The Human Condition
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Endless War
This is a war universe. War all the time. That is its nature. There may be other universes based on all sorts of other principles, but ours seems to be based on war. . . . –William S. Burroughs *** We didn't come this far because we're made of sugar candy. Once upon a time,
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Quote of the Day: Cormac McCarthy
Black: “What would you do if Jesus was to speak to you?” White: “Do you imagine that he might?” Black: “No, I don’t. But, but, I’own know.” White: “I’m not virtuous enough.” Black: “No, professor, it ain’t nothing like that. You ain’t got to be virtuous. You just got to be quiet.” Source: From his
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The Human Future
I bring up the subject of the singularity from time to time, and it usually gets ignored. But when you look ahead twenty years the challenges it poses to the idea of the 'human' dwarf everything else. Outside of science fiction that most people see as mere entertainment, not much is said or written about
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Reaching the Breaking Point
I don't have a lot to say about what's going on in Egypt, but here's what comes to mind. On one level it's complicated, but on another it isn't. It's just about people who have reached a breaking point. People in poor countries reach the breaking point more quickly than people in richer countries. The
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Spiritual Zombies
So, who or what is the “true object” of the anger welling up from the American body politic in the late summer of 2010? What “untouchable” figure or force is responsible for our dire predicament? My answer would be similar to that offered by G.K. Chesterton when the Times of London sponsored an essay contest
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Superpowers: Invisibility vs. Flight
In this week's This American Life the theme is superpowers, and in Act One The Daily Show's John Hodgeman asks which superpower, if only one were possible, would we choose–Invisibility or Flight. The answers given by people he interviewed were, I thought, rather depressing. One person talked about how she would choose Invisibility so that
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The Historical Norm
I think that one of the key differences that distinguish Americans on the right from moderates and liberals lies in that the mentality of the right is closer to the way most people throughout history have thought. They think tribally, and they believe that it's either kill or be killed, that either you're with us