Book Freak #203: Knowledge, Reality, and Value

A Mostly Common Sense Guide to Philosophy

Get Knowledge, Reality, and Value

University of Colorado philosopher Michael Huemer offers a refreshingly clear introduction to the big questions — knowledge, reality, ethics, free will, and more — defending the radical idea that common sense is usually right. Philosophy doesn’t have to overthrow everything you already believe; it can sharpen and deepen what you know.

Core Principles

Trust Appearances Until Given Reason Not To

Huemer’s central epistemological insight is “phenomenal conservatism”: if it seems to you that something is true, and you have no specific grounds for doubting that appearance, then you have at least some justification for believing it. This isn’t naive — it’s the only non-self-defeating starting point. Any theory that rejects appearances as evidence undermines itself, since we can only evaluate theories based on how things seem to us.

Common Sense Deserves the Presumption of Innocence

Just as courts presume innocence until guilt is proven, philosophy should presume common-sense beliefs are true until proven false. The burden of proof lies with the skeptic, not the believer. Most philosophical “problems” dissolve when we stop demanding impossible certainty and accept that reasonable belief doesn’t require bulletproof foundations.

Moral Intuitions Are Evidence

Huemer defends ethical intuitionism: our basic moral intuitions — that cruelty is wrong, that fairness matters — provide genuine evidence about moral reality. Ethics isn’t a different kind of truth from other truths; moral facts are as real as mathematical or physical facts. We don’t need to derive ethics from something else; we can know some things directly.

Perception Connects Us to Reality

Against skeptics who claim we’re trapped behind a “veil of perception,” Huemer argues for direct realism: when you see a tree, you’re aware of an actual tree, not a mental image of one. The external world isn’t hidden from us — we perceive it directly. Skeptical scenarios are possible but give us no positive reason to doubt what we plainly see.

Try It Now

1. Identify a belief you hold that “just seems obviously true.” Instead of defending it with elaborate arguments, ask: Do I have any specific reason to doubt this? If not, you’re justified in believing it.
2. Notice when a philosophical argument leads to a conclusion that strikes you as absurd. Consider: Maybe the argument is flawed, rather than common sense being wrong.
3. Think of a moral intuition you hold strongly — something feels clearly wrong or right. Ask yourself: Am I treating this as evidence, or am I dismissing it because I can’t “prove” it?
4. When someone makes a skeptical argument (”How do you know you’re not dreaming?”), ask: What positive reason do I have to believe that scenario? Mere possibility isn’t evidence.
5. Pick a philosophical question that seems hopelessly complicated. Try stating the common-sense answer first, then ask what’s actually wrong with it.

Quote

“Having feelings does not make you irrational. Believing that the world must be a certain way because of your feelings does.”

03/28/26

Book Freak #202: Determined

Get Determined Stanford neuroscientist Robert Sapolsky mounts a full-frontal assault on free will, arguing that every choice you’ve ever made ...

Get Determined

Stanford neuroscientist Robert Sapolsky mounts a full-frontal assault on free will, arguing that every choice you’ve ever made — from the mundane to the momentous — was the inevitable result of biology and experience you didn’t choose. Far from nihilistic, Sapolsky shows how accepting this reality could make the world more humane.

Core Principles

You Are the Sum of Luck You Didn’t Choose

We are nothing more or less than the cumulative biological and environmental luck, over which we had no control, that has brought us to any moment. Your genes, your prenatal environment, your childhood, your hormones at breakfast, the neuron that fired a millisecond before your decision — none of it was chosen by some separate “you” standing outside the causal chain.

Your Brain Decides Before “You” Do

Neuroscience experiments show that brain activity precedes conscious awareness of decisions by hundreds of milliseconds. By the time you feel like you’re choosing, your neurons have already voted. What we call “free will” is just the biology that hasn’t been discovered yet — another way of stating that we’re biological organisms determined by physical laws.

Childhood Sculpts the Adult Brain

Essentially every aspect of your childhood — good, bad, or in between — sculpted the adult brain you have. The person who exercises remarkable self-control and the person who can’t resist temptation aren’t making different choices with equal willpower. They have different brains, shaped by factors neither one selected. It’s impossible to successfully will yourself to have more willpower.

No Justifiable “Deserve”

If behavior is determined by factors beyond our control, the concept of moral blame becomes questionable. There is no justifiable “deserve” — you are no more entitled to have your needs met than any other human. This doesn’t mean abandoning consequences, but it means rethinking punishment, praise, and the stories we tell about success and failure.

