A series of short exoteric essays, exposing fixable flaws in the ideas running our lives.
Exoteric is the opposite of esoteric, aimed at many not few.
Too much text is a time crime = 5 minutes or less, mostly less, to read.
Recipe = transdisciplinary tome raiding + treasure remixing + a dash of original ideas.
An Obvious But Overlooked Factor Contradicts Conventional View Of Evolution: Scientific American
It is in our nature to fit nature to us. We are best at it, but other species do it. A better framework for evolution is needed.
What Rational Really Means: Scientific American
The word rational is widely misused. Scientists often apply it unnaturally, in ways that conflict with our biology.
Tools Have Changed Our Genes For Millions of Years: Scientific American.
It is in our nature to need tools. For more than a million years we've not been able to live without them.
Kahneman’s Clarity: Using Mysterious Coinage in Science: Scientific American
Feeling is a form of thinking. Mysterious coinages helped make clear our "theory induced blindness."
It Is In Our Nature To Need Stories: Scientific American
We are adapted to physiologically interact with stories. They configure our biology, and how we feel, in ways long essential for our survival.
Plato’s Pastry & Rescuing Science from Bentham’s Bucket Error: Scientific American
We need a new happiness. The one most people use now is confusing even our smartest scientists.
It Is In Our Nature to Need Rules: Scientific American
Chimps are more "rational." But this limits them in ways we wisely avoid.
Second Natures Are in our First Nature: Scientific American
We are habit-forming and habit-farming animals
Self-Deficient by Nature: Biology Defying individualism.
It is in our nature to be self-deficient, initially, chronically and inalienably.
The Loose Language and Lax Logic of Libertarians: Huffington Post
The core claim of libertarians doesn't hold up empirically or epidemiologically.
Poetry and Calculation in Science: Scientific American
In science, as in life, we see with our ideas. We need more than just mathematical ways of seeing. E.O.Wilson says scientists should "think like poets and work like accountants."
The Better Models of Our Nature: Scientific American
Why popular evolutionary psychology is irresistibly wrong.
How We Evolved to Be Moral: Wilson Quaterly
Review of Moral Origins by Chris Boehm
It is in our nature to need social rules. They make us human and more productive.
Reasoning Against The Role of Reason: Wilson Quarterly
Review of Social Animal by David Brooks
Old dualisms must now duel with data: it's clear reasons role in our lives is limited
Love Might Be Blind, but She Is Rarely Deaf: Huffington Post
Love leads us to use language to advertise our impressive brains, and our access to expensive resources like education and leisure time.
We The People Forget: Huffington Post
We need more we-ness in our lives. Or the nations politics won't work.
The Rational History of the Cardinal Virtues: Huffington Post
Cardinal virtues did not come from cardinals.
History of Political Idiots: Huffington Post
Being "political" now often means behaving like an idiot. The history of those words can help us stop this madness.
Whiny Tiny-Minded Titans & Loophole Logic: Huffington Post
OK titans, forget the fabled free lunch, there's no such thing as a free infrastructure either.
Wealthy Should Give Thanks for Their Welfare Benefits: Huffington Post
How the wealthy benefit from welfare: we subsidizing their low cost employees.
Competition in Nature Tell Us Markets Shouldn't Be as Dumb as Trees? Scientific American
Competition in nature frequently creates foolish costs and undesirable outcomes. Same goes for markets, which is why we need guided competition.
Good Rich, Bad Rich: Huffington Post
The rich are mostly as replaceable as you or I.
Prehistoric Politics & Today's Teams & Taxes: Huffington Post
Prehistoric politics can teach us how to prevent present-day errors. Human survival has been a team sport for 10,000 generations. It still is.
Interview with Book Slut
On surreptitious science and why we're not rational. Also joining "humor as a necessary counterweight to the hegemony of reason."
I Am A Language Addict: The National Post Canada
I’m a language addict. I’m not pulling your leg. I seek the thrill of a novel turn of phrase, a surprising sentence or a marvelously unexpected meaning. The resulting high can be one of life’s most necessary pleasures. But it’s not just me. We are all addicted, all dependent, to some degree. It’s our most ubiquitous mind altering drug
The Linguistic Peacock-Tails of Love: The Guardian
The excesses of romantic language derive from the same evolutionary pressures that produces peacock tails.
The idiotic joys of idioms: The Guardian
Idioms can show how our minds aren't as rational as we'd like to think.
