Category Archives: Psychology

Healthy Societies Are Efficient

Posted on September 28, 2021 by N.S. Palmer

Efficiency isn’t everything, but healthy societies and people need it. If you want the deep explanation of why that’s true, read about Charles Darwin’s observations of birds (finches) on the Galapagos Islands off the coast of South America. Each island … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Relations, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Society | Tagged Bible, China, Communication, Evolution, Group solidarity, In-Group, Poetry, Political Science, Shared culture, Social cohesion, Solidarity | Leave a comment

You Can’t Idiot-Proof the World

Posted on August 31, 2021 by N.S. Palmer

There’s no way to make the world safe for idiots. No matter what you do, it can go wrong somehow. And then it won’t be safe, for idiots or anyone else. I thought of that while watching “Love Crossed,” a … Continue reading →

Posted in Life, Political Science, Psychology | Tagged Authoritarian, Courage, Risk, Safety, Safetyism, Timidity, Totalitarianism | Leave a comment

Is Racism a Useful Concept?

Posted on July 2, 2021 by N.S. Palmer

I recently participated in an academic discussion about whether or not “racism” is a useful concept. Amazingly, the discussion was cordial and rational except for the moderator and one participant who was a graduate student in some version of victims’ … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Relations, Psychology | Tagged Kendi, Lysenko, Race relations, Racism, Self-reliance | 2 Comments

Three Tales from Amtrak

Posted on April 14, 2021 by N.S. Palmer

In the early 2000s, I worked for a year as an IT contractor at Amtrak’s headquarters in Washington DC. My experience there showed one of America’s greatest problems, as well as its solution. The U.S. federal government created Amtrak in … Continue reading →

Posted in Psychology, Society | Tagged Affirmative Action, Amtrak, Communication, Cultural difference, Diversity, H1-Bs, India, Merit, Productivity, Quota hiring, Replacement, Unemployment | 2 Comments

Why The News Is So Bad

Posted on February 27, 2021 by N.S. Palmer

Why is the news so bad? I’m not talking about biased news. Yes, there’s bias, and it’s getting worse. But that’s not the issue here. I’m also not talking about why the news is full of so many evil and … Continue reading →

Posted in Life, Psychology, Society | Tagged Accuracy, Corporate media, Corporate politician, Incompetence, Joseph Pulitzer, Journalism, News, News Media | Leave a comment

Drug Policy: Good Is Better Than Perfect

Posted on February 23, 2021 by N.S. Palmer

American laws about recreational drug use are a mess. Americans rot in prison for using or selling marijuana, which is relatively harmless. They rot in prison for selling cocaine and heroin, which aren’t harmless but harm mainly heavy users, and … Continue reading →

Posted in Political Science, Psychology, Science, Society | Tagged Addiction, Cocaine, Corruption, DEA, Drug policy, Heroin, Marijuana, Perfectionism | 6 Comments

Don’t Live Thoughtlessly

Posted on February 19, 2021 by N.S. Palmer

The American philosopher John Dewey argued that for most people, most of the time, thinking is a last resort. They only think when a problem or obstacle blocks their path. And he wasn’t wrong. Most of the time, we live … Continue reading →

Posted in Life, Political Science, Psychology, Society | Tagged Conformity, Cruelty, Customs, Groupthink, Herd behavior, Independent thought | Leave a comment

Beware of “Exceptions” to Freedom

Posted on January 30, 2021 by N.S. Palmer

Yale University historian Timothy Snyder wrote a short book called On Tyranny that’s quite good. Each of its 20 chapters explains a way to preserve freedom and civilized society in the face of attacks by tyrannical government. The book came … Continue reading →

Posted in Political Science, Psychology | Tagged America, American ideals, Community, Courage, COVID-19, Emergency powers, Freedom, Lockdowns, Patriotism, Tyranny | 3 Comments

For The Chinese, Context Is Everything

Posted on January 23, 2021 by N.S. Palmer

It ain’t much, but it’s the first story I’ve written in Chinese. I’d wanted to write about Chinese political philosophy, but I found that my vocabulary was too limited to do it. Surprisingly, some Chinese ideas about governmental legitimacy are … Continue reading →

Posted in Life, Psychology | Tagged China, Chinese, Culture, Diplomacy, Language learning, Languages, Mandarin | 3 Comments

Don’t “Other” Other People

Posted on January 10, 2021 by N.S. Palmer

Most people aren’t familiar with the idea of “othering,” but they are familiar with what it is. They’ve seen it. They’ve done it to other people, and they’ve had it done to them. To “other” a group of people is … Continue reading →