Dr. ESP The May 12 issue of Time Magazine included an article titled, “American Capitalism’s Greatest Crisis.” It included the following: A couple of weeks ago, a poll conducted by the Harvard Institute of Politics found something startling: only 19% of Americans ages 18 to 29 identified themselves as “capitalists.” In the richest and most market-oriented country in … Read more
It happened again this weekend. I guess the media never heard of “Occam’s Razor,” the problem solving principle which suggests, given a number of hypotheses, the one that requires the least assumptions is most preferable. In more modern terminology, it is much like the acronym KISS or “keep it simple stupid.” Yesterday, CNN reported on the … Read more
Last Thursday night, the NFL draft narrative was dominated by the release on social media of two stories about Ole Miss standout Laremy Tunsil. Minutes before the draft officially commenced, a tweet of Tunsil smoking weed surfaced on the internet. Later that evening, an Instagram post included text messages in which Tunsil asks for money … Read more
My last post focused on the trend in movies and television to generate fear through depictions of terrorist attacks and other acts of violence. Though I briefly touched on docu-dramas and documentaries which demonstrate the better side of human nature, I regret not putting more effort into a defense of Hollywood when it uses the powerful language of … Read more
Several of the candidates running for President in 2016 have based their appeal on fear. Fear of terrorist attacks. Perceived attacks on religious freedom. Concerns who will have his/her finger on the nuclear button. I’ll let you, the reader, decide which are valid and which are fear-mongering. But that decision should be based on what … Read more