Hi!
I'm a wikipedia lover who occasionally edits articles within my areas of knowledge.
I'm interested in chemistry, biology, biochemistry, (psycho)pharmacology, psychology, and physics. I'm a psychology major with plans to attend medical school and eventually become a psychiatrist.
Politically, I consider myself a libertarian, or more precisely a left libertarian. That essentially means to me that while I believe in both economic and social freedom / individuality, I support governmental intervention into the economy more than into personal social issues. However, I don't believe in governmental control of the economy to the degree that left liberals do. My socially progressive views include these: gay rights / gay equality / acceptance of gay individuals that extends beyond simple tolerance, racial equality, drug policy reform (ending the war on drugs and replacing it with a policy that treats recreational drug use and addiction as a social problem rather than a criminal one), chronic pain patients' rights and anxiety disorder sufferers' rights (to treatment with drugs that work the best, such as opioids for chronic pain and benzodiazepines for certain anxiety disorders that are known to respond extremely well to them, without negative judgment by doctors, pharmacists, or the general public), ending the prejudice against people with mental illness, pro choice (legal medical abortion as an option for women), separation of church and state entirely (not just the lack of a state church or state sanctioned religion, but rather a total separation where religion is not an acceptable force behind lawmaking or law enforcement, and basic human morality is instead the governing factor ... not cultural mores which are more prone to distortion due to intolerance and bigotry), support of labor unions, abolishment of capital punishment (along with other forms of cruelty such as torture),ending overzealous censorship (the first amendment should guarantee our right to expression as long as it does not impinge upon the rights of another citizen), and legalization of prostitution and other sex work (along with other vices such as use of marijuana -- our laws regarding it are clearly hypocritical when ethanol is openly sold and advertised when overwhelming evidence suggests that ethanol is a more addictive and harmful drug than marijuana (marijuana can, I believe, cause psychological dependence for some people; ethanol, however, can cause both psychological and physical dependence, and I believe that ethanol is fundamentally more likely to cause the former than marijuana and other CB1 agonists) -- the phrase alcohol and drugs is a fallacy in my opinion since ethanol IS a drug, and a potentially addictive one too. In the arena of economics, I support intervention only when absolutely necessary to prevent severe class struggles, corporate cruelty (towards humans or the environment), and corporate lies (such as false advertising).
I'm interested in MBTI and other analytical psychology, a branch of psychology which Carl Jung started; analytical psychology is an offshoot of psychoanalysis, which is the force of psychology started by Sigmund Freud. My MBTI type is INFJ (introverted, intuitive, feeling, judging). I'm also interested in the other forces of psychology, including humanism and behaviorism.
Some organizations that I support are Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Human Rights Campaign, Drug Policy Alliance, Students for Sensible Drug Policy, the Cato Institute, NAACP, the Anxiety Disorders Association of America, and the Pain Relief Network.
I'm a male homosexual and I am not ashamed of it. Nobody would suspect that I'm gay due to stereotypical behavior, but when I first came out of the closet some of my closest friends claimed they strongly suspected that I was gay -- I figure that they probably deduced it by my lack of interest in women romantically and noticing that I check out cute guys. I'm not promiscuous although I have no objection to people who are. I find emotional intimacy the most satisfying aspect of romance (at times, however, my mental disorders have made all forms of intimacy difficult), however I do enjoy sex ... the vast majority of human beings do if they're being honest.
I think it's sad that intelligence or aptitude in a field is used as a reason to bully a person in modern society, particularly in primary education (this is much less of a problem in higher education). If there were not individuals with a genuine interest in intellectual pursuits, we would not have most of the luxuries we have today, right down to the very basic luxuries that are practically considered necessities in the modern world. I also feel that pressure to conform to traditional gender roles is sad: personality doesn't conform to them, and this pressure leaves those with a personality that is incompatible with traditional gender roles feeling alienated. Why is it a bad thing for a male to have an extremely high emotional intelligence or be capable of strong empathy? Why is it a bad thing that some women have rational personalities and prefer objective logic over subjective emotion? Why must men be logical an women emotional? Personality doesn't conform to these roles, and society should not expect a person to conform to gender roles.
I value individuality immensely however I also think most people could exist harmoniously in groups if there was more acceptance of differences between people and better communication between people. I feel that violence (from small to large scale, like war) is the absolute last resort for resolving conflict and rarely necessary. I believe that a sense of individuality in each member of a society strengthens the society -- I don't believe that it weakens it.
I'm from the state of New York in the United States of America. I'm twenty years old and I never got to travel very much as a child -- both of my parents have a strong fear of flying in an airplane. I've begun to travel more as money allows. Right after I graduated from high school I took a flight on an airplane for the first time with a few of my friends on a post high school / pre college trip - it was the first time I ever left the time zone I live in. I have to say, I loved flying on the airplane. I hope I can help my parents overcome their fear of flying someday, since I know both of them hate the fact that their phobia keeps them so restricted from traveling.
That's enough for now. Happy reading and editing wikipedia, everyone!