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Category Archives: Uncategorized
Making my peace with King Arthur
What’s the appeal of Arthur, King of the Britons? A few years ago, in a post about irony and democracy, I mentioned in passing that I’ve never been much interested in his stories, and I largely blamed my strong adolescent … Continue reading
“Us” and “Them” and That Notorious Trolley
I recently read a very well written and thought-provoking book, Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason, and the Gap Between Us and Them, by Joshua Greene, which came out in 2013. I had so many thoughts that I decided to put them … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged dual process models, empathy, ethics, moral psychology
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Psst, don’t tell the machines!
Because the very topic of this blog, for the most part, is the science of using language to try to manipulate people’s beliefs, my reaction to the idea of allowing artificial intelligences (AIs) to harvest my content was a big … Continue reading
My day with Brian Eno
Many years ago, when my first husband and I were getting to know each other, he made me four long “mix tapes,” cassettes of the music he wanted me to know about. My very favorite of all the works he … Continue reading
Biden’s age, Trump’s… everything?
This week, New York Times columnist Frank Bruni asked a very revealing question: Why is the American public so focused on Joe Biden’s age, when Donald Trump is almost as old and has a far less healthy lifestyle and physique? … Continue reading
Overcoming the temptations of conservatism, with the good people of Cranford
Even for progressives, being “conservative” is not necessarily a bad thing. A great many of us are conservative in at least some ways. Maybe we don’t like to try new foods, or we have some routines we really don’t want … Continue reading
When Principles meet Loyalty, who wins?
I was probably right there on the Berkeley campus when the package arrived. I’d finally resumed work on my bachelor’s degree, and I also had a university office job, so I spent much of my time there. Thankfully, the package … Continue reading
Growing up “meta”
Our young friend Maddie recently celebrated her first birthday. Maddie loves berries and books! We do too! And thus, my partner and I gave her three books about berries. One is a book about colors of fruit. One is a … Continue reading
The Meta-Narrator 