Monthly Archives: February 2020

Trump: Corruption and Autocracy

Isaias Afwerki (right), the rebel-leader-turned-president who has ruled Eritrea as a totalitarian dictatorship since the 1990s.

Doug Mudar‘s latest post on his blog, The Weekly Sift, is titled “Accelerating Corruption and Autocracy.” It is the best summary and analysis of Trump’s malfeasance that I’ve found. And, as usual, Mudar’s work is painstakingly researched and his prose carefully and conscientiously crafted. Here are his introductory paragraphs, Continue reading Trump: Corruption and Autocracy

Is Philosophy Dangerous?

Left to right: Plato, Kant, Nietzsche, Buddha, Confucius, AverroesClockwise from top left – Plato, Kant, Nietzsche, Averroes, Confucius, the Buddha

In my last post, I applauded a reader’s search for truth. I concluded that post as follows:

it’s easy to accept the first ideas you’re taught and be done with it. What’s hard is to keep searching and growing and changing, never anchoring as Kazantzakis put it. The search for truth is just so much nobler and humbler than simply affirming the first ideas you encountered.

I still agree with my conclusion but feel compelled to add a few caveats. Continue reading Is Philosophy Dangerous?

Searching for Truth

The School of Athens by Raphael, depicting famous classical Greek philosophers

I recently received a correspondence from a reader who has rejected her former religious beliefs in favor of a more scientifically based worldview. This process was evidently long and painful and she has now embarked on her own quest for truth. But where might such a trek lead? Here are some brief thoughts about her forthcoming journey. Continue reading Searching for Truth

How To Survive Trump

A man diagnosed as suffering from melancholia with strong su Wellcome L0026693.jpg

As usual Doug Mudar wrote a profound post, “Let’s Talk Each Other Down,” at his website The Weekly Sift. Mudar begins like this:

Looking around this week — in the media, among my friends, inside my own head — I observed that a lot of people are freaking out. Because Trump was acquitted, because he has started his revenge tour, because Republicans know he abused his power and don’t care, Continue reading How To Survive Trump

Francis Heylighen: Meaning and Worldviews

FrancisHeylighen2009.jpg

 © Francis Paul Heylighen – (Reprinted with Permission)

Francis Heylighen is a Belgian cyberneticist investigating the emergence and evolution of intelligent organization. He presently works as a research professor at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel where he directs the transdisciplinary research group on “Evolution, Complexity and Cognition” and the Global Brain Institute. He is best known for his work on the Principia Cybernetica Project, his model of the Internet as a global brain, and his contributions to the theories of memetics and self-organization. Continue reading Francis Heylighen: Meaning and Worldviews