Dr. Jeff Hester

04/17/2026

Which has a better justification for being granted the rights of a human being, a river or a corporation?

04/13/2026

Ideology is seldom a useful guide when setting policy. If you honestly want to accomplish something don’t start with “this is what we should do.” Instead start by clarifying what you want to accomplish, then look with curiosity at underlying causes and what evidence indicates is most likely to work.

04/09/2026

Communication isn’t about what you think you are saying. It is about what the other person is hearing. That starts by actively working to hear them.

There is something else going on here, though. In carefully (and nonjudgmentally) listening to and reflecting back what they are saying, you are inviting them to examine their own ideas. And once you understand where they are coming from it also makes you much more effective in communicating your own thoughts.

That approach to communication - active, curiosity based listening - is the foundation of effective coaching. It is also a first step toward fighting polarization.

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/19m5vAYNLv/?mibextid=wwXIfr

03/24/2026

Being hated does not make art great, but art cannot be great if no one hates it.

08/12/2025

I have trouble with the concept of "cultural appropriation." When two cultures come together, borrowing and sharing from each other, the whole is always greater than the sum of the parts. Such is the history of humankind. Shared cultures -- me borrowing from your culture and you borrowing from my culture -- is what makes civilization possible.

The very existence of social media is a case in point. It is difficult to find a more profound example of "cultural appropriation" than learning another language. Without that grand exercise of cultural appropriation on the part of people around the world we could not share our thoughts, ideas, experiences, friendships, emotions, aid, or even appreciate videos of each others' cats.

Food for thought.

05/12/2025

Some things age very well. Caltech has made The Feynman Lectures on Physics available online for free, along with other off his papers and lectures intended for general audiences. For those who don’t know of Richard Feynman he was one of Physics’ great iconoclasts. Known for his incisive wit, Feynman reinvented our understanding of the very nature of reality. He also played the bongo drums.

The Feynman Lectures are NOT a textbook. They, along with the Messenger lectures at Corner (available here in video), are a guided tour through truly breathtaking terrain.

Now, anyone with internet access and a web browser can enjoy reading2 a high quality up-to-date copy of Feynman's legendary lectures.

02/13/2025

How to give Google a geography lesson.

02/07/2025

Ready Player One

In ten years we will look back on 2024-2025 as the inflection point where the world changed.

01/29/2025

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program will cost an estimated $2 Trillion. That is 30 times more than the Federal investment in scientific research over the last decade.

100% of the technology needed to build the phone in your hand emerged from basic scientific research. Most of that research was Federally funded. The internet you are using was built by largely Federally funded research scientists for the purpose of supporting Federally funded scientific research. Were it not for Federally funded basic scientific research, this conversation would be impossible.

Federal support for basic scientific research is not “welfare for the woke.” Federal support for basic scientific research is a cornerstone of the innovation upon which the economy is built. Were it not for Federal funding of basic scientific research the US would not be a world power. It would be an economic backwater.

The F-35 is welfare for the military industrial complex. Federal support of basic scientific research, on the other hand, is vital to national security.

In the last week the new Administration has issued executive orders that have effectively shut down Federally funded scientific research for overtly political reasons. If that is allowed to continue for long it will destroy an infrastructure that could never be rebuilt.

I am spending money to boost this post to make people aware of the profound danger to the nation posed by reckless politicization of science.

01/28/2025

I am offering reduced rates on coaching and consulting services for academics and others affected by recent freezing of Federal grants and loans. These issues are serious and urgent, especially for those in fields such as scientific research.

I spent 30 years in Academia, including full professorship at a Research One university and service on three of the science teams responsible for instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope. For the last decade I have worked as a certified professional coach, thinking partner, and speaker offering services grounded in that long experience.

Get in contact with me if you would like someone to talk to who understands your world and can help you plot a path forward.

(The situation is evolving rapidly, and I only have openings for a few clients. If you are interested I encourage you to reach out now.)