Whether scientifically based or values-based, progress describes a path forward and indicates improvement over time. Using a scientifically based, statistical evaluation of progress is easy, but is not without its own downsides. Ultimately, any evaluation of human progress is beset by how it is defined.... Continue

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” - Exodus 20:17 The first nine of the Ten Commandments instruct us about how... Continue

Between awareness of climate change, an Internet filled with disturbing images, cultural shifts about identity, and extreme political division, things seem terribly complicated and difficult right now. It’s tempting for those of us born in the 1940s or 50s to feel that life was once... Continue

A close friend of mine told me recently that he feels his life has no purpose. “I’ve done what I wanted to do; now it feels like I’m just going through the motions,” he said, matter-of-factly. His remark prompted a conversation about life, specifically, does... Continue

So much about American life seems crazy right now, the gun fetish, the QAnon conspiracies, the rabid left and right, the science deniers. It seems like many people in this country have simply gone mad as an air of unreality has taken hold. What the... Continue

We live in a consumer society that underpins the world economy; money, it’s said, makes the world go ‘round. I could spend a entire column decrying this fact, how consumerism is gutting our planet, destroying habitat, driving species extinction and fueling climate change, but we... Continue

Like any physical object used regularly, human bodies wear out; joints lose cartilage, cataracts develop, muscles get weaker, organs lose efficiency, healing happens slower, bones get more brittle, and memory…oh yes, memory gets worse. Now I remember. The Watcher, the self-conscious “I” that some neuroscientists... Continue

In statistics, ‘reversion to the mean’ is a term used to describe that observation of the extreme is followed by observation of the less extreme, or one might say, a more normal average. In other words, no matter how wild results may appear, over time... Continue

At the beginning of 20th century, coincident with the rise of high technology and the advancement of science - the telegraph, radio, personal automobiles, and the shift from agrarian to industrial culture - the way people related to each other and themselves began a major... Continue