Two epic struggles—both involving science—rage throughout the Western civilized world. In substantial ways, they define our present moment, and their…
Human Nature in Nature Blog
New Horizons of Possibility in Human Evolution
/ September 11, 2017New Horizons of Possibility A great deal of modern Western culture—the culture that doubtless has shaped you and me and…
Belief & Action in the Age of Science
/ August 22, 2017Does God Exist? Stephen Hawking, Physicist: “Because there are laws such as gravity, the universe can and will create itself…
Science and (or vs.) Religion?
/ July 12, 2017When I was a young child in Denver, Colorado, my parents took us down-town to the magnificent Gothic Episcopalian cathedral.…
Ideas, Culture, & the Freedom to Error
/ June 9, 2017Every great advance in human history—the use of fire, the wheel, agriculture, writing, our highest religious ideals, democracy, the internet—starts…
Straight Thinking v. Thinking in the Round
/ May 24, 2017A few things in nature go in straight lines, or seem to do so—but only a few. And even they…
The End of the World as We Know It
/ May 11, 2017There are a lot of books and articles coming out that foresee the end in one way or another. The…
On Walking, Writing, Publishing, Telling Stories, and the Importance of Ideas
/ April 13, 2017Walking & Talking. On another misty-day hike in a local forest preserve, our little group winds around huge cedars and…
Short Short Story 1: The Joy of Not Fly Fishing
/ February 7, 2017The fisherman wades upstream. His fly rod—light, willowy, deceptively resilient—arcs under the weight of the line, then straightens. When the…
Election 2016: An Unnatural Disaster—Some Concluding Thoughts
/ January 8, 2017Head Scratching. A lot of us are still scratching our heads. What, really, happened to bring about the unnatural disaster…