Monthly Archives: April 2020

“Critical Thinking & COVID-19: Straw Person, Steel Person, and Just Kidding”


by Professor

During a White House press briefing President Trump expressed interest in injecting disinfectants as a treatment for COVID-19. In response, medical experts and the manufacturers of Lysol warned the public against this. Trump’s defenders adopted two main strategies. Continue reading “Critical Thinking & COVID-19: Straw Person, Steel Person, and Just Kidding”

Sleep and Depression in Older Persons

Van Gogh - Trauernder alter Mann.jpegVincent van Gogh’s 1890 painting Sorrowing old man (‘At Eternity’s Gate’)

Depression is a serious problem. While its causes are complicated and variable, sleep deprivation is commonly connected with depression. In fact, Harvard Medical School says that sleep deprivation can seriously affect all aspects of mental health. Continue reading Sleep and Depression in Older Persons

Yuval Harari Issues Warning at Davos 2020

Davos, Switzerland

At the January World Economic Forum Annual Meeting (Davos 2020), Yuval Harari, the historian, philosopher, and best-selling author of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, and Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrowissued a dire warning about the future. Continue reading Yuval Harari Issues Warning at Davos 2020

George Packer “We Are Living in a Failed State”

Declaration of Independence by John Trumbull

If you read one short article about the state of contemporary America it should be We Are Living in a Failed State: The coronavirus didn’t break America. It revealed what was already broken” in The Atlantic. The essay captures our attention in its very first paragraphs.

When the virus came here, it found a country with serious underlying conditions, and it exploited them ruthlessly. Continue reading George Packer “We Are Living in a Failed State”