I used to be a libertarian. I published for the Spokane Libertarian Examiner, and wrote articles warning against totalitarianism (see here), decrying foreign interventionism (see here and here and here), defending gun rights (see…
A friend recently wrote to me with some questions about conspiracy theories, in addition to offering push-back to a statement I made to the effect that I was uncomfortable with conspiracy theories.…
From The Mystical Marriage: Spiritual Life According to St. Maximos the Confessor, pp. 89-90 “We should be careful not to disturb or upset our relations with others, even a little. We should not…
Ever since the mask controversies of 2020, I have been fascinated by the meaning of freedom. What does it mean to be free? What conditions must be in place in order to…
I often talk about freedom in terms of growth/flourishing, and one of the examples I frequently use is an acorn. For an acorn to be truly free is for it to grow…
From D. C. Schindler’s, Freedom from Reality: The Diabolical Character of Modern Liberty: “The reason Aristotle, like Plato, subordinates the statesman to the philosopher is that the essence of strictly political freedom…
Michael Hanby’s First Things article, “A More Perfect Absolutism,” is more relevant now than in 2016 when he wrote it. From Hanby’s article: Despite our native suspicion of political power, Americans believe…
Here’s an update on some recent articles at external publications. At The Symbolic World I published an article on the occult dimensions of the modern technological project. It can be read at the…
Over the years I’ve written about struggle, effort, will-power and the virtue of working hard (see here). I’ve also been writing articles about gratitude (see here). In this post I want to…
One of the things I like about long car journeys, is there is time for extended discussion without feeling rushed. Car journeys are the perfect occasion for taking a deep dive into…
Blake Lemoine, the Google engineer who claims one of LaMDA’s chatbots is sentient, told Wired Magazine that he invited an attorney to his house after the bot asked to speak with a…
The Russian-born American writer, Isaac Asimov (1920-1992), devised three laws of robotics that, if followed, will keep AI in check. These are as follows: A robot may not injure a human being or,…
