Pardon me for taking the part of a latter-day Thomas Malthus, a party pooper if there ever was one. Let’s play one more time the "most urgent book to read" game. Construct your most devastating characterization of the perils of our times, then ask: what one book should you take with you to the proverbial... Continue Reading →
In an earlier blog essay, Religion and the Credibility of Science, I argued that religion and science are fundamentally opposed to each other. In the book Abdication: God Steps Down for Good, I make the same claim, but with a twist, namely that the two, while antagonistic, are also allies of one another! How can that... Continue Reading →
So, what’s in your wallet? What’s on your fridge door? Images of geologic time, I hope, and the evolutionary tree of life. Good for you. Good for us. That’s our true planetary address and our true social standing as a life form. We are life becoming conscious of itself. Life has evolved into consciousness. We are the heart, eyes, brain, mind, and thoughts of the universe. We are the inheritors of time. We are the gardeners. We are the guides. We are the hope of posterity.
Joel Achenbach downplayed the most obvious culprit in his otherwise superb account of “Why Science is so Hard to Believe” (Washington Post, National Geographic) in accounting for skeptical views toward vaccination, fluoridation, and genetically modified foods. He de-emphasized religion’s influence. Religion is arguably science’s oldest, most powerful, and persistent foe. The fates of Socrates, Giordano... Continue Reading →
A week ago in this blog the publication of Abdication: God Steps Down for Good was announced, accompanied by the book description that appears on its cover. I am today posting the Preface to the book. It provides a fuller summary of the book, its spirit, and some thoughts on the experience of writing it. I should note that the... Continue Reading →
What should scientists do when the majority of parents and children are in the thrall of a wrong idea? That was the problem Copernicus had with the church when the earth was thought to be the center of the universe. Copernicus was wary and withheld the publication of his book, On the Revolutions of the... Continue Reading →
Scientists in Russia, led by Svetlana Yashina and David Gilichinsky, are reported to have successfully resurrected a narrow leafed Campion plant (Silene Stenophylla) from fossil fruit buried in northern Siberia 32,000 years ago. Squirrels had buried the fruit in burrows on the banks of the lower Kolyma River in an area populated at the time... Continue Reading →
I was brought up a Christian, in the American Baptist tradition, baptized by my father, the minister of the churches I attended until I left the church for good after high school. I had mentally absconded well before that, however, starting around the age of six, because—I secretly told myself—these parishioners weren’t hearing what my... Continue Reading →
I have a problem with division. I lose the ability to visualize the remaining pieces after a sequence of repeated operations. I have a similar problem with multiplication, but division will be the focus for now. To keep it simple I’ll use multiples of ten, a standard practice in science. I’m not trying to do... Continue Reading →
