Category Archives: Society

The rise of the west and the changing sociopolitical landscape

Posted on February 23, 2020 by

Aeon this weekend highlighted a 2017 article by Joel Mokyr looking at how Europe became the richest part of the world (or at least one of the richest).  Historically, there have been many theories, ranging from racist rationals, cultural ones, … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Society | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments

Don’t teach Congress about science and technology; teach the voters

Posted on September 23, 2019 by

M. Anthony Mills has a short piece at Politico advocating the return of the OTA (Office of Technology Assessment), which was defunded in the 1990s as a budget cutting measure.  The argument is that congress needs to know more about … Continue reading →

Posted in Society | Tagged , , | 23 Comments

Politics is about self interest

Posted on August 5, 2017 by

I’ve read a lot of history, including American history of the 18th and 19th centuries.  It’s interesting to read about the politics of these periods.  From a distance across generations and centuries, you can see the distinction between the self … Continue reading →

Posted in Society | Tagged , , , | 66 Comments

Having productive internet conversations

Posted on June 12, 2017 by

Anyone who’s frequented this blog knows I love having discussions, and can pontificate all day on subjects I’m interested in.  I’ve actually been participating in online discussions, on and off, for decades. My earliest conversations were on dial up bulletin … Continue reading →

Posted in Society | Tagged , , , , | 51 Comments

Why the US two party system is so entrenched

Posted on September 8, 2016 by

The other day, I came across this Big Think explanation by historian Sean Wilentz on why the US always seems to gravitate to a two party system. Unfortunately, while I think Wilentz touches on the main points, his explanation doesn’t … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Society | Tagged , , , , | 20 Comments

The relentless rain

Posted on August 17, 2016 by

It was a forecast that was all too common for south Louisiana.  We would have several days of rain.  It would start Thursday evening and continue through the weekend.  There was a possibility of flooding.  The people in flood zones, … Continue reading →

Posted in Society | Tagged , , , | 28 Comments

The reliability hierarchy of expert opinion

Posted on March 14, 2016 by

There’s been a mild amount of angst on the internet in recent days over a couple of well known science communicators espousing nonsense on matters outside of their field.  The first was Bill Nye, who made comments about philosophy that most … Continue reading →

Posted in Society | Tagged , , , , | 19 Comments

The odd animosity toward ebooks

Posted on November 22, 2015 by

Someone called my attention to an Aeon article by Craig Mod describing his abandonment of digital books, returning to the traditional paper variety. From 2009 to 2013, every book I read, I read on a screen. And then I stopped. … Continue reading →

Posted in Society, Writing | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 34 Comments

On ad blocking

Posted on September 18, 2015 by

Nilay Patel has a piece at the Verge on the availability of ad blocking plugins for the web browser in the new version of iOS.  She has an interesting theory of what motivated Apple to allow ad blocking, that it … Continue reading →

Posted in Society | Tagged , , , , , | 20 Comments

Sex laws over the millenia

Posted on August 19, 2015 by

Last week I listened to an episode of Fresh Air on NPR, where Terry Gross interviewed Eric Berkowitz on his new book, ‘The Boundaries of Desire‘, about sex laws over the last century.  But what interested me more in the interview was … Continue reading →

Posted in Society | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 13 Comments