User:Efiiamagus

"Against stupidity, the gods themselves struggle in vain."

About me
 

Hi!!! My name is Efiiamagus... (not my real name of course)

I am a Doctor of Medicine, and a Psychiatrist. Before that, I finished course work in a PhD in Evolutionary Biology; I also have the following postgraduate certificates/diplomates(diplomados): Thanatology; Neuro-psychology; Scientific Method and Gnoseology; Philosophy and The Critique of Being (Filosofía y Critica del Ser). Since my academical interests are now my own, I decided to follow Medicine, Psychiatry and the Human Mind as my research focus. My favorite topic of discussion (lately) is Magical Thinking.

I am also a scientist, I used to be a researcher in the field of Human Genetics and Evolution. I imparted the following course/lectures at the university: Evolution; Compared Anatomy and Pathological Anatomy; Physiology; Pharmacology; Research and the Scientific Method (Investigación y Metodo Científico).

I am analytical, rational and logical... centered and equanimous.

I had 2 other "formal" accounts since 2003 (now the passwords lost in memory due to not using them frequently) also have been an anonymous (IP) editor for quite a while... but recently (since I have more time now) I have decided to join wikipedia "formally" to contribute more.

"Truth, courage and strength, may you heart always strive for those. Disdain the liar, the weak and the coward. They will diminish you, and only seek to reduce to nothing your efforts."

Views
 

Wikipedia
The Wikipedia project and the view of a database of encyclopedic knowledge, free and for all to contribute, is a noble endeavor. Wikipedia like all human endeavors is not without fault. So please before entering in a discussion, read these important subjects:
 * 1) Systemic bias
 * 2) Cognitive bias
 * 3) FUTON bias
 * 4) Confirmation bias
 * 5) Attitude polarization
 * 6) Belief perseverance
 * 7) Illusory correlation

..and also this (comedic) essays:
 * 1) The Truth
 * 2) How to win a revert war


 * I am pro evidence-based discussions. If you have no (real) evidence and/or a defined discursive point, you are just bickering; I reserve the right to ignore you.
 * The proper citation and reference of articles is always a plus, but not a requisite.
 * Knowledge by its own characteristic is a broad concept; it is not clearly defined what is the ultimate nature of knowledge, for me any information true or false has the potential of becoming knowledge. If we only read "reinforcing information" (that is, information that only support what we beleive), there is no challenge, and therefore, no growth.
 * I prefer a “structurist” approach, I am not one that will delete/edit on just a whim. I prefer the information to be available for some time, until more people can view and review it, or until a real consensus is reached.
 * I prefer to leave the information standing "as-is" until more subject knowledgeable people from the Wikipedia projects can peer-review the information. I don't claim ownership or stewardship of any article, once an article is created in the Wikipedia it belongs to everyone.
 * Sometimes a simple "un-sourced" or "citation needed" tag is all that is necessary. But more important try to find the source yourself.
 * Never ever delete consensus reached material on just an assumption. Remember that we all have bias.
 * Letting stand information for some time is a sensible approach. Wikipedia is not constricted by the burdens of space that paper publications (or other media related to it, such as electronic journals) are.

Life
I think it's rather counterproductive to dwell in the past, since we make our future by the choices of the Present. I prefer to live in the Now. The entire Earth is a schoolhouse, so I am in a constant state of learning and bettering myself. I am happy to have learned a great deal from past experiences.

Love & Faith
Only the person who has faith in himself is able to be faithful to others. Selfish persons are incapable of loving others, but they are not capable of loving themselves either. Love means to commit oneself without guarantee, to give oneself completely in the hope that our love will produce love in the loved person. Love is an act of faith, and whoever is of little faith is also of little love. - E.Fromm

Money & Power
Accumulating wealth and material things is not of my interest. I like to keep my life simple, and with the minimum of excess... Imported European living room furniture at my home or an exotic sports car in my garage is not my idea of success...

Interest
 

Main Interests

 * Science
 * Scientific Method
 * Medicine
 * Psychiatry
 * Neurology
 * Psychology
 * Memory
 * Memory Implantation, Memory modification
 * Evolution
 * Human Evolution
 * Genetics
 * Genetic engineering
 * Philosophy and Education
 * Epistemology, Ontology
 * Socratic Method
 * Maieutics and Dialectics
 * Politics and Economics

Other Interests

 * Logic
 * Physics, Astronomy, Cosmology
 * Religion, Magical Thinking
 * Secular humanism, Atheism
 * Languages
 * Ancient languages

Music
Rock, Folk, Classical/Opera

Books
Fiction:

Favorite book: The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy.

