What are the acceptable limits for training our young people to behave according to approved standards? What are approved standards? Exactly what is considered to be good and bad behavior? Is it bad behavior for a youngster to wear a shirt with a picture of the American flag on it? Is it unacceptable behavior for a student to bless their food before eating in school? Is it wrong for a child to ask questions? Should a child remain silent when something is said that is contrary to the teachings of ... Read More
God sleeps in the minerals, awakens in plants, walks in animals, and thinks in man. ~Arthur Young Recently I asked a couple of questions on my Facebook page. “What if everything you believe is wrong? Can you even admit that possibility?” What if we discovered tomorrow that foundational “truths” we hold to be dear were in fact false—what would we do? Would we deny the marshal of evidence before us? Would we attack the messenger delivering the news? Would we challenge with arguments of credibility, authenticity, verifiability, and so ... Read More
This past week had some really interesting headlines regarding our food. In one headline we read, Are Corn Flakes Republican? The article goes on to inform us of a new software program that will scan food in the marketplace and inform you of how the company votes with its dollars. Quoting the Huff Post article, “The app uses data from the Center for Responsive Politics, the Institute for State Money in Politics and the Sunlight Foundation tracking donations by corporate boards, employees and political action committees.”1 So the idea is ... Read More
We are all familiar with simple toggle switches that turn things on and off. From our household light switches to those small slide buttons on the bottom of children’s toys, we learn not just what a switch is, but how to use it—and we do so very early in life. Switches are so common that we take them for granted. We have small switches and large ones, and we turn off and on single light bulbs and entire electrical grids. So what’s the deal about on-off switches? There are many ... Read More
For years there has raged an argument on college campuses across the globe. Since the subconscious appears to make over 90% of our choices, is there really any such thing as free will? The fact is, ever since the pioneering work of Benjamin Libet and his observation of cortical evoked potentials, particularly the P300 wave, scientists have known that the conscious mind is the tail being wagged by the subconscious. In other words, and the hard data bears this conclusion out, the conscious mind makes up reasons for why we ... Read More
