Last November I wrote that when future generations judge our era, one of the areas where theyll likely be aghast is our treatment of those who we regard as lacking consciousness. That future may come sooner than I had ever imagined. A recent study published in the New England Journal of . . . . Continue Reading »
When Sotheby’s put Swiss sculpter Alberto Giacomettis Walking Man I” up for auction, it was expected to bring between $19.2 million and $28.8 million. Instead, the piece was sold to an unidentified buyer for a record-setting total of $104.3 million. The sale broke the . . . . Continue Reading »
Something to ponder, and this is from memory so I might get it a little wrong. But it’s been puzzling me.St. Gregory Palamas asserted that the fall of man was not an ontological change but an anthropological one.Metropolititan John Zizioulas asserts that Baptism is an ontological change.So is . . . . Continue Reading »
Lots of folks are talking about the current Vanity Fair story on the Creation Museum in KY. I’ll let someone else start a chat about the story in particular or the museum (follow the Scott Lamb link below for one such discussion); I wish to deal with something more general and . . . . Continue Reading »
If we must have attack ads in American politics, should they look like this? This is either the greatest thing ever done, or the worst. Both, maybe. A jaw-dropping production, but you have to love the red eyes of the wolf in sheep’s clothing. (via National Review ) . . . . Continue Reading »
Here’s some news about which only animal rights believers will be upset: Scientists have developed a technique for maintaining pig lungs that could permit them to be used in human transplantation within five years. From the story:Scientists in Melbourne, Australia, used a ventilator and pump . . . . Continue Reading »
Take a noun that can be misconstrued as a verb (or vice versa), mix it into an ambiguous headline, and you have yourself a recipe for a crash blossom : In their quest for concision, writers of newspaper headlines are, like Robert Browning, inveterate sweepers away of little words, and the dust they . . . . Continue Reading »
Dwight Gardner reviews The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks , a new nonfiction book that explores the curious and disturbing intersection of race, poverty, bioethics, and medical progress: The woman who provides this book its title, Henrietta Lacks, was a poor and largely illiterate Virginia . . . . Continue Reading »
I love good science fiction. It is a splendid vehicle for exploring the deepest issues in a very entertaining way, without getting too serious or bogged down in high brow importance. Indeed, good sci-fi is a powerful magnifying mirror, telling us where we are, and where we may be going.When . . . . Continue Reading »
Harvey Manfield provides an astute analysis of the Progressive claim to transcend partisanship which ultimately turns out to a dream about the decisive end of politics itself. Peter has made a compelling case on our blog that we’re stuck with virtue and the corollary to this view is that . . . . Continue Reading »