Question on Quora:
In your opinion, what is the strongest form of confidence one can have?
The strongest form of confidence is one backed with humbleness, knowing how little I know and how much more there is still to learn.
As the Dunning-Kruger Effect has taught us, both mastery and ignorance can be the source of confidence. We wouldn’t want our confidence to emerge from the latter.
Question on Quora:
Is religion the best “social media tool” for connecting strangers around the world? Do religions actually have apps for that, to keep up with businesses?
No. History tells us that money, but not religion, is the best tool that connects people around the world.
Clara, look at how small you were when you were just five minutes old.
Time flies by and it has been almost a year since you joined the family Mommy and Daddy started some years ago. Watching you grow and become more curious about the world day after day has been the greatest joy Daddy could have ever asked for in life.
If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need.
—Marcus Tullius Cicero
Photography has the ability to preserve authenticity and freeze moments in time. As a photographer myself, I am intrigued by the idea of the “joiner portrait”† as a way to examine one’s life at the very moment of the shot. How would I take my own joiner portrait at the age of 40 today? What would the shot look like if I am to compose a joiner portrait of myself living an ideal life in the future?
This blog is a long and perhaps never-ending meditation on a single question:
How do I live?
The question may seem like a strange thing to ask. Ancient Greek philosophers spent a lifetime studying philosophy in search for a way to live a virtuous life; where I live, one of the wealthiest and most educated nations in an era that is arguably the most peaceful time in the entirety of human history, however, there seems to be a simple and yet definite answer to the question: by maximizing our happiness in life. For some, it means relentless pursuit of material pleasure such as wealth and fame while others dedicate their life seeking internal fulfillment such as relationship and tranquility.
Question on Quora:
As an atheist, what is your view of the idea that some kind of sentient being could have kicked off the events that led to the Big Bang?
Maybe. Maybe not. But let’s not confuse imagination with Science.
To quote the great scientist, Thomas H. Huxley: “The great tragedy of Science – the slaying of a beautiful hypothesis by an ugly fact.” Science requires falsifiability and is built on observation and empirical evidence. Imagination, on the other hand, requires nothing but a creative mind; literally anything can happen in the world of fantasy.
Question on Quora:
Are photography contests really worthwhile competing in?
I did the math when I entered the annual National Geographic photo contest back in 2012: For every $15 you get to submit one photo, which gives you a 0.01% chance to be one of the winners and 1% to be picked as one of editors’ weekly favorites. Better yet, each photo gets only 6 seconds of the jury’s time assuming they judge through the entire pool nonstop in a week (which is unlikely) and spend an equal amount of time on every single photo (which is even more unlikely).
Question on Quora:
Why do I find most people around me stupid and keep getting a feeling that I don’t belong here?
Here’s a true story. A man was told that he was the wisest of all. “How could I be the wisest one?” The man was puzzled and set out to prove it wrong. He started wandering around his town questioning anyone he saw about the knowledge they claimed to possess. The man soon came to the conclusion that… he was indeed the wisest of all, for a little piece of wisdom that he but no one else had: the knowledge that he knew nothing. The man’s name was Socrates.
Hello, Clara Ying-Hsi Chen, welcome to the world at 12:40 pm on June 25th, 2017! Your Chinese name, Ying-Hsi, means embracing dawn and you sure have brought the whole family a lot of joy since you were born.
Daddy wants to tell you a little secret: He will never forget how you stopped crying for a moment when you saw him for the first time out of Mommy’s tummy. His heart was melted by your cute little face full of curiosity.
You have a whole world waiting for you to explore and a lot of pictures to be taken by Daddy. Trust Daddy, you will be busy! So for now, can you give Mommy and Daddy some sleep at night?
Why do we do science? Why do we do art? The things that are least important for our survival are the very things that make us human.
—Savas Dimopoulos
Nothing is granted in life. Everything is not in your hands. Sincere effort, that is the only thing you can do. That is the only duty of the human being.
—Teja Singh Dhaliwal
This is Ying.
I travel the world to explore the beauty of nature.
Complexity drives my curiosity. Simplicity inspires my creativity.
I am on a journey with a map and a camera.
I see. I feel. And I love.
08-21-2016 @ Yintrigue.com
珮嘉，這半年來籌備這場婚禮，妳辛苦了。半年前當我們才開始準備這場婚禮的時候，妳說，妳希望我能在婚禮上，以新郎的身份說些感性的話，主題是幸福宣言。 這一聽我心想，哇！這主題也未免太肉麻了一點。但珮嘉，妳以老婆的身份對我的第一個願望，我實在沒有什麼理由拒絕。那到底什麼是幸福宣言？我又該說些什麼呢？我想了想，我希望我的幸福宣言，是我從今以後，身為丈夫，身為一家之主，所要做出的承諾。而我所要做出的承諾，是我在生命中最重要的三個人身上，所學到的三個課程。
Yes, I understand. You have just arrived at a new country and will spend the next God-knows-how-many years of your life living in a town so remote that you have never even heard of before. You have lost all your friends and worse yet, you can’t speak a word of the local language. Sure, there is a phone but a long-distance call over the Pacific Ocean back to where you come from will cost a fortune that you know your family cannot afford. So here you are, left alone in isolation at a foreign place. You are lonely. You are scared. And you feel hopeless.
As despairing as it may seem for the days to come, however, don’t you ever let fear take over your life. Think about it: This is not the end of the world, far from it. You will make new friends, if you stay open-minded. You will learn the language, if you are willing to put in the efforts. You will even realize what a beautiful place you have come to, if you are willing to walk out of that tiny little room of yours and start exploring. So don’t be afraid, for life has just presented you an adventure, one that perhaps at this point seems overwhelming and yet, I guarantee you, will be rewarding when you look back in life.