Category: Enlightenment Warrior
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Future Forgers: A Creative Commons LARP for Kids and Parents
CC-Licensed Artwork by Posthuman Studios: “Neo-Porpoise Morph” by Jessada Sutthi “Salamander Morph” by Silver Saaramael “Infomorph Mercurial Investigator” by Daniel Clarke “Flying Squid” by Joe Wilson “Basic Pod” by James Mosingo “Crasher Morph” by Jose Cabrera “Menton Morph Brinker Genehacker” by Daniel Clarke At this moment 7.5 billion human neocortexes are experiencing a world filled…
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Celebrating 50 Years of Humanism in Star Trek
The following is the full-length version of a shorter commentary I wrote for The Humanist in 2016. The version at the link has the benefit of editorial oversight and fact-checking. This version is the messier director’s cut: Optimism for the Future It feels like we live in a culture where movie and television studios are…
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Nicolas de Condorcet’s “Progress of the Human Mind”
It frustrates me bitterly that the works of the Enlightenment are almost forgotten in America’s universities. Science classes ignore them because scientists must focus on the most current understanding of our world. Humanities classes ignore them because the Age of Enlightenment, with its rationality and empiricism, is seen as the oppressor of creative expression. But…
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Article on Gun Control Published in The Humanist
March/April Humanist My article Never a Magic Bullet: The Personal and Public Dimensions of Gun Ownership and Gun Violence is appearing in the March/April edition of the Humanist. Much of the article is an appeal for rational, civil discourse on the subject, but I did have one dimension where I have a strong opinion. Not…
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Being Labeled for What I Don’t Believe Versus What I Do
The Reason Rally I remember unexpectedly having that conversation with my mother in law while riding in the car recently: “What do you mean Sagan isn’t going to be raised Christian?” she asked when we accidentally let slip that he wouldn’t be going to a Christian church. “There’s lots of possible belief systems out there,”…
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The Scientific Joy of Being Wrong
Esther Dyson Patch Always Make New Mistakes Credit: Gisela Giardino From time to time I find myself deeply fascinated with the Golden Ratio and its relation to the Fibbonacci set. I even bought a cross-section of a nautilus shell to proudly display in my cabinet of curiosities because they grow along the golden ratio. Then…
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GMO Foods and the Promise a Second Green Revolution
Maize tassel with anthers emerging Credit: CIMMYT In 1968, Dr. Paul Ehrlich predicted a population explosion on planet Earth would result in mass starvation in his book The Population Bomb. While millions die each year of starvation, Dr. Ehrlich’s dire predictions did not come true. Many critics of environmentalism often cite Ehrlich’s failed predictions to…
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The 2011 National Book Festival on the Washington DC Mall
Book Festival Poster “I cannot live without books.” ~ Thomas Jefferson I had the great joy of attending this year’s National Book Festival on the Washington DC Mall. With over 100 authors in attendance, CSPAN’s BookTv.org covering the event, PBS Kids, Scholastic, and the greatest library on Earth providing educational materials, this was a fun…
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Science Fiction Versus Fantasy – Uncensored
This is the uncensored version of my Science Fiction VS Fantasy piece I wrote for the Science Creative Quarterly several years ago. I’ve also written much more extensively on this topic in the past. This is the abbreviated version with 10% more snark: I Fanboy: Hey gang! Did you read The Sword of Shanara? The…
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9/11 by the Numbers
[It is] easy for us to provoke and bait this administration. All that we have to do is to send two mujahidin to the furthest point east to raise a piece of cloth on which is written al-Qaeda, in order to make the generals race there and cause America to suffer human, economic, and political…
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The Science of Social Welfare
Malnutrition Affects the Mind Credit: REL Waldman For thousands of years civilizations have extended social safety nets to its most disadvantaged members in order to ensure a minimal level of wellbeing. The Roman Empire, ancient Judaism, the Chinese Song Dynasty, the Catholic Church, Islam and many many other civilizations have a history of providing social…
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Why the Age of Enlightenment Matters
Joseph Wright’s An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump I did everything in my power a few months back to avoid all news about the British Royal Wedding that had so many Americans captivated. It was disheartening to see the American media paying so much attention to the antiquated and irrelevant institution of…