Try It Now

1. Think of something you’re proud of — a success, an achievement, a good habit. Now trace backward: What circumstances, people, genes, and luck made that possible? How much was really “you”?
2. Notice the next time you judge someone — including yourself — as lazy, weak, or bad. Pause and ask: Am I assuming they had a choice they may not have had?
3. Consider one area where you struggle with willpower. Instead of blaming yourself, ask: What environmental change could make the desired behavior easier?
4. Reflect on whether accepting determinism feels threatening or liberating. What would you lose? What burden might you set down?

Quote

“We are nothing more or less than the cumulative biological and environmental luck, over which we had no control, that has brought us to any moment.”

03/27/26

Airplane Speakerphone Ban/Slomad Paradox/Colors of Asia

Nomadico issue #199

* To celebrate our hitting issue #200 this month, anyone becoming a paid subscriber before the end of the month will be entered to win a free hardback copy of Colors of Asia by Nomadico co-founder Kevin Kelly. See more about it in this week’s edition.

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Enforced Civility on United

United Airlines is now officially going after passengers who don’t use earbuds/headphones when playing sound on their devices. “Whenever refusal or removal of a Passenger may be necessary for the safety of such Passenger or other Passengers or members of the crew including, but not limited to: 22. Passengers who fail to use headphones while listening to audio or video content.” If you buy a United ticket now, you just agreed to these terms, so don’t make them kick you (and your iPad-wielding kid) off the flight. Let’s hope this spreads to the airport waiting areas too…

Battling the Thirst for the New

Are nomads addicted to stimulation? Do they have trouble enjoying what isn’t new? It’s a question asked in this interesting essay from a person who is currently hanging out in my beautiful home city of Guanajuato. In The Slomad’s Paradox, a digital nomad faces the problem that, “We build location-independent businesses to experience life differently, then our brains habituate so fast we stop using the very freedom we created.” The solution may just be taking more breaks to enjoy our surroundings, without our phones or laptops along. “The real privilege isn’t having the amazing view. It’s having the agency to step away from the screen and actually look at it.”

Colors of Asia

I’m really enjoying the photography book by our co-founder Kevin Kelly. Called Colors of Asia, it’s a beautiful compilation of his photographs from decades of travel going back to the film-carrying days, all categorized by color. Besides the thematic interest this provides, there’s text with a little coaxing like, “Historically purple was a very expensive color to make, so it became associated with the rich and ruling class.” Get the hardback to see it in its full glory, but he’s also selling a pdf e-book version directly at a low price so it’s affordable to anyone.

RVs as a Lodging Alternative

While the number of foreigners visiting the USA these days has nosedived, it’s still going to be plenty busy in the lower 48 this summer thanks to the World Cup, the 100th anniversary of Route 66, and the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Many hotels in key destinations are sold out or have tripled in price, so you might have better luck with a different kind of bed: a recreational vehicle, camping trailer, or camper van. You can rent from an owner, Airbnb-style, through RVShare where you’re headed or where you’re leaving from. Many will even deliver it to where you’re crashing. See the details here.

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A weekly newsletter with four quick bites, edited by Tim Leffel, author of A Better Life for Half the Price and The World’s Cheapest Destinations. See past editions here, where your like-minded friends can subscribe and join you.

03/26/26

What’s in my NOW? — Mark Rae Peet

issue #247

A teacher in a past life, I pursue my passions…cooking; writing and performing music with my band (Loose Leaf Co.); spending time outdoors; hiking; snowshoeing; fishing. — Mark Rae Peet

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PHYSICAL

• Nite Ize Portable Device Stand. Very handy for propping up the iPad (or phone) on my lap or on a flat surface. Great for allowing hands-free use of my iPad while following recipes either in my photos, Notes, or online.
• iKlip Xpand by IK Multimedia…universal mic stand support for iPads and tablets. Designed for musicians for use on a microphone stand. In addition to using it as-intended, I also use it for FaceTime calls, and whenever I need hands-free iPad operation…i.e. when following a DIY video or when cooking.
• I have a Wagner’s 1891 Original Cast Iron Cookware, 13 3/8 inch skillet…it is an indispensable piece of cookware that I ‘inherited’ from a friend of my mother’s who was downsizing. I wouldn’t have sought out such a large/heavy pan as a must-have kitchen item. It’s non-toxic non-stickiness along with the ability to go from stovetop into the oven are amazing properties. The Wagner pans aren’t made any longer, but any large cast iron skillet (Lodge or Staub) would suffice. Make sure you get one with a handle on both sides, as it’s heavy.

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DIGITAL

• WeTransfer…file transfer service. Free level…Share and receive up to 3 GB / month, 10 transfers per month, transfer expiry up to 3 days. I use this to share large .wav files with my band mates that are too large to email. There are also paid levels which include more GB and transfers per month. The ‘Free’ level (email required for sign up) is truly ‘free’ and works perfectly.
• Canva…graphic design tool…I have used this to design album cover art and business cards for my band. Very intuitive user interface. It can be used online, but I prefer their app for iPad. While there are options to ‘upgrade’, the free version (email required for sign up) fulfills my needs.

