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Category Archives: Human Relations
What You Can Do About the World
The world can be a scary place. It is now. As one website commenter remarked: “We wake up, have breakfast, send the kids to school, walk the dog, go to work, come home and everything seems just fine, and then … Continue reading
Posted in Human Relations, Life, Political Science, Psychology, Society
Tagged Fake news, Hateful rhetoric, Humility, Hysteria, Inflammatory rhetoric, Intellectual humility, Internet, Live and let live, News Media, Peaceful cooperation, Peaceful disagreement, Propaganda, Rational Argument, Social discord, Social Media
3 Comments
What We Are and What We Do
Would you like to join the Chess Club? It’s for people who like chess, like to talk about it, and like to play it. It’s a human group. You can be a member if you satisfy at least one of … Continue reading
Turn Strangers into Friends
How can strangers quickly become friends? Or at least avoid being enemies? On my way back from vacation, I passed through Miami International Airport. It’s an enormous place, so I spent a half hour walking from one terminal to another. … Continue reading
Posted in Human Relations, Political Science, Psychology, Society
Tagged America, Group identity, Group membership, Group solidarity, In-Group, Leadership, Out-Group, Outreach, Social groups
6 Comments
Christakis’s Blueprint for Sanity
I’ve started reading Yale sociologist Nicholas Christakis’s book Blueprint: The Evolutionary Origins of a Good Society. Christakis is something of a hero not only of free speech, but of sanity itself. His wife Erika, also on the faculty, was denounced … Continue reading
Posted in Human Relations, Political Science, Psychology, Society
Tagged Blueprint, Christakis, Mob hysteria, Nicholas Christakis, Protesters, Psychology, Yale
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When Smart People Get Stupid Ideas
If you want to hear stupid ideas, talk to a stupid person. But if you want to hear incredibly, mind-bogglingly stupid ideas, talk to a smart person. It’s not a new insight. Political pundit William F. Buckley once said that … Continue reading
Grokking Our Disagreements
I finally got around to reading Robert Heinlein’s science fiction novel Starship Troopers. When I was growing up, I read two or three science fiction novels a week. How I missed Starship Troopers, I don’t know. And one of my … Continue reading
Life is a Judgment Call
The bar patron asked the bartender, “Is life worth living?” The bartender replied, “It depends on the liver.”1 In other words, it’s a judgment call. Most of us crave simple patterns to explain life. We crave simple rules to guide … Continue reading
Posted in Human Relations, Life, Psychology
Tagged Driving, Duties, Judgment call, Moral judgment, Moral responsibilities, Risk, Roundabout, Traffic, Traffic accident, Traffic circle
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You See What You Expect
Why do smart, sane, honest people sometimes disagree no matter how hard they try to find the truth? Name an issue: Abortion Feminism Immigration Islam President Trump Racism My friends and I often have stark disagreements about those issues. But … Continue reading
Posted in Human Relations, Life, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology
Tagged Ames room, Assumptions, Constructive disagreement, Disagreement, Illusion, Optical illusion, Perception
1 Comment
Trick or Treat
Is it okay to “trick people” for their own good? That question comes up early in John Staddon’s book The New Behaviorism. I’ve just started reading it, and it’s a thought-provoking analysis. Behaviorism is a psychological approach that, true to … Continue reading
Posted in Human Relations, Life, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Society
Tagged B.F. Skinner, Behaviorism, Clickbait, Free Will, Freedom, Freedom of choice, John B. Watson, John Staddon, Operant conditioning, Power corrupts, Psychology, Staddon, The Fatal Conceit, Totalitarianism, Utopianism
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The Thousand-Year View 