Category Archives: Society

What’s at Issue in the Abortion Debate

Posted on May 17, 2019 by N.S. Palmer

Abortion isn’t exactly a “third rail” of American politics, since people yell about it all the time. But it is a third rail of rational discussion. Many people have dogmatic beliefs about it and they react with blind rage to … Continue reading →

Posted in Life, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Society | Tagged Abortion, Alabama, Autonomy, Dogmatism, Fetus, Georgia, Heartbeat law, Heresy, Infanticide, Pro-choice, Pro-life, Rational debate, Right to life, State religion | 2 Comments

Follow Courage and Good Sense

Posted on May 16, 2019 by N.S. Palmer

I’m an optimistic kind of guy. I can usually find the “half full” in any glass, no matter how empty it is. But even I get discouraged sometimes. Most often, it’s because of human irrationality. The poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Relations, Life, Political Science, Psychology, Society | Tagged Bertrand Russell, Courage, Existential courage, Gloom, Irrationality, Optimism, Social decline, Winston Churchill | Leave a comment

Thinking Sideways

Posted on May 7, 2019 by N.S. Palmer

There are three kinds of people I like most in the world. First, the ones who tell me how incredibly good-looking I am. Even though I worked on Capitol Hill, I still haven’t met anyone who’s able to lie that … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Relations, Life, Philosophy, Political Science, Psychology, Society | Tagged Creativity, Dimensions of morality, Incomensurable, Incommensurability, Jonathan Haidt, Modes of thinking, Moral dimensions, Moral foundations, Moral intuitions, Moral Psychology, Multiple intelligences, Mysticism, Pragmatism, The Righteous Mind, Thinking, Tolerance, Viewpoints | 2 Comments

My Two Transgender Encounters

Posted on May 5, 2019 by N.S. Palmer

I’ve known a couple of people who these days would be called “transgender,” though I’m not sure if they themselves would embrace the term. Using the grammatical term ”gender” as not-quite-a-synonym for “sex” creates an anti-concept that confuses any discussion in … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Relations, Life, Psychology, Society | Tagged Anti-concept, Eccentricities, Feminism, Gender, Political correctness, Sophistry, Transgender, Transsexual, Women’s sports | Leave a comment

Is Our Technology Sustainable?

Posted on May 3, 2019 by N.S. Palmer

According to aspiring Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang, automation will soon eliminate countless millions of jobs. It will leave few opportunities for workers who are displaced. There’s no doubt that automation is eliminating jobs. At the grocery store, you can … Continue reading →

Posted in Life, Political Science, Society | Tagged Andrew Yang, Automation, Complexity, Economic collapse, Infrastructure, Social collapse, Technological collapse, Technology, Unemployment | 2 Comments

Rise of the Machines

Posted on April 30, 2019 by N.S. Palmer

“We’re not trying to schedule our workers more efficiently. We’re trying to replace them altogether.” — An executive of a fast-food company Andrew Yang, a 2020 presidential candidate, reports that quote about automation in his book The War on Normal … Continue reading →

Posted in Political Science, Society | Tagged Andrew Yang, Artificial intelligence, Automation, Knowledge workers, Minimum-wage workers, Retail workers, The War on Normal People, Unemployment | 6 Comments

Lucky You

Posted on April 29, 2019 by N.S. Palmer

You’re lucky. So am I. I’ve written in previous blogs that believing we’re lucky is a helpful attitude: It makes us happier because we look for the good in situations. It helps us achieve because we see problems as opportunities … Continue reading →

Posted in Life, Philosophy, Political Science, Society | Tagged Andrew Yang, Automation, Evolution, Guaranteed annual income, Heredity, Rawls, The War on Normal People, Unemployment, Universal basic income | Leave a comment

Do Great Individuals Shape History?

Posted on April 22, 2019 by N.S. Palmer

Is human history driven mainly by the actions of “great men”? It’s called the great man theory of history. Of course, the problem is that word “mainly.” Lots of things cause historical events. To say that a specific person was … Continue reading →

Posted in Judaism, Life, Philosophy, Psychology, Society | Tagged Adam and Eve, Aristotle, Buddha, Calculus, Confucius, Einstein, Empress Theodora, Gilgamesh, Great Man Theory, Greatness, Hammurabi, Historiography, History, Isaac Newton, Jesus, Leibniz, Moses, Theories of History, Winston Churchill | Leave a comment

Don’t Pass Over History

Posted on April 19, 2019 by N.S. Palmer

Who are you? What are you? The answers define your identity and give you a sense of place in the universe. The “who” question has a simple answer: your name. But the “what” question has many answers. You are a … Continue reading →

Posted in Christianity, Judaism, Political Science, Psychology, Society | Tagged Community, Easter, Exodus, Group identity, Historiography, History, Legitimacy, Morality, Moses, Passover, Personal Identity, Social order | Leave a comment

Cher Channels Ambrose Bierce

Posted on April 15, 2019 by N.S. Palmer

Cher, a pop singer who I loved for her 1990s music video featuring the animated characters Beavis and Butt-Head, has a new talent. Her April 14th statement channels the spirit of the 19th-century American writer Ambrose Bierce. His book The … Continue reading →