When I was researching Consumer’s Guide to a Brave New World, it hit me that the ethical values of many scientists cut against the grain of most of the citizenry. Actually, that didn’t just hit me—I quote a major scientist making that very point. From my book (citations . . . . Continue Reading »
This is a cause that the social right and the political left, liberals and conservatives, and everyone in between can agree upon: Don’t permit human genes to be patented. Genes are not human inventions. Hence, they should not be subject to patent protection (as opposed, say, the . . . . Continue Reading »
A nice line on a philosopher: “He wants to substitute rhetoric for argument but without quite giving up argument. So he ends up giving shoddy arguments.” In a good online discussion of truth and Richard Rorty. . . . . Continue Reading »
I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man, that he’s African American. That of course, is former President Jimmy Carter playing the race card-—bigtime! Not just an extreme fringe mind . . . . Continue Reading »
From the October issue of Harper’s magazine: Chance a U.S. household that owns a Prius also owns an SUV: 1 in 3. Makes sense: Instead of driving the SUV 100 percent of the time, just drive if half the time and drive the Prius the other half to offset the emissions. Voila!—You’ve . . . . Continue Reading »
Michael Gerson’s latest column bemoans the death of historical meaning in our personal romantic narrative. It’s true that the therapeutic historicism that still seems to undergird a lot of popular culture — people telling their stories to one another — is actually being . . . . Continue Reading »
Be sure to check out Elizabeth Scalia’s On the Square article today, to which the majority of commenting readers thus far, whether agreeing with her points or not, have exclaimed the same response: Wow . . . . . Continue Reading »
It was my privilege to meet Rev. Dr. Mark Durie yesterday. Durie, a noted linguist and Australian Anglican Priest gave a lecture at The Hudson Institute titled “Hate Speech Laws, Islamic Blasphemy Strictures, and Freedom of Speech: The Case of Australia.” A brief description of Dr. . . . . Continue Reading »
In comments below on my post about Yuval Levin’s book, Imagining the Future , Michael Peterson asks : “Will someone, somewhere, define human dignity?” Not me, at least not in this post . . . but here’s an account of what needs to happen first. One of the best passages in . . . . Continue Reading »
Stanley reminds us that curiosity isn’t a virtue. For Pascal, it’s nothing more than the vanity of beings in love with their own capabilities. It distracts us from the duties that should flow from love of God and each other. Curiosity can easily morph into love of diversity or losing . . . . Continue Reading »
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