2021 was a real shitshow. It started with the January 6th riot at the Capitol, an ill-conceived protest over the highly irregular 2020 election in which at least two Trump-supporters were killed by police (Ashli Babbit and Roseanne Boyland). We still don’t know the extent of federal foreknowledge or involvement in the event, nor have … Continue reading A 2021 Retrospective: The Bad, the Worse, and the Good
There’s a certain kind of adversity that bonds people together, a brand of struggle that brings out the “better angels” of our nature. We experienced just such adversity after the September 11th attacks: a unifying moment when strangers comforted each other and American flags seemed to wave from every home. It’s hard to imagine that … Continue reading 2020: The Year that Broke Us
People are trying to sort through conflicting information on the coronavirus pandemic. How did the virus originate? How serious is it? What is the best treatment? How long should lock-downs continue? Should we encourage herd immunity or keep flattening the curve with stay-at-home orders? How likely is it that we will be able to develop … Continue reading Diagnosing the Pandemic Conspiracy Theories
I recently read Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s four-book Incerto collection. In the first book, Fooled by Randomness, Taleb posits that we know much less about the world than we think. Published just months before 9/11, he infamously floated the scenario of terrorists flying planes into the Twin Towers. In the second book, The Black Swan, Taleb … Continue reading Viewing the COVID-19 Pandemic through the Lens of Fragility
The Front Porch Philosopher 