Theory of Mind and Projection

Most people understand “theory of mind” as being an understanding that there are others out there who have a mind, like you have a mind. Humans of course have theory of mind (except, according to too many researchers, those on the autism spectrum — something we will see is…

Immigration and Natural Law

Homo erectus emerged in east-central Africa, but its fossils are found throughout Africa, the Middle East, and into India, China, and south to Java. Homo sapiens also emerged in east-central Africa, but modern human beings are literally found in every single continent — and, yes…

2020 and the Rise of Political Violence

Infamously, the 1968 Democratic Convention, held in Chicago, was wracked with protests — from the far left. There had been a civil war within the Democratic party, for the soul of the party, throughout much of the 1960s. The conservative southern Democrats vs…

Scapegoats and Politics

The Koch Brothers (Charles and David). George Soros. Whoever is President of the United States.

Everybody loves a scapegoat.

A scapegoat is someone we ritualistically blame for everything, for all our sins, for the sins of our society…

On Totalitarianism

Odds are, you’re a totalitarian.

A totalitarian is someone with a totalizing ideology. That is, they think that all things can be explained through a single social structure. We typically think of totalitarians as those who support the creation of a government that has…

Cosmopolitanisms and Nationalisms

Humans are a contradictory animal at times.

I’m a cosmopolitan. The opposite of a cosmopolitan is a nationalist. I also support free markets. The opposite of a free market is socialism — though there are, of course, gradations toward socialism…

My Libertarianism

Lately I have been trying to avoid the explicitly political and focus, instead, on scholarly work. While it is true that that scholarly work could have political consequences if read, developed, used, etc., it’s not explicitly political. There are political consequences to what one believes about…

Going Slightly Mad

The top news story here in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex is the adjunct professor of astronomy at a Tarrant Community College campus frightening his students on the first day of class by covering his face with a scarf, turning off all the lights, and talking about the connection between…