Published in EarthUP·Dec 6, 2019An Inconvenient Truth: Talking About Climate Change May Actually Make It WorseMore and more often, I find my news feed populated with stories about climate change. It’s increasing forest fires. It’s promoting extreme weather. And scientists are warning that we are reaching or will soon reach a point of no return where things will be unsalvageable. As a person trained in…Climate Change4 min read
Jun 3, 2019Superpowers and Snake Oil: Radiation, Genes and other MacGuffins of the Modern AgeThere are things that moviemakers and storytellers want. They want car chases, explosions and naked girls on boats. They want superheroes who can fly faster than a speeding bullet or with the strength to fight the Norse god Thor. …Comics7 min read
May 27, 2019The God of Numbers: Why People Who Worship Math and Science Don’t Actually Respect ThemWith the rise of social media, it has become so easy to publish your own story to the world that virtually everyone is doing it. This has made the information landscape so confusing that many people have desperately tried to find some sort of certainty. Like people cast adrift in…Religion4 min read
Apr 28, 2019Breaking Stories: Science, Literature, History, Journalism and Why Every Job is About Making Better Stories“Stories Teach Us How to Live” — The Thousand And One Arabian Nights One of my mentors, Adam Hansen, told me that “a good insight is obvious only in hindsight.” Based on my experience, that story makes perfect sense to me and today I’d like to share the story of…Education10 min read
Dec 11, 2017Third Culture Kids: Making the Birth of Mestizo Cultures Less PainfulWhile most Americans would LOVE to have a British accent, I spent my childhood doing everything I could to avoid one. I despised the British. Of course, I despised them because I felt like they would never accept me and, if they wouldn’t accept me, then I would do everything…Mexico4 min read
Nov 14, 2017Dumb-Barring: Humans Stereotype. Let’s Stereotype Better.While Mixed Mental Arts teaches you about humanity’s cognitive biases one at a time, that’s just our way of making it easier to learn how you and your fellow humans think. In practice, the glorious thing about fast thinking is that it all happens at once, combining to create convincing…Psychology4 min read
Nov 14, 2017It’s Time to Reclassify Humanity: We’re not Homo Sapiens; We’re Homo SocialisAt the very core of science lies a simple principle: when new evidence emerges we should change our minds. In theory, the scientific establishment’s record on this is perfect. In practice, scientists are humans whose whole living rests on their ideas. The destruction of their ideas is the destruction of…Science5 min read
Nov 6, 2017The Path to Ikigai: Solving Society’s Many Dysfunctions By Designing for Humans as They Actually AreHunter-gatherers don’t have a problem helping everyone find their place in society. The older members of the tribe mentor the younger members of the tribe and find great satisfaction in passing on their knowledge. Some people are shamans. Some people are hunters. Some gather. Some cook. Some make pots. Some…Culture7 min read
Oct 30, 2017The Aristocracy of Citizenship: How Different is the Nation State System from Apartheid? — Mixed Mental ArtsIt’s now been a little over 20 years since the end of apartheid. From this distance and looking at South Africa from the United States, it’s a simple matter to understand. White South Africans were racist. They built a racist system. Racism is bad. Now, apartheid is gone. South Africa…South Africa7 min read
Oct 2, 2017Attention Economy: What Price Do We All Pay for Justin Bieber’s Cult of Personality?Everyone wants attention. The individual family provides a beautiful microcosm for thinking about the dynamics of the “Attention Economy.” Kids compete for their parents’ attention, and video games, movies, music, and social media compete for the kids’ attention. School books very often lose out in the competition for attention. While…Justin Bieber5 min read
