I enjoy about half of what David Brooks writes. But sometimes, he just gets it wrong. Some people live in romantic ages. They tend to believe that genius is the product of a divine spark. They believe that there have been, throughout the ages, certain paragons of greatness — Dante, Mozart, Einstein — whose talents [...]
Posts Tagged ‘eugenics’
Overpopulation shows humanism fails
We’ve covered overpopulation and its role in ecocide, and in turn in throwing us into tyranny, before on this blog. It’s worth also mentioning that our dominant paradigm does not permit us to think of solutions that involve limiting the rights of people like us, which is why we are paralyzed on global warming because [...]
Overpopulation
In the news: JONATHON PORRITT, one of Gordon Brown’s leading green advisers, is to warn that Britain must drastically reduce its population if it is to build a sustainable society. The trust will release research suggesting UK population must be cut to 30m if the country wants to feed itself sustainably. Porritt said: “Population growth, [...]
Breeding a generation of narcissists
The growing expectation placed on schools and parents to boost pupils’ self-esteem is breeding a generation of narcissists, an expert has warned. Dr Carol Craig said children were being over-praised and were developing an “all about me” mentality. She said teachers increasingly faced complaints from parents if their child failed a spelling test or did [...]
Climate change may cut population to one billion
A scientist known for his aggressive stance on climate policy made an apocalyptic prediction on Thursay. Hans Joachim Schellnhuber, the director of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research in Germany, said that if the buildup of greenhouse gases and its consequences pushed global temperatures 9 degrees Fahrenheit higher than today — well below the [...]
Are humanists the new “flat earthers”?
Of all philosophies available to us, there’s one that underscores just about everything we see each day. That philosophy is humanism. Developed in the Enlightenment as a secular outgrowth of Christianity, it is now the dominant assumption, shared in common by hippies, anarchists, corporate businessmen, big media, government and disillusioned underachievers on the internet alike. [...]
Discipline helps keep kids functional
Here at one of two Youth Challenge camps in Georgia, he rose at 4:30 a.m. each day, made his bunk with neat corners and sweated through an hour of calisthenics or running. He has worn a uniform, marched in step with his platoon to the dining hall, completed 50 hours of community service, and spent [...]
Genetics is not a shopping list; it’s like computer code
Look around and you’ll see that most traits are not discrete – people are not either short or tall, obese or skinny, fast runners or slow; instead, such traits fall into a continuous range of values, such as a bell curve pattern. Traits with continuous values are called quantitative traits, and the genetics behind these [...]
Italy and Israel reserve right to defend against parasites
Italy said Thursday it is pulling out of a U.N. conference on racism — the latest blow to a meeting seen by many Western governments as marred by Muslim attempts to attack Israel and shield Islam from criticism. Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said Italy has withdrawn its delegation from the preparatory negotiations ahead of the [...]
The biology layer scares us
Underneath all that we do to convince ourselves we are in control, there’s a lurking spectre of biological determinism. What if we aren’t our own inventions, but our acts are determined by a kind of fate in our DNA? What if we’re just fooling ourselves with our justifications, emotions like love or hate, etc. and [...]
