The Heart & Mind Behind a Revolution: Book Review of “Boltzmann’s Atom”
I have a habit of wandering around public libraries until a book catches my eye. I do this frequently enough that if you were to plot the book titles I […]
Why I Love Being Uncertain
We, humans, seem to be afraid of uncertainty. Or to put it another way, we yearn for complete certainty. But why? Oddly, science and religion, using their broadest notions, have […]
A Tale of Two Juries: Why We All Trust Science
By Julien Musolino Professor of Psychology, Rutgers University Francis Bacon, one of the fathers of the scientific revolution, warned us in the early 17th century that without the methods and […]
How To Be Wrong: Changing Our Minds, Pt 2
In my last post, I discussed the stories of two people, Alan Chambers and Patty Wetterling, who did one of the hardest things a person can do: They changed their minds […]
Power in Diversity: Storytelling as a Social Catalyst
Our lives are shaped by stories – even the most frivolous and whimsical are essential in the construction of our subjective and shared realities. Stories convey information we have learned; […]
Maximizing Free Will
By Barry Klassel Humanist Chaplain at Rutgers University Are human beings agents in the decision making process that determines our future or is that an illusion? Are we, rather, pulled along by […]
The Mathematics of Morality
By Professor Lance Linke Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence I’ve wondered for quite some time if there is a relationship between mathematics and morality. These fields have often been considered to […]
Questioning the Standard Life Cycle of an Atheist
I’ve been an atheist all my life, but I didn’t notice until I was in high school. I didn’t notice because it never felt like a big deal. I didn’t […]
Stories to Live By: Changing Our Minds, Pt 1
We hate changing our minds. When politicians do it, pundits call it a “flip-flop” and laugh at them. When pundits do it, other pundits laugh at them. (Except for Philip Tetlock, […]
Storytelling: The Dangerous Art of Identity Formation
When I was four years old, I attended a church-based preschool in a small town in Minnesota. My parents carpooled with friends from the neighborhood, and because of this arrangement […]
Applied Sentience 