The Myth of Violence
… Or, as John Humphreys often says, don’t be scared. Not everything Steven Pinker says in this is right, but most of it is, and it’s a salutary reminder of the gifts bestowed by science, technology,...
View ArticleSteven Pinker can really draw…
… Along with lots of other cool stuff. Please take a look; it’s funny ‘cos it’s TRUE!
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Vaccination Saves Lives
It does, you know. Really. That we have to be reminded of this now — in (almost) 2012 — is a sad testament to the failure of not only science education but something rather more old fashioned: the...
View ArticleThe Hunger Games
I have just read Suzanne Collins’ series The Hunger Games. ‘Read’ is probably not the right word: ‘devoured’ is more like it. Once I’d started, I had to finish. As I’ve said before I think good writing...
View ArticlePanem et circenses
The title of this post reveals the Latin quip (by the Roman satirist Juvenal, in his 10th Satire, 77-81) from which Suzanne Collins derived the name of her fictional dystopian country in The Hunger...
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Something obscurantist this way comes
I recently had the unexpected experience of reading a book that appalled me; this is not a reaction I can remember having to a book before. The book has a title I agree with: Ideas Have Consequences....
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Violence and the State
The always worth reading Prof. Gene Callahan recently posted – citing Jared Diamond’s example of warfare among the Dani of New Guinea — that violence is rooted in human nature, not the state. Prof....
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In other writing news…
This announcement comes via the UK magazine The Skeptic: Special announcement: we have a new legal column, which will be contributed by Geoff Whelan of GMSS and QEDcon, and Helen Dale of...
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