Good morning. 🦆🪿🦢
14 January 2026
I often find myself wondering why some people can’t wrap their heads around concepts that seem completely obvious. I’ve got a saying for it: “We’re not all issued the same toolkit.” I don’t claim to be the smartest guy in the room, but I’m still amazed at how often I’ve watched people struggle with things that feel straightforward. Education plays a role, sure, but it doesn’t fully account for what I’ve seen.
Take natural selection, for example. I don’t have much formal education in biology, yet the basic logic of natural selection—survival of the fittest—has always made sense to me. It isn’t hard to grasp how tiny changes, stretched across vast spans of time, can accumulate and produce new species. Once you see that mechanism, you can’t unsee it. And yet some people, as I’ve said, just don’t get it… or maybe they refuse to.
I’m not trying to wander into theology, but belief systems absolutely shape this particular conversation. For many folks, understanding evolution feels like betraying their faith, so they choose not to understand. I’ve seen it firsthand—students in college biology classes arguing with the instructor, practically ready to cover their ears and hum just to avoid hearing the explanation. I’m exaggerating, but only a little. People get emotional about this stuff.
C’est la vie. What can you do.
“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.” — Carl Jung
“Just because you don’t understand it doesn’t mean it isn’t so.” — Lemony Snicket
“Evolution is one of the shattering ideas that overturns past hopes and assumptions.” — Stephen Jay Gould
“Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge.” — Charles Darwin
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