Category: Illusions

Beliefs or images of reality, as distinct from reality

On Who’s Authority? Perverse Personal Politics and the Autocratic Attempt

August 20, 2021

I just do not know where these state governors get the idea that they can “ban” municipal and other local authorities from helping their people. What gives the Texas governor the right to prevent the Lina Hidalgo, the County Judge who oversees Harris County, which includes Texas’ biggest city, Houston, from establishing procedures to improve … More On Who’s Authority? Perverse Personal Politics and the Autocratic Attempt

Masking Truth and Distancing Lies: Living in a Vacant Moral Universe

August 12, 2021

Life just keeps getting weirder and weirder. It is very hard to make sense out of the behavior of so many fellow humans. Some say we live in a post-truth world. What does that mean? Others claim that “alternative facts” ought to have superior standing despite contradicting the actual facts for which the evidence is … More Masking Truth and Distancing Lies: Living in a Vacant Moral Universe

Against Ideology: Creativity is Best Hope in an Uncertain World

June 17, 2021

Uncertainty is everywhere and growing fast. That makes many people uncomfortable at best, violent at worst. Most seek certainty in what they perceive as a set of beliefs that they equate with reality. When conditions appear uncertain or change quickly, certain people conclude that someone is messing with their reality. They expect to live in … More Against Ideology: Creativity is Best Hope in an Uncertain World

Who Survives and Who Does Not: Civilization Lost in a Wilderness of Mistaken Mental Models

May 26, 2021

Have you ever been lost in the woods? Or just in an unfamiliar urban neighborhood? As it turns out, getting lost is not that uncommon. However, most of the time things work out because we got lost within the familiar bounds of civilization. We can rely on others to give us some directions. Today, industrial … More Who Survives and Who Does Not: Civilization Lost in a Wilderness of Mistaken Mental Models

Taser, Gun, and Character: What You Cannot Train

April 21, 2021

I am tired of all the convenient talk of “more training” and other improvements in the formal management of police practices, as if they were a mere problem of technical engineering. They are not. The most important quality of police officers is not the skills they take from the academy to the precinct. It is … More Taser, Gun, and Character: What You Cannot Train

Mask over Civility: The Indifference of Americans to Public Health

March 2, 2021

Last Saturday we decided to take a hike in the beautiful Frijoles Canyon of the Bandelier National Monument near Los Alamos National Laboratory “up the hill” from Santa Fe. I had not experienced the pandemic claustrophobia that has caused so much anxiety; I guess I was just too busy. Anyway, it was a lovely cool … More Mask over Civility: The Indifference of Americans to Public Health

The Allegory of the Best Farmer and Community Corn versus the Modernist Dilemma

February 23, 2021

I don’t remember where I read the “Allegory of the Best Farmer and Community Corn,” but it made enough of an impression that I saved it. I guess it was the contrast with our modernist illusions that got my attention. We live in a world that is culturally detached from the factual world of physical, … More The Allegory of the Best Farmer and Community Corn versus the Modernist Dilemma

It’s Not Just About Climate: The New Great Transformation is a Total Existential Threat and Opportunity

February 10, 2021

All the policy talk around the “climate emergency” is either technical with reference to the effects of carbon pollution, emissions-reduction goals, or political with reference to cost, employment, or other policy matters. But the predicament we face in confronting the climate emergency is far greater and more complex than usually imagined. Public climate-change policy leaders … More It’s Not Just About Climate: The New Great Transformation is a Total Existential Threat and Opportunity