Fascinating!: Deconstructing Conventional Wisdom to See the World with New Clarity

Send us Fan Mail Examples of the use of framing as a tactic of misdirection by cynical operators on Planet Earth.

Send us Fan Mail A concise and accessible explanation of the implications of emergent order in nature, and how this idea is a "universal acid" that defeats all attempts to contain it.

Send us Fan Mail A discussion of the works of psychologist Daniel Kahneman and of economist Vernon L. Smith, who shared the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2002.

Send us Fan Mail A critique of communitarian philosophy as a particularly awful example of intelligent design thinking.

Send us Fan Mail Thoughts on why Ayn Rand is such a polarizing figure, and why her writings deserve serious attention.

Send us Fan Mail Further discussion of the idea of moral principles from a utilitarian point of view, with examples from Sam Harris' Making Sense podcast, where he interviews fellow neuroscientist Eric Hoel.

Send us Fan Mail An introduction to the moral philosophy of utilitarianism, as presented in Sam Harris's 2010 book, "The Moral Landscape"

Send us Fan Mail A reiteration of the motivation behind these podcasts, with a look forward to some of the essays to be published in the coming season.

Send us Fan Mail A brief review of the lessons from nature that were covered in the Season 2 podcasts. 

Send us Fan Mail Equality of outcomes doesn't just happen on its own, and simply striving for equality of opportunity has not worked, and is not going to work. The dream is that equality of outcomes can only be insured by wise and compassionate interventions.

Send us Fan Mail What is meant by "justice"?  Earthlings can't seem to agree even on what it means, much less how to achieve it.  It might be a good time to think a little deeper.

Send us Fan Mail Has nature left Earthlings with an unfortunate set of evolved traits?  The modern world is quite different in many respects from the world in which Earthlings evolved, after all.  Is it time to step in and correct nature's mistakes?

Send us Fan Mail The straw man argument is a classic Earthling debating tactic.  You set up a straw man by putting words into your debating opponent's mouth that they never spoke, and then you demolish the straw man's argument and declare victory in the debate.  Here is an example using America's smoke-and-mirrors Social Security trust fund.

Send us Fan Mail Friedrich Hayek was arguably the deepest-thinking philosopher/economist of the twentieth century.  His ideas, based on evolutionary thinking rather than intelligent-design thinking, have already been deeply influential in spite of their lack of fashionability, and will undoubtedly become more and more influential.  Learn why in this installment.

Send us Fan Mail How to become a member, or at least a disciple, of the French Intellectual Elite

Send us Fan Mail A message to young Earthlings about higher education in today's world.  Universities still have a lot to offer, but you should know that a quasi-religious movement involving disciples of Karl Marx has managed to move into positions of dominance in the departments of social sciences and humanities.  Forewarned is forearmed.

Send us Fan Mail Do you believe that the only path to riches lies in doing harm to others?   You might wish to reconsider this belief in light of reason and overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

Send us Fan Mail What do we mean by "value", and how does value arise?  Why is the discredited labor theory of value still so influential?

Send us Fan Mail Earthlings - you cannot afford to f**k this one up. You can deal with the challenge of climate change, but it's going to take something different from good intentions combined with coercive policies.

Send us Fan Mail What do we mean by "property", and what is the origin of this concept?  Is property "theft", or is it a fundamental pillar of social organization?

Send us Fan Mail Recapitulates the theme of evolution vs. intelligent design, with focus on ecnarongi (reverse ignorance), and hints of themes to be covered in future season two essays.

Send us Fan Mail Short summaries of Season One podcasts.

Send us Fan Mail The science of sociobiology has provided Earthlings with truly radical ideas, radical in the sense that they go to the roots of many other scientific disciplines and demand some reformulations.

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, Rik from Planet Vulcan discusses the commonly encountered  but peculiar tactic of using blame as a substitute for diagnosing problems, using Earth's 2008 financial crisis as an example.

Send us Fan Mail An examination of a persistent and fascinating Earthling meme