May 16, 2025
He walked straight out of college into the waiting arms of the Navy.
They gave him an intelligence test. The first question on the math part had to do with boats on a river: Port Smith is 100 miles upstream of Port Jones. The river flows at 5 miles per hour. The boat goes through water at 10 miles per hour. How long does it take to go from Port Smith to Port Jones? How long to come back?
...
March 20, 2025
How does The Religious Case Against Belief (2008)
compare with The Religious Case Against Belief (J. N. Pritikin, Trans.; 2nd ed.) (2025)?
Structure and Content
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- The second edition includes a new front matter section explaining the adaptation process
- Material is significantly reorganized, with content moved between chapters
- The Religion Beyond Belief and Coda chapters have been removed or relocated
- Overall word count reduced by 46%
- The second edition includes bibliography sections not in the original
Writing Style and Accessibility
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- Sentence structure: The second edition uses shorter, simpler sentences compared to the original’s longer, more complex constructions
- Vocabulary: Original uses more academic and specialized terminology; second edition employs more straightforward language
- Examples: Second edition includes more concrete, contemporary examples to illustrate abstract concepts
- Paragraph length: Original has longer paragraphs with multiple connected ideas; second edition breaks these into smaller, focused paragraphs
- Transitions: Second edition adds clearer transitional phrases to guide readers between concepts
Scholarly Apparatus and References
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- Citation style: Second edition uses numerical footnote references that link to a formal bibliography
- Source documentation: More extensive citations and references in the second edition
- Tables and visual elements: Second edition includes tables (like the attributes of a mature belief system)
- Academic conventions: Second edition follows more formal academic presentation conventions
Audience Considerations
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- Educational accessibility: Second edition is written at a high school rather than post-graduate reading level
- Religious audience: Second edition frames arguments in a way intended to be more respectful to religious readers
- Academic readers: Original appears more targeted toward scholarly/academic audience
- General public: Second edition attempts to make complex philosophical concepts more accessible to non-specialists
Content Organization and Development
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- Hierarchical organization: The original presents ideas in relatively undifferentiated prose blocks; the second edition implements a systematic hierarchical structure with numbered sections and subsections (e.g., chapters like Belief have explicit sections on Intensity, Faith, Formation of Belief Systems)
- Topic segmentation: Original flows between topics without clear transitions; second edition creates distinct sections with explicit headers (e.g., separate sections on Galileo’s Trial and Stepping Deeper into Ignorance)
- Logical progression: Second edition reorganizes material to create a more linear path through complex concepts, while the original has a more associative flow
The New Ignorance Chapter
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- Taxonomic approach: Creates a formal three-part taxonomy (ordinary, willful, and higher ignorance) that serves as a conceptual foundation
- Galileo reframing: Repositions the Galileo material as an exemplar of different types of ignorance rather than primarily as an example of belief conflict
- Conceptual scaffolding: Provides preparatory concepts that readers need before encountering the central arguments about belief
- Integration function: Connects historical examples to abstract philosophical concepts more systematically
Case Studies and Examples
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- Enhanced structure: Original presents the Martin Luther case study in an uninterrupted narrative; second edition breaks it into explicitly labeled sections like Luther’s Legacy
- Comparative examples: Second edition adds more structured comparative examples (like the parallel between religious and military language)
- Contemporary relevance: Second edition adds more explicit connections to modern issues (e.g., unlawful orders in military contexts, enhanced discussion of willful ignorance in politics)
- Visual distinction: Case studies are more clearly marked off from theoretical material in the second edition
Argumentative Architecture
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- Premise-conclusion structure: Second edition more explicitly marks the premises of arguments before presenting conclusions
- Counter-argument integration: More systematic presentation of objections and responses in the second edition
- Concept mapping: Second edition creates clearer relationships between related concepts through explicit signposting
- Summary elements: Addition of summative sections at chapter ends in the second edition
Conceptual Development and Focus
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Higher Ignorance Advancement
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- Conceptual primacy: In the original, higher ignorance is one important concept among many; in the second edition, it becomes the central organizing principle
- Definition expansion: Second edition provides a more detailed explanation of higher ignorance through extended examples
- Historical contextualization: Second edition connects higher ignorance to thinkers like Nicholas of Cusa more systematically
- Application range: Second edition shows more explicitly how higher ignorance applies across different religious traditions
Belief System Analysis
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- Formation process: Second edition adds a more detailed analysis of how belief systems form and develop (with a table of features like “Comprehensive Explanation,” “Ultimate Authority,” etc.)
