Yes, Dr. Fauci, You DO Need to Have Some Humility Here

“When polls said only about half of all Americans would take a vaccine, I was saying herd immunity would take 70 to 75 percent,”  Dr.  Anthony Fauci, director of the US  National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and public face of the federal government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, told the New York Times in December. “Then, when newer surveys said 60 percent or more would take it, I thought, ‘I can nudge this up a bit,’ so I went to 80, 85.”

Healthy Skepticism, Group Bill, Never Regret a Day, & Vacuum Filters (16m) – Episode 040

Episode 040 looks at the importance of maintaining a healthy level of doubt (or skepticism) toward all of the new information you receive; why you should immediately pay back someone who conveniently took care of a group bill or expense; how every day, good, bad, worst, or best, can ultimately be beneficial; and why your vacuum’s filter is probably the cause of it not working well.

Trump versus Iran: Power Doesn’t Just Corrupt, it Deludes

The claim of such absolute power has been the tacit US doctrine of foreign relations since at least as far back as the end of World War Two. America emerged from that war as the world’s sole nuclear power and, unlike other combatant countries, with its wealth virtually unscathed and its industrial capacity increased rather than demolished. Its rulers saw themselves as able, and entitled, to dictate terms to almost everyone, on almost everything.

For the Love of Reason

Far be it from me to divide humankind in two, but were I so inclined, I’d divide it into those who love reason and those who are indifferent if not outright hostile to it. Members of the first group adore the reasoning process and their own reasoning faculties. The others find the process burdensome and discomforting, something that threatens long-held beliefs and intuitions.