Others: The Grapes Of Wrath by John Steinbeck; The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky; Il nome de la Rosa by Umberto Eco; Hamlet by William Shakespeare; Moby Dick by Herman Melville; La Vida es Sueño by Pedro Calderón de la Barca; Middlemarch by George Eliot; War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy; In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust; Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad; The End of Eternity by Isaac Asimov; The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien; 1984 by George Orwell; Brave New World by Aldous Huxley.

Non Fiction:

Favorite book: Philosophy: An Introduction to the Art of Wondering by James Christian.

Others: The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene;The Art of War by Sun Tzu; The Varieties of Religious Experience by William James; The Proper Study of Mankind by Isaiah Berlin; Anatomy of Criticism by Northrop Frye; Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View by Stanley Milgram.

Painting
Flaming June by Lord Frederic Leighton, Girl at the Window by Salvador Dalí; The Human Condition by Rene Magritte

Movies
El Lado Oscuro del Corazon (1992); Le Ballon Rouge (1953); Blade Runner (1982); El Laberinto del Fauno (2006); Metropolis (1927); Citizen Kane (1941); Star Wars (1977); Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb by Stanley Kubrick

TV Shows
The X-files; Star Trek; Mythbusters.

Activities
Reading And Writing, Chess, Drawing.

Quotations
"He piled upon the whale's white hump the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from Adam down; and then, as if his chest had been a mortar, he burst his hot heart's shell upon it." - H. Melville, Moby Dick.

“And then I learned that immortality can be reached before death. I just need life to justify it. Not because of what death promises, but because of the entire things it will not take away from me.” - L. García Montero

"You compulsively read inaccurate sources and accept them on account of their reinforcement of what you want to be true." - Me

Alerts/Watching/Miscelaneous
 


 * 1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Watchlist/edit

Contributions
 

Recent Contributions

 * 1) Created Obedience to Authority: An Experimental View
 * 2) Created Philosophy: An Introduction to the Art of Wondering
 * 3) Created Kinematic Self-Replicating Machines (book)
 * 4) Created Kant's antinomies
 * 5) Created The Kalam Cosmological Argument (book)
 * 6) Kalam cosmological argument Some major copy-editing, added citations and sources, expanded historical background.
 * 7) Reactance (psychology) Some minor edits in matter of reference and citation, other minor details.
 * 8) http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expectativa - Added 3 more definitions, 2 where referenced, 1 the reference is still pending.

Articles in development

 * 1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Efiiamagus/James_L._Christian
 * 2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Efiiamagus/Kinematic_Self-Replicating_Machines_(book)
 * 3) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Efiiamagus/The_Hebrew_Universe
 * 4) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Efiiamagus/Irreversibility_of_climate_change

Useful links
 ... ...  Welcome to Wikipedia! Introduction. New contributors' help page.

Finding your way around:


 * Table of Contents


 * Department directory

Need help?


 * Questions — a guide on where to ask questions.
 * Cheatsheet — quick reference on Wikipedia's mark-up codes.
 * Wikipedia's 5 pillars — an overview of Wikipedia's foundations


 * Article Wizard — a Wizard to help you create articles
 * The Simplified Ruleset — a summary of Wikipedia's most important rules.
 * Guide to Wikipedia — A thorough step-by-step guide to Wikipedia.

How you can help:


 * Contributing to Wikipedia — a guide on how you can help.


 * Community Portal — Wikipedia's hub of activity.

Practice


 * Sandbox
 * My sandbox

http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Editing_all-in-one_guide

Internal links and useful essays
User:Efiiamagus/My infobox book http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books/Non-fiction_article

Advice on researching with Wikipedia
 * 1) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Don%27t_demolish_the_house_while_it%27s_still_being_built
 * 2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Don%27t_hope_the_house_will_build_itself
 * 3) http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Association_of_Eventualist_Wikipedians
 * 4) http://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Inclusionism
 * 5) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Template_messages/Cleanup#Lists
 * 6) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Deacon_of_Pndapetzim/How_to_win_a_revert_war
 * 7) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:SPA
 * 8) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Fact
 * 9) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:The_Truth

Suggestions for excellent content by User:AndyZ

Librarian's Guide to the way Wikipedia works by User:DGG

Librarian's view of Wikipedia and Reliability also by User:DGG


 * username