George Bush was not exactly a philosopher-king. But one thing he reportedly did honestly struggle with was the executive order dealing with stem cell research. Not so Barack Obama . Today he was “excited� to sign the executive order which will reverse Bush's order and “vigorously� put the fe...

(Update: I just noticed that for some reason, the comments had been closed. They’re open now.) William James confesses his utopia as follows: I devoutly believe in the reign of peace and in the gradual advent of some sort of socialistic equilibrium. . . . And when whole nations are the armies,...

I abandoned my blog project on collectivism and science fiction after getting the impression (wrong, it seems) that I was the only one who really cared about it. With this post, I’m re-booting it, with links to the previous essays and pointers to the upcoming material. I really will try to fin...

co.mments will be shutting down Jan 12, 2009 Oh noes! Say it ain't so, Assaf!Tags: comments assaf web2.0 Counting Infinity When you have a spare minuteTags: numbers infinity mathematics gustavoduarte China to search engines: links considered harmful Don't even think about porn. Hey, you'...

THE FOUNDATION “Go on, then, in your generous enterprise with gratitude to Heaven for past success, and confidence of it in the future. For my own part, I ask no greater blessing than to share with you the common danger and common glory … that these American States may never cease to be ...

Several of the pieces we have read or will read, including Cordwainer Smith’s “Alpha Ralpha Boulevard,” make mention of free food and drink in the future: a sign, the authors suggest, of the vast economic growth between now and then. The same is true in the Star Trek universe and i...

G. W. F. Hegel wrote famously daunting prose, but the ideas he advocates are surprisingly familiar. Once you know what Hegelian thinking looks like, you’ll see the stuff everywhere. Indeed, putting Hegel into plain language reveals a worldview that many people will recognize and claim that the...

“ISAIAH and it’s transportation allies were successful at the state capitol this past month when the Legislature overrode Governor Pawlenty’s veto and passed a comprehensive transportation funding bill.� That is the first paragraph of a section of my church’s newsletter on “serving�. T...

Update: This post has been published over at Liberal Conspiracy here. To keep the discussion in one place, I will close the comments on this post. If you have any comments please post them here. What do you think the word ‘liberal’ means? Perhaps if you are American, you are thinking of ...