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INVISIBLE

Mantra for mindful practise, relaxation, general well-being…taken from a broth-making cookbook, (by Louise Hay, I think)…

“See the breath. There is only the breath. And so it is.”

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03/25/26

Quidditch Through the Ages / Hurts Like a Mother

Issue No. 110

QUIDDITCH THROUGH THE AGES – A BOOK EVERY LOVER OF THE SPORT CANNOT DO WITHOUT

Quidditch Through the Ages
by Kennilworthy Whisp
Arthur A. Levine Books
2015, 128 pages, 5.2 x 7.8 x 0.6 inches

Buy on Amazon

This slim volume, small enough to slip into the inside pocket of a sorcerer’s robe, is a book every lover of the sport of Quidditch cannot do without. It covers the development of the game, from its humble beginnings to the form it is played today. The history makes fascinating reading as it is not simply dry text, but illustrated throughout with facsimiles of news sheets reporting about the game, and excerpts of historical letters and diary pages speaking of the game.

The book also traces the development of the broomsticks and covers the game as it is played in Britain, lists the best 13 teams that compete for the League Cup and also mentions top teams in other countries. Strategies and game rules are covered as well as difficult plays that have been invented over the years by wizards and witches pushing themselves, their broomsticks and the game as far as they can.

The physical book is produced to resemble a facsimile of a Hogwart’s library book, with worn covers, scribbles in the margins and a library check-out stamp in the front of the book listing borrowers no less noteworthy than R Weasley, N Longbottom and H Grainger (twice!). There is also an amusing Foreword by Albus Dumbledore explaining how such a volume came into the Muggle world with a warning not to mistreat it as the librarian Madam Prince might have left a jinx on it for its protection.

This is a book that all Harry Potter fans should enjoy having in their library. The added bonus is that sales of the book aids Comic Relief, an organization that uses laughter to fight poverty and injustice in some of the world’s poorest countries. – Carolyn Koh

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HURTS LIKE A MOTHER – AN ILLUSTRATED PARODY OF EDWARD GOREY’S THE GASHLYCRUMB TINIES

Hurts Like a Mother: A Cautionary Alphabet
by Jennifer Weiss (author), Lauren Franklin (author) and Ken Lamug (illustrator)
Doubleday
2016, 64 pages, 5.5 x 6 x 0.5 inches

Buy on Amazon

An abecedarian picture book for grown-ups, Hurts Like A Mother is a black-and-white illustrated parody of Edward Gorey’s The Gashlycrumb Tinies. Mirroring the dark humor of Gorey’s book, the hazards of parenting is explored alphabetically, each letter attributed to a different mom in peril. From the ludicrous, where moms asphyxiate from being strangled by inflatable pool toys, pass out from the price of American Girl dolls, meet their maker from flammable breast pumps, and expire from ennui over reading parenting books in the library, to the real-life issues facing moms, such as the problems with extended snow days, difficulties with carpools, and the myriad troubles with time management, Hurts Like A Mother is a brief but humorously morbid book.

Harkening to the gothic Victorian mood from Gorey’s original illustrations and poems, the stark black-and-white drawings comically depict modern parenting crises, particularly when portraying the faces of the harried mothers which range from fatigued to intoxicated to homicidal. Not completely filled with doom-and-gloom, Hurts Like A Mother ends as the final mom relaxes beach-side while being fanned with a palm-frond and casually sipping a tropical adult beverage. – S. Deathrage

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Books That Belong On Paper first appeared on the web as Wink Books and was edited by Carla Sinclair. Sign up here to get the issues a week early in your inbox.

03/24/26

Power Gear

Tools for Possibilities: issue no. 182

Simultaneously power up multiple tools

Craftsman Auto Switch

Like most people I don’t have a dedicated workshop, meaning my power tools share the garage with lots of things that aren’t happy about sawdust wafting over them like the morning dew. The solution is a Shopvac, but it can be a real hassle remembering to turn it on/off as I turn on/off my table saw, hand sander, Ridgid Oscillating Belt & Spindle Sander, etc. I’ve been woodworking at home for perhaps 18 years, and the best solution I’ve found is one of these little outlet boxes, which powers up multiple tools automatically.

You simply plug your main tool into the top outlets, then plug your vacuum or work light into one of the other two accessory outlets. Whenever you turn your tool on, it will automatically turn the other outlets on. When you turn your tool off, it waits a few seconds before turning the accessory outlets off, which is useful for clearing the line of dust, etc. I have two in my shop — one for each Shop-Vac so I never have to reconnect power cords or vacuum hoses!