Exoteric is the opposite of esoteric, aimed at many not few.
Too much text is a time crime = 5 minutes or less, mostly less, to read.
Recipe = transdisciplinary tome raiding + treasure remixing + a dash of original ideas.
An Obvious But Overlooked Factor Contradicts Conventional View Of Evolution: Scientific American
It is in our nature to fit nature to us. We are best at it, but other species do it. A better framework for evolution is needed.
What Rational Really Means: Scientific American
The word rational is widely misused. Scientists often apply it unnaturally, in ways that conflict with our biology.
Tools Have Changed Our Genes For Millions of Years: Scientific American.
It is in our nature to need tools. For more than a million years we've not been able to live without them.
Kahneman’s Clarity: Using Mysterious Coinage in Science: Scientific American
Feeling is a form of thinking. Mysterious coinages helped make clear our "theory induced blindness."
It Is In Our Nature To Need Stories: Scientific American
We are adapted to physiologically interact with stories. They configure our biology, and how we feel, in ways long essential for our survival.
Plato’s Pastry & Rescuing Science from Bentham’s Bucket Error: Scientific American
We need a new happiness. The one most people use now is confusing even our smartest scientists.
It Is In Our Nature to Need Rules: Scientific American
Chimps are more "rational." But this limits them in ways we wisely avoid.
Second Natures Are in our First Nature: Scientific American
We are habit-forming and habit-farming animals
Self-Deficient by Nature: Biology Defying individualism.
It is in our nature to be self-deficient, initially, chronically and inalienably.
The Loose Language and Lax Logic of Libertarians: Huffington Post
The core claim of libertarians doesn't hold up empirically or epidemiologically.
Poetry and Calculation in Science: Scientific American
In science, as in life, we see with our ideas. We need more than just mathematical ways of seeing. E.O.Wilson says scientists should "think like poets and work like accountants."
The Better Models of Our Nature: Scientific American
Why popular evolutionary psychology is irresistibly wrong.
How We Evolved to Be Moral: Wilson Quaterly
Review of Moral Origins by Chris Boehm
It is in our nature to need social rules. They make us human and more productive.
Reasoning Against The Role of Reason: Wilson Quarterly
Review of Social Animal by David Brooks
Old dualisms must now duel with data: it's clear reasons role in our lives is limited
Love Might Be Blind, but She Is Rarely Deaf: Huffington Post
Love leads us to use language to advertise our impressive brains, and our access to expensive resources like education and leisure time.
We The People Forget: Huffington Post
We need more we-ness in our lives. Or the nations politics won't work.
The Rational History of the Cardinal Virtues: Huffington Post
Cardinal virtues did not come from cardinals.
History of Political Idiots: Huffington Post
Being "political" now often means behaving like an idiot. The history of those words can help us stop this madness.
Whiny Tiny-Minded Titans & Loophole Logic: Huffington Post
OK titans, forget the fabled free lunch, there's no such thing as a free infrastructure either.
Wealthy Should Give Thanks for Their Welfare Benefits: Huffington Post
How the wealthy benefit from welfare: we subsidizing their low cost employees.
Competition in Nature Tell Us Markets Shouldn't Be as Dumb as Trees? Scientific American
Competition in nature frequently creates foolish costs and undesirable outcomes. Same goes for markets, which is why we need guided competition.
Good Rich, Bad Rich: Huffington Post
The rich are mostly as replaceable as you or I.
Prehistoric Politics & Today's Teams & Taxes: Huffington Post
Prehistoric politics can teach us how to prevent present-day errors. Human survival has been a team sport for 10,000 generations. It still is.
Interview with Book Slut
On surreptitious science and why we're not rational. Also joining "humor as a necessary counterweight to the hegemony of reason."
I Am A Language Addict: The National Post Canada
I’m a language addict. I’m not pulling your leg. I seek the thrill of a novel turn of phrase, a surprising sentence or a marvelously unexpected meaning. The resulting high can be one of life’s most necessary pleasures. But it’s not just me. We are all addicted, all dependent, to some degree. It’s our most ubiquitous mind altering drug
The Linguistic Peacock-Tails of Love: The Guardian
The excesses of romantic language derive from the same evolutionary pressures that produces peacock tails.
The idiotic joys of idioms: The Guardian
Idioms can show how our minds aren't as rational as we'd like to think.
