Click on Title to see Essay
The Abortion Debate (2017)
People may provide a number of reasons why they support or oppose abortion. Taking a historical view, it is clear that there are three widespread sources of the impetus against abortion. We review these here, and note that they are currently so entangled that it is difficult to point at any one in particular circumstances.
Why Men Are Lousy Lovers (2018)
The basic answer is that many men do not understand how and why their anatomy is different from women’s anatomy. This essay reviews these differences and suggests how both sexes should take them into account.
Why Societies Polarize (2018)
This essay outlines some of the ways in which societies can evolve and why they often oscillate between cooperative and selfish forms. This dynamic explains a lot of the tension that is seen in democracies among other forms of government.
The Real Problem with the Republican Party (2020)
This perhaps long-winded essay discusses the importance of regulated capitalism in modern democracies. It then goes on to examine recent efforts by the Republican party to deregulate the economy, and the dangers to the society that this approach generates.
The Three Prongs of Science (2021)
While it might appear that all scientists tend to follow the same approaches and protocols, there are actually three different kinds of questions that scientists ask, and even scientists may disagree about which question is more important. This essay outlines the three questions and argues that each has its place in scientific inquiry.
The Real Original Sin (2021)
This essay, actually a short story, takes a new look at the biblical creation story of Genesis given some recent scientific discoveries. Whether you believe this version or not, you have to admit that it makes sense of a lot of otherwise confusing details.
The Problem of Fairness (2021)
Many of the prior essays invoke a notion of fairness in the stabilizing and perpetuation of cooperative societies. In this essay, we take a more careful look at what constitutes fairness in different contexts.
Trust and the Social Contract (2021)
This essay tries to tie together the economic models of the earliest essays, definitions of fairness, and the current political situation in the United States. The basic claim is that enough people in this country have abandoned the social contract that our future as a cooperative society is in grave danger.
Cooperation and Risk (2022)
Our evolutionary ancestors in Africa survived repeated episodes of climatic unpredictability by expanding diet and increasing brain size. Big brains eventually required eating high profit but risky food sources. Like vampire bats, early humans minimized risk through cooperative behaviors like food sharing. What are the risks to us now of giving up cooperation?
The Problems with Religion (2024)
Religion poses unique problems for human evolution. Because religious differences are difficult to resolve, human history is filled with religious conflicts and unnecessary mortality. Existing religions often split into incompatible groups, and new religions can pop up. The likelihood of a single religion dominating the globe forever is unlikely making perpetual conflict inevitable.
Have We Tipped? (2024)
Polarized societies have been around since people first evolved. The resulting conflict can remodeled as an evolutionary game with an intermediate tipping point: to one side cooperative societies are favored to the other selfish societies dominate. Where are we relative to the tipping point.
Abortion Revisited (2024)
Do we have souls? What has this got to do with the abortion debate? How has abortion gotten dragged into the contest between advocates of cooperative aversus selfish societies?
All-Essay Package (2024)
This file amalgamates all the essays in the order in which they were written into a single downloadable package.