I’ve been using these switches for four years. They definitely save time. On a given woodworking project, I generally turn machines on and off every few minutes and move from machine to machine. Without this switch, you would spend an extra 3 seconds and 2 steps turning it on and another 3 seconds and 2 steps turning it off. Doesn’t sound like much, but in reality those seconds and steps really start to add up, so you’d just end up leaving the vacuum on or using some other less effective dust collection (for example, an on-tool dust collection bag).

I had a discussion with someone about 9 or 10 years ago about how you could build one – and I actually found schematics for a load sensing relay that you could make one with. But for $20, this switch certainly beats trying to round up the components and DIY. — Yitah Wu

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Electrical usage meter

Kill-A-Watt

My electric bills are killing me, and now I can finally figure out exactly why.

The Kill-A-Watt plugs into a wall outlet and will measure the actual electricity usage of any appliance. I’ve been wanting one of these things for years, to the point of seriously considering manufacturing one myself. I’m glad someone has finally done it for me. It looks like my computer costs me something like $216 a year to run. Trouble is, I have five of them. Something’s gotta go.

Street price for this device is about $30. I should save that much in the first month. — Curt Nelson

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Outlet w/individually-powered switches

Ultra Surge Protector

In the old days, I plugged all my computer equipment into a power commander, a large pizza-box device that sat underneath my monitor. It had have many outlets with individual power switches and a master switch on the front, allowing me to regulate which devices were draining power. I haven’t been able to find those power commanders anymore, but after more searching than I expected, I finally found this surge protector that has per-outlet power switches. For the last year, I’ve used two of them as cheap insurance for power regulation in my RV.

Power in an RV can be at a premium, especially if it’s coming from a generator or inverter (batteries/solar). A lot of the equipment in my RV is rarely used nowadays, but drains power if plugged in (vampire appliances!). Disconnecting specific devices is an easy solution — flipping a switch for each outlet is even easier.

I use one for the TV, DVD player, satellite, etc., and one for my computer, monitor, phone charger, external hard drive, etc. I’m now able to turn my computer on and off with the master switch, and turn rarely-used devices on and off only if needed (TV/DVD especially).

I’ve yet to analyze the electric bill — I’d need the previously-reviewed Kill-A-Watt (coincidentally on order) to know exactly how much power I’m saving. But this definitely helps me prevent using more than I expect. A great device for a cabin, RV or anywhere power use might be at a premium. — Mike Polo

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Wall wart solution

Yellow-Jacket 5 Outlet Adapter

This indoor/outdoor 5-outlet adapter is the best I’ve found for dealing with multiple wall-warts. The outlets are spaced just far enough apart to allow virtually any size wall wart to fit, and you can chain together the adapters (each outlet has five outlets, so every additional one in the chain gives you four more outlets). It’s cheaper than specialty adapters like the PowerSquid, and it’s inherently more organized. If you chain a couple PowerSquids together, you’ve got a mess of extra cords on account of that model’s ‘tentacle’ design. If you daisy chain two Yellow-Jackets together, you’ve got a tidier package.

The Yellow-Jackets also feature cable restraints or ‘cord locks’ you can run the cables through. Personally, I cut them off to make the outlets more compact, but if you had five people working outside — each using a power tool and each pulling the adapter in a different direction — these restraints make it so that you’d have to pull a lot harder to cause an accidental unplugging. — Stephen Malinowski

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Better than a power strip

PowerSquid

Lets you connect multiple devices, even with big power converters, to a single outlet. — Zimran Ahmed

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Easy 120 to 220 volt converter

Quick 220

When I moved into my apartment I found it had a through-the-wall air conditioner sleeve. I ignored it and installed my window air conditioner. When that old AC died about 3 years ago, I was told by the co-op board that the rules had changed and I had to use the sleeve. I guess I should pay more attention to coop board announcements. My problem was that next to the sleeve was a 110V outlet but every AC that fit the sleeve required 220V.

After being quoted over $1000 to run 220V to the sleeve I was desperate to find another solution. Luckily, I found the Quick 220 Power Converter. All it took was the 110V outlet near the sleeve and an extension cord from another 110V outlet on a different circuit. Instantly, I had two 220V outlets. And at $160.00 I was very happy with the price. They also throw in an outlet tester because both 110V outlets must be wired correctly (not something you can assume in an old apartment) for the Quick 220 to work. — Donnie B

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Once a week we’ll send out a page from Cool Tools: A Catalog of Possibilities. The tools might be outdated or obsolete, and the links to them may or may not work. We present these vintage recommendations as is because the possibilities they inspire are new. Sign up here to get Tools for Possibilities a week early in your inbox.

03/23/26

What’s in my NOW? — Mark Rae Peet