Volume 1 Number 2

Atlas Shrugged: Part 1 — A Movie Review

Atlas Shrugged: Part 1 — A Movie Review

Rand is a bit disappointed. She wants to testify on the communist undertones of “The Best Years of Our Lives” – a popular, Oscar-winning piece of cinema – but HUAC only allows her to testify about “Song of Russia,” a propaganda piece released to assuage Americans’ suspicions about temporarily allying with the Soviet Union in the latter days of World War II. Rand is a firecracker, an acolyte of untainted capitalism, and a scathing critic of “Song of Russia.” She posits that the film, a false portrayal of a happy Soviet Russia, dupes the American public.

Ethics as an Evolutionary Trap: A Provocation

Ethics as an Evolutionary Trap: A Provocation

The moral group is expanding. We can chart this expansion quite clearly over the past few hundred years. It has been non-linear, irregular and punctuated by some retrograde and lamentable aberrations. Nevertheless, the direction of travel is clear; while at one point the interests of a select few were elevated above all others, the moral group is now far more inclusive. Through a series of struggles, widespread acceptance of previously excluded individuals and groups has been achieved. Historically excluded groups are now firmly included in our collective moral considerations. Most recently, the moral group has expanded in such a way that non-human animals are at its margins and in some cases within its borders.

Osama Bin Laden, Why His Death Matters

Osama Bin Laden, Why His Death Matters

Whatever else they may be, truth and reality are stories we tell ourselves. Our senses diminish the universe but it is still overwhelming. Luckily, we have built-in cognitive biases that shape reality into coherent narratives that provide meaning. Unluckily, they also impede objectivity. Confirmation bias, for example, filters our senses by saving bits of information that support a trusted proposition and ignoring bits that don’t. Evidence supporting our beliefs piles up in our minds and opposing points of view come to seem malicious or moronic or, if we’re feeling generous, mistaken.

Women’s Bodies: Science vs. Religion

Women’s Bodies: Science vs. Religion

It may seem hypocritical to claim that women continue to be oppressed in the United States and globally as I write this article in a studio apartment from which I am free to come and go at will, and which I am able to afford on my own due to a successful career. Yet, when a 25-year-old Polish woman is denied medical treatment because it might risk her pregnancy and never told why, thus denying her the choice to seek other treatment, I am reminded that government and society are too willing to sacrifice my life simply because I am a woman.

Seeking a More Sure World: Religion and Postmodernism

Seeking a More Sure World: Religion and Postmodernism

Religion has always involved a tension between knowledge and faith. Jesus taught, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” At the same time, however, Paul cautioned believers that “faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Jesus made clear to the apostle Thomas that, of the two, faith is the greater goal: “Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.”

Atlas Shrugged: Part 1 — A Movie Review

Atlas Shrugged: Part 1 — A Movie Review

Rand is a bit disappointed. She wants to testify on the communist undertones of “The Best Years of Our Lives” – a popular, Oscar-winning piece of cinema – but HUAC only allows her to testify about “Song of Russia,” a propaganda piece released to assuage Americans’ suspicions about temporarily allying with the Soviet Union in the latter days of World War II. Rand is a firecracker, an acolyte of untainted capitalism, and a scathing critic of “Song of Russia.”