Category Archives: Psychology

Healthy Societies Are Efficient

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 , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

You Can’t Idiot-Proof the World

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 , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Is Racism a Useful Concept?

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 , , , , | 2 Comments

Three Tales from Amtrak

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 , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Why The News Is So Bad

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 , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Drug Policy: Good Is Better Than Perfect

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 , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Don’t Live Thoughtlessly

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 , , , , , | Leave a comment

Beware of “Exceptions” to Freedom

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 , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

For The Chinese, Context Is Everything

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 , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Don’t “Other” Other People

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

Posted in Human Relations, Life, Political Science, Psychology, Science | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment