The impetus for civilization contained the seed of its self-destruction, but is that the result of ‘human nature’? [Much of this will appear to be something Karl Marx might have written, but I am not a Marxist; I am convinced that justice is a real thing and that doing away…

linking the pay of CEO’s and least-paid employees — John Rawls’s book A Theory of Justice was published in 1971. One of the central features of the approach to justice he advocated was termed by him the “difference principle.” Basically, the idea of the difference principle is that no one can become better off materially unless the material lot…

a movie from the 1970’s that depicts what’s coming The movie is set in England in (then) contemporary times. In it something begins to kill grasses. The thing is, since the advent of farming, grasses (wheat, rice, corn, barley, and millet) have been the most important part of the human…

the ol’ ‘look him in the eye with a firm, dry handshake’ Women hug. In western Asia men kiss each other’s cheeks. In eastern Asia men bow to one another. Among men of (more recent) African heritage in the West a handshake is an embracing of hands. Among white men, at least in the U.S., greeting one another is a test of ‘manhood’, a contest of power.

This world would be a vastly different place. Just after I had turned 30 I discovered a new and better way to supply the existing economy with money. Over the course of my adult life (now 70) I have continued to develop that idea. Thanks to the G.I. Bill, along…

balancing personal liberty against the needs of society and people Back in the day there was a saying: ‘Reality is for people who can’t handle drugs.’ It was just a saying, but it did point to a basic problem with a live-and-let-live attitude towards recreational drugs: for more than just…

but it is what you probably think it is — As I have written before, I am convinced that justice is necessary for the mental well-being of human beings. We need justice not only for “Happiness” in the sense of Thomas Jefferson and them in the Declaration of Independence, but to keep sane. Experiencing ongoing injustice eats away at our…

one completely conventional, the other rather revolutionary Simply put, at this point the costs of economic growth are too great to continue as we have up till now. We are reaching our planet’s physical limits: we are depleting the stock of natural resources Earth possesses; we are testing its capacity…

No ‘pure’ political ideal can be realized. We have all heard the phrase, ‘The system is the problem’. Specifically, it refers to the political system. When I was coming of age ages ago in the U.S., people on the political left were more disillusioned with ‘the system’ than people on…