I was tagged by the venerable John Phillips in the “7 Things” meme where I’m required to disclose seven various things about myself that I think are worth noting about myself. I’m sure a lot of the people who read my blog will already know some of these but here we go anyway.

1. I love Detroit. This is probably a pretty obvious one for most people who have talked to me at any length, but it’s true. I love the area and the state I live in. No, I don’t have rose colored glasses on and think that it’s perfect, but I do think that far too many people sell it short. Ultimately I think a place you live in is what you make of it and I love working a bit to find the hidden gems and small things about this area that make it really feel like home to me. Locals always know how to have the best time, as they say.
2. I am a philosopher at heart. Even before I went to college and studied philosophy fairly extensively it was always an area of great interest to me. The sciences are as well of course, but deep down I feel that they ultimately go hand in hand. Elegance of solution when it comes to unlocking the mysteries of the universe should include the philosophical implications, although we may not have a good enough understanding yet of either side to draw any real conclusions. Yet it is something I do spend a lot of cycles thinking about, even if I don’t discuss it much.
3. Cooking is one of my favorite hobbies. I’m a guy with a lot of hobbies, yet cooking and baking are actually two of my favorites. I see each opportunity I get to spend in the kitchen as another outlet where I can try and flex my creativity. More than that though I’m getting pretty good, so I get a nice meal out of it too! I’ll also note that I don’t typically follow recipes. I might check them out for inspiration or ideas but beyond that I don’t really pay close attention to them.
4. I consider an open mind to be one of the most valuable things a person can have. There isn’t a whole lot more that needs to be said about this. Suffice it to say that anyone who isn’t willing to reconsider their opinions about any given topic is only hurting his or herself in the long run.
5. I don’t consider socialism a dirty word. The fact of the matter is that there have been lots of good and worthwhile social programs by many democratic and free countries, including ours. A moderate approach that blends the best of “socialist ideals” (or perhaps “humanist ideals” fits what I mean more) with the undeniable virtues of a free market society would provide a fair and just system that would benefit a much larger percentage of people than an government at either extreme. At least, in my opinion.
6. I know that music is one of the most important things we have. Music is one of those amazing things that could easily be considered one of the most wonderful things that we as a species have created here. Granted, a lot of it is derivative and awful, but there is plenty that isn’t. As a musician myself I find that music is critical to my happiness… It’s hard if not impossible for me to imagine a life that didn’t involve music so heavily. To that point I think that musical education should be taught to all children at least through sixth grade.
7. I believe in the technological singularity, sort of. I do think that we as a species will set our own evolutionary path through technology, although I suspect it will be a much more gradual (and will also seem fairly natural) process than some predict. (That is, I go with the soft take off or augmented intelligence approach, rather than a hard take off or Strong AI based singularity.) I haven’t entirely made up my mind about this, but I do think it’s more likely than not. Look back just at ten years of progress and try to guess at the next ten, let alone fifty.

Bonus: I think popcorn is one of the greatest things in the world.

Done! It took me a while to get around to writing this, but I wanted to let it percolate in the back of my mind for a while and pick seven things that I thought were important to me.

Here are my victims:

• Jenn Ng
• Sandy D.
• Julius M.
• Luke Hackney
• Herbert C.
• Sarah V.D.V.
• Jeremy Tanner

And the rules:

• Link your original tagger(s), and list these rules on your blog.
• Share seven facts about yourself in the post – some random, some weird.
• Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.
• Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs and/or Twitter.