Essays
Here are a few of my short essays on random topics. Some have been published elsewhere (e.g., as op-ed pieces), some not.
- On tastes and choices
Some thoughts on the difference between taste and choice, and how they enter differently into moral assessment. - Everybody speeds: Undermining the rule of law
How the ubiquitousness of speeding undermines the rule of law by opening enforcement to complete subjectivity and capriciousness. - With complexity, decks are stacked
Thoughts on the 2003 shuttle disaster; risks, complexity and chaos in space exploration and ordinary life. (For Newsday) - Is it TV that’s bad, or the study?
Exposing errors of inference in a highly-publicized 2002 study purporting to link TV watching in childhood with later violence. (For Newsday) - On bonds with others
Meditation on the randomness of some of our deepest bonds with other people — especially the bonds of parenthood. - Americans: Some “under God”, some not
Commentary on the 9th Circuit Court’s ruling supporting striking “under God” from the pledge of allegiance as recited in public schools. - Faith in the face of tragedy?
On the traditional problem of natural evil as illustrated by the 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean. (For The Baltimore Sun) - Evolution and the grounds of religious belief
On the “evolution as theory, not fact” textbook sticker controversy. (For The Albany Times-Union)
