U.S. Bombs, Which Helped Spawn ISIS, Can’t Crush It
Once again, U.S. leaders are beating the war drums–or rather, beating them harder, because when in recent memory have the drums fallen silent?
Stories by John Horgan
Cool Sh*t I’ve Read and Seen Lately. Cops Waging War, Masters of Sex, Nabokov and More!
I’ve got an especially eclectic bunch of “Cool Sh*t” to nominate this month. Two articles by top-notch science journalists, a tough, timely investigative report by the ACLU, a sexy cable series and a classic short-story collection...
The Sciences
The Philosophy of Guessing Has Harmed Physics, Expert Says
As readers of this blog know, late last spring I spoke at a cool conference in England called How the Light Gets In, where I hung out with all kinds of professional reality-ponderers.
The Sciences
To End War, Focus on Culture Rather than "Root Causes"
Last week, on the same day that McSweeney’s Books published a new, paperback edition of my book The End of War, I argued that we must and can end war and militarism, our most urgent problems...
A Brief Correspondence on Copernicus, Descartes, Kant, Darwin, Freud, George Ellis and Thomas Nagel (Among Others)
My friend Gabriel Finkelstein is an historian of science whose most recent book, Emil du Bois-Reymond: Neuroscience, Self, and Society in Nineteenth-Century Germany, profiles a 19th-century German polymath who was extraordinarily prescient about science's potential and limits...
Cool Sh*t I’ve Been Reading This Summer
I’m on vacation, in an island paradise, and I’m sorely tempted to skip my end-of-the-month “Cool Sh*t” post. I want to just hang out on the beach and watch the waves roll in...
Physicist George Ellis Knocks Physicists for Knocking Philosophy, Falsification, Free Will
Biologist Rupert Sheldrake, whom I interviewed in my last post, wasn’t the only fascinating scientist I hung out with recently at Howthelightgetsin, an festival hosted by the Institute of Arts & Ideas...
Mind & Brain
Scientific Heretic Rupert Sheldrake on Morphic Fields, Psychic Dogs and Other Mysteries
For decades, I’ve been only dimly aware of Rupert Sheldrake as a renegade British biologist who argues that telepathy and other paranormal phenomena (sometimes lumped under the term psi) should be taken more seriously by the scientific establishment...
Environment
Could Consuming More Energy Help Humans Save Nature?
Even before I arrived at the annual “Dialogue” of the Breakthrough Institute, an Oakland, California, think tank that challenges mainstream environmental positions, I was arguing about it...
The Sciences
Technology Historian Crushes Internet Myths
As readers of this blog know, since 2005 I’ve been teaching at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey. One of the best parts of being an academic is hanging out with cool (compared to me), young (compared to me), up-and-coming scholars, some of whom know far more about the history of science and [...]..
More Cool Sh*t I’ve Read—and Seen—Lately
This is the fourth installment of my monthly feature "Cool Sh*t I've Read Lately,” in which I draw attention to, um, cool stuff. (Here are columns one, two and three.) Breakthrough Journal...
Prominent Economist Touts Benefits of War in New York Times. Really.
I was hoping to chill out on Father’s Day, perhaps see the latest Tom Cruise sci-fi blockbuster, or stroll along the Hudson with my girlfriend.
My Ayahuasca Trip
Ayahuasca—a foul-tasting hallucinogenic tea that can induce violent nausea and terrifying visions—is becoming trendy. A recent article in the “Fashion & Style” section of The New York Times notes that many people—including celebrities such as Lindsay Lohan and Sting—have turned to ayahuasca as a “catalyst for inner growth.” Ayahuasca is fascinating, for many reasons...
Multiverse Skeptic Whacks Multiverse Peddler for Whacking End of Science
I suppose I should be grateful that, 18 years after the release of my book The End of Science, people still care enough about it to knock it.
So Far, Big Data Is Small Potatoes
Is Big Data going to revolutionize science and help us make a better world? Not based on what it’s done so far. Let me back up a moment.
Mind & Brain
Talking Death with the Late Psychedelic Chemist Sasha Shulgin
Alexander Shulgin, the most prolific psychedelic chemist in history, has died at the age of 88. I interviewed Shulgin and his wife and co-researcher Ann at their home in California in 1999, when I was researching my 2003 book Rational Mysticism...
Cool Sh*t I’ve Read—and Seen–Lately
This is the third installment in my monthly feature “Cool Sh*t I’ve Read Lately.” (Here are number one and number two.) This month I’m calling it “Cool Sh*t I’ve Read–and Seen—Lately” so I can add a movie and art exhibit...
Evolution
My Testy Encounter with the Late, Great Gerald Edelman
Biologist Gerald Edelman–one of the truly great scientific characters I’ve encountered, whose work raised profound questions about the limits of science—has died.
Health
Sorry, But So Far War on Cancer Has Been a Bust
I recently got into an argument, again, about cancer. The occasion was a talk by one of my colleagues at Stevens Institute, philosopher Gregory Morgan, on the fascinating history of research into cancer-causing viruses...
Patient in Failed Depression-Implant Trial Tells His Painful Story
Success stories are a staple of medical communication. The clinician or reporter tells the tale of a patient whose ailment has been ameliorated by a new drug, device, surgical procedure or other intervention...
