Category: Enlightenment Warrior

Cross-posted at Centrist Coalition: Dr. David Brin recently directed his readers to The Claremont Institute’s article “Not Your Father’s Republican Party,” which summarizes the Republican party’s ideological evolution from the progressive days of Lincoln, through modern conservativism, into new conservativism, and ending with Bush Jr.’s seemingly half-way progressive, albeit “faith-based,” half-way neoconservativism (That’s not the…

I must express my approval of the “WWJD?” (“What Would Jesus Do?”) fad. I find it inquisitive, searching for those basic principles of Christianity that are so positive. “What would Jesus do?” is a simple way of getting to the core of Christian beliefs, placing their messiah back in the center of their religion as…

Chimpanzees, Gorillas, and Parrots are able to communicate with human beings, demonstrating the ability for abstract thought, and holding a theory of other minds raises serious ethical questions about the “human” rights of such animals. Already most farms have strict requirements for the humane treatment of cows because their emotional discomfort affects the productivity of…

The American Tax system, with all of its hidden taxes in addition to its wage tax, has created a “boiling frog” syndrome, where the taxes increase slowly in many, virtually undetectable, ways, until we are unknowingly crushed under their burden. Take an example of earning $100, we subtract 20% for income tax. Then, when the…

A friend of mine in early College was making a “Pros” and “Cons” list concerning Geneticially Engineered Food Crops. As a very environmentally concerned person, her “Cons” list had grown substantially larger than her “Pros,” and she was asking me to describe additional benefits/problems of GM Foods. One concern I voiced was the introduction of…

Emotional Maladaptations Emotions are evolutionary adaptations that have served countless species in their quests for survival success. They perpetually influence our actions, prompting us to engage in behaviors that bring feelings of joy and avoid behaviors that evoke fear or misery. The fight or flight reflex is an emotional reaction. Members of our species lacking…

American Republicans and Democrats love to paint themselves as independent-thinking, anti-establishmentarians. Republicans decry Academic and Cultural elitists. Democrats decry economic elitists. Both of these groups are actually rattling their sabers at the American Meritocracy and scapegoating away the weaknesses in their own ideologies. First let’s consider how the two social architectures most often charged with…

I just want everyone to know that I am ready for oil production to begin its decline. I own a lightweight pickup truck, a motorcycle, and a mountain bike. I’m settling into the town where I live and I have enough money to pick up and move into a major city should things become unproductive…

Floccinaucinihilipilificators, or “Haters” for short, or “h8rs” for shorter, are people who engage in excessive floccinaucinihilipilification. If you’re not familiar with this word, it’s probably because you have a life, and I’ll get to explaining how to pronounce it farther down. For now just accept that string of 28 characters as what this random thought…

I find it interesting that so indispensable and natural a biological act as copulation carries so many stigmas in our society, but perhaps not so surprising. As animals with the capacity for forward thinking and the potential for cognitive mastery over our instinctual urges, we can recognize the harmful effects of over-population and the need…

While I disagree with the ID movement and am deeply troubled with the gains they are making in our public disputations, I think my fellow evolutionists should look on the bright side of this emergence. The fact that ID exists is proof that evolution has gained ground in our civilization’s mindshare. The creationist movement is…

To some, Michael Crichton’s status as a science fiction writer affords him the right to play loosely with facts, but Crichton has always tried to portray himself as something more than a b-status fiction author. Crichton wants his audience to think him an expert on every subject he speculates on, and this is where he…