The essence of who I am is the result of the loving care and thoughtful, generous upbringing I received from my parents. I was lucky in this regard, and very grateful for it. Beyond that, the most significant influences on the development of my way of thinking are, in rank order:

(1) Science,

(2) Buddhism and Taoism (Daoism),
as explained by Alan W. Watts,

(3) Carl Gustav Jung,

(4) George Orwell,

(5) Noam Chomsky,

(6) Decision Theory,
as formulated by Richard C. Jeffrey.

The events, or historical periods, or societal factors, or movements that I experienced and/or lived through (after 1958), and which had the most significant impacts on the development of my way of thinking are, in rank order:

(1) Vietnam War,

(2) Cuban Revolution, and the US war against it,

(3) World Energy Crises and Needs,

(4) Environmentalism.

Beyond all the above, I was influenced by art (mainly Old Masters and Impressionist paintings), literature (mainly classic novels) and music (mainly classical music). If you are curious about those cultural influences on me, you can search this blog for my articles on art (if any), books and music, and get some idea of what kind of cultural influences affected the development of my way of thinking.

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