The False Choice of “Do the Ends Justify the Means”
If the ends ever justify the means is perhaps the most acute of the philosophical questions. Unlike “are things holy because the gods love them, or do the gods love…
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Against Common Sense
The legendary physicist Richard Feynman once said that if you can’t explain something simply, you don’t understand it. The prankster of the Manhattan Project was, alongside being a brilliant scientist,…
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The Utility of Facts
Each person’s worldview is not a single fixed thing. It is a tapestry, woven from countless threads, or a photograph made of countless pixels. And each of those tiny, barely-perceptible…
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Live and Let Die
A wise person once told me that evolution is not the story of life but of death. The vast, overwhelming majority of species are extinct. The dominant theme of evolution…
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Every Crime Is Punishable by Death
The creation of new laws is often treated like it’s the safe option to protect society. But it is not perfectly safe. We risk exposing our fellow citizens to state…
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Political Programming
Being classically liberal can mean a lot of things, but probably not among the spectrum for most is being ruled by robotic overlords. I, for one, welcome them. Sort of. …
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Active or Passive Capitalism? Not Much of a Choice
When it comes to capitalism, most proponents agree that a largely passive system (the free, in free market) is best. Keep the government out of it as much as possible….
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It’s About Control, Not Liberty
Modern conservatism and right-wing ideology in the United States in particular and North America in general often defines itself by its devotion to liberty. For many, I imagine, this is…
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Magical Thinking
One of the most memorable and happy moments of my life was the one in which I realized magic isn’t real. I was a bit old for this revelation; in…
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Conservative by Nature, Liberal by Choice
You’re a conservative at heart. Or, at least, there’s one crouching on your shoulder. This isn’t a pejorative, by the way, or a hallucination. It’s not a judgement or shame….
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