It affects everything and no one is talking about it. For a population to replace itself, the fertility rate, historically and without scientific question, has to be 2.1 (births per woman). In the US, right now that number is 1.70, and decreasing. In other words, as our population ages, we’re…

Free will is an illusion I think we know the universe is deterministic. We just fool ourselves otherwise. Our egos need to believe in their own agency. Yet, there are clues all around us we’re playing a charade. Let’s start by thinking of the number of phrases we use, everyday…

*For me, a healthy, privileged white man in an affluent society — Hi. I’m a healthy, privileged white man in an affluent society, and I’ve been an on again / off again vegetarian throughout my life. Yay, me! My current stretch isn’t even my longest — it will be just two and a half years in January. But I’m positive it’s going…

We thought we had it bad — we didn’t know the half of it — When you raid a former president’s home, what does it do to his supporters? It further endears him to them, of course. Like everything else in our polarized society, nothing turns any lights on in the minds of stalwart Trump supporters, nothing changes their minds. …

A top-selling author spills all the secrets — I sat down with myself recently for an interview. We met in my modest country home in rural upstate New York. A small fluffy dog, a “Cavapoo” mix named Breezy, laid at my feet as I asked myself a series of questions. I was wearing black running shorts and a…

And other things we say that mean determinism — “God Has a Plan for You,” we might say. Or, its less biblical-sounding cousin: “Things Happen for a Reason.” Yes, they do. Things happen (effect) because of what came before them (cause). Some philosophers debate this premise. A horse race has ten winners at the beginning and one at the…

Made possible by the magic of social media — I have conservatives in my family. They mostly sleep during the day and only go out at night. It’s true: I have many loved ones made happy by the Supreme Court’s recent decision to overturn Roe. Parents, cousins, aunts, and uncles deny human-caused climate change. …