LATEST IDEAS

science - religion - humanity

Welcome to my writings. You can find a compilation here of several articles at various stages of development. If you wish to read about the book I’m working on, click here for content in the forthcoming Existential Crisis. If you wish to see the podcast shownotes (not listed below), click here.

Religion isn’t Real: The Invention and Toxicity of a Colonial Idea

Religion

Why are we religious? This is one of the most pressing and fascinating questions we can ask, and scientists are hard on the case. Cognitive scientists of religion are working tirelessly to unearth clues to our religiosity that go back tens if not hundreds of thousands...

The Destructive Side of Science

Age of Ambiguity, Science

Just before his death in 1543, Nicolaus Copernicus argued that the Earth revolves around the Sun in a book called On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres. This moment is often heralded as the birth of modern science. Now, theories and experiments that we would...

How Scientists Stole the Philosopher’s Job

Philosophy, Science

Neil de Grasse Tyson’s most recent book Astrophysics for People in a Hurry has been on the New York Times bestseller list for twenty-five weeks. You might think this achievement means there is something new or exciting about the book, but there isn’t, really. What...

We Need a New Kind of Truth

Age of Ambiguity, Human Nature

Last week I was tagged several times in the comment section of a Facebook post I didn’t remember liking. Puzzled, I scrolled through the comments and realized that people were repeatedly tagging me in order to demand justification for why I had liked the post. A woman...

How Self Esteem Can Save the World

Human Nature, The Future

I began my career as a public figure when I realized that Western culture made me hate my body. By the age of 22 I had strenuously starved myself until I became so thin I was sick: hypothalamic amenorrhea, polycystic ovarian syndrome, anemia, hypothyroidism,...