- Psychological dimension: Enhanced discussion of the psychological factors that contribute to belief formation and maintenance
- Opposing functions: More systematic analysis of how belief systems define themselves against others
- Internal contradictions: More structured presentation of the contradictions inherent in belief systems
Religion-Belief Relationship
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- Boundary clarification: Second edition creates clearer distinctions between religion and the belief systems that form around them
- Identity preservation: More detailed discussion of how religions maintain their identity over millennia despite changing belief systems
- Community dynamics: Enhanced discussion of how religious communities function differently from belief-based communities
- Transcendence mechanism: More explicit explanation of how religion transcends the limitations of belief systems
Contemporary Applications
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- Modern relevance: Second edition draws more connections to contemporary religious and political conflicts
- Secularization analysis: More detailed discussion of how secular belief systems mimic religious structures
- Political religion: Enhanced analysis of how political ideologies function as pseudo-religions
- Media influence: New material on how information environments affect belief formation
Interdisciplinary Integration
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- Psychological integration: Second edition more explicitly incorporates concepts from psychology (like locus of control)
- Sociological framing: Enhanced discussion of how belief systems function socially
- Historical contextualization: More systematic use of historical examples to illustrate theoretical points
- Linguistic analysis: More detailed discussion of religious language and how it functions differently from belief statements
Practical Implications
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- Applied ethics: Second edition draws more explicit ethical implications from the theoretical framework
- Dialogical practice: More detailed suggestions for how to engage with beliefs differently
- Cultural navigation: Enhanced discussion of how to engage with various belief systems productively
- Self-examination: More explicit invitation for readers to examine their own belief systems critically
January 21, 2025
Blind Spot (2024) includes an incredibly lucid chapter on consciousness. We summarize part of it here.
Primacy of Consciousness
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Our awareness and everything we experience appear within consciousness. It includes all our thoughts, feelings, perceptions, and the way we experience the world around us. One aspect of consciousness is what philosophers call the primacy of consciousness. This means that consciousness comes first in how we understand and experience reality. We can’t measure our consciousness or compare it to anything. Everything we investigate, including our brains, happens within our awareness.
...
October 20, 2023
Sapolsky, R. M. (2023). Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will. Penguin Press.
The Origins Podcast interview
September 10, 2023
I spent about a decade in the Southeast. I lived in Charlottesville, VA from 2011 to 2017 and in Richmond, VA from 2017 to 2021. Although I identify as one of the most privileged demographics, a white heterosexual man, I suffered from the racism of the Southeast. There is a subtle vibe of cruelty that taints everything from wealthy suburbs to the decaying downtown. I am so glad to leave that place.
...
September 5, 2023
I’m not a big fan of the American Psychological Association.
“Doing Harm”: Roy Eidelson on the American Psychological Association’s Embrace of U.S. Torture Program
July 16, 2023
The average professional in this country wakes up in the morning, goes to work, comes home, eats dinner, and then goes to sleep, unaware that he or she has likely committed several federal crimes that day. Why? The answer lies in the very nature of modern federal criminal laws, which have exploded in number but also become impossibly broad and vague. In Three Felonies a Day, Harvey A. Silverglate reveals how federal criminal laws have become dangerously disconnected from the English common law tradition and how prosecutors can pin arguable federal crimes on any one of us, for even the most seemingly innocuous behavior. The volume of federal crimes in recent decades has increased well beyond the statute books and into the morass of the Code of Federal Regulations, handing federal prosecutors an additional trove of vague and exceedingly complex and technical prohibitions to stick on their hapless targets. The dangers spelled out in Three Felonies a Day do not apply solely to “white collar criminals,” state and local politicians, and professionals. No social class or profession is safe from this troubling form of social control by the executive branch, and nothing less than the integrity of our constitutional democracy hangs in the balance.
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June 25, 2022
Just when you thought that science and spirituality were hopelessly irreconcilable, cogntive psychologist Donald Hoffman proposes a very interesting perspective.
<—>
Hoffman, D. (2019). The case against reality: Why evolution hid the truth from our eyes. WW Norton & Company.
Tim Ferriss interview Apr 13, 2022
Lex Fridman interview Jun 12, 2022
The Convergence of Science and Spirituality | Donald Hoffman & Rupert Spira Mar 26, 2023
Hoffman, D., Prakash, C., & Chattopadhyay, S. (2023). Conscious Agents and the Subatomic World
...
November 28, 2020
Many assume that the invention of a phonetic alphabet only brought
benefits. In a somewhat speculative reassessment of history, Shlain
makes the case that the phonetic alphabet advanced lawyer-style
thinking that greatly facilitated the justification of violence.
The book is unlikely to be 100% true, but also unlikely to be 100% false.
<—>
Shlain, L. (1999). The alphabet versus the goddess: The conflict between word and image. Penguin.
