. I’d rather live in a log cabin in Alaska. One problem with beaches is that they draw large crowds; huge numbers of people prefer to live or vacation near them. And maybe I’m imagining it, but I think people who live in warmer areas tend to be more lackadaisical about most things than people who…

I’m reviewing a rough draft for one of my books right now. I’m noticing just how often my first attempts make me wince. The ability to edit work over and over again until you get it just right is almost magical for people who are awkward and error-prone on their first attempts. It’s like the difference between a test you take in class and one you can take home; with the latter, you can usually do…

Self-actualization: Becoming More Unique

It’s hard to notice it from the inside, but most people are mere instances of a limited set of archetypes. People aren’t exactly the same; there are some variations; but to a first approximation, this is the truth. So not all nerds are the same; there are red-headed nerds, nerds with long noses or high cheekbones, nerds from New York or Wyoming, even female nerds; but nerds are alike in many…