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Public Citizen

Biochemical me

Is the self physical or metaphysical? That is the question. The nature of self is hotly debated. Buddhist non-materialists consider the self to be a sustained hallucination, an opinion supported by some current-day neurologists who, despite all their attempts, cannot find a source of the... Continue

Finding time and space

Think about how strange yet ordinary are space and time, here and now. Neither can be held, or for that matter seen or heard, and yet both play an undeniably important role in everyday existence. In order to experience and use them, we’ve created tangible... Continue

On dying happy

There are as many ways of dying as there are of living. Often, they are the same. My father Norman, for example, was an anxious man.  He wanted to be in control always. We’d go out to eat dinner as a family and he’d make... Continue

Between sameness and difference

Life’s diversity numbers in the many millions, and yet no two living things are exactly alike; all are heterogeneous. This is as true of oak trees and squirrels as it is of people, but the heterogeneous minds of people, particularly, generate many differing opinions. Among... Continue

Serenity or Turmoil?

The world is tumultuous by nature, a whirligig of happenings only a tiny portion of which any of us knows about, not including the bubbling froth of thoughts and feelings in individual hearts and minds. With its endless storms and earthshaking, as if the vicissitudes... Continue

Memories of Val Robichaud

I started writing for The Sun in 2005, while I was Mayor of Sonoma. I’d write a “Mayor’s” column once a month, and thereafter continued to write monthly. I offered to write a weekly column and have been writing a column for every edition since... Continue

Does the universe require a prime mover?

Call it a demiurge, cosmic force, or God; for hundreds of generations humankind has believed in a prime mover of the universe, a cosmic hand upon the wheel. The alternate idea, that the universe and life began accidentally or spontaneously without the intercession of a... Continue

The Emotional States of America

I’ve been thinking about the French Revolution, how it led to the bloody Reign of Terror that killed tens of thousands and eventually to the tyranny of Napoleon. Some view such revolutions through the lens of class struggle: the inevitable revolt of an oppressed and... Continue

If water could talk

Mother Nature came crying to me last night. “I’ve had it,” she said, her tears falling loudly on the skylight, “I’m done.” But the creeks, dear one, had heard it all before, And just laughed. Life as we know it is impossible without water. Water... Continue

Perfecting my disappearing act

Life on earth is very, very old, a couple of billion years, at least, and nearly all the creatures that have ever lived have disappeared. Were it not for photographs, we’d lack a visual record of our recent past, let alone that of our ancestors.... Continue