Essays
Philosophical and Political
Winter – Big Bend National Park
Wintertime, and I have come to Big Bend National Park, but only for a few hours as I pass through. This is a place where, during the 1990s and 2000s, I spent considerable time, but in moving to California it was shouldered out by the Sierra and distance. I always...
Dollars & Sense: Poison or Prudence
For those who worry about the prudence and spiritual health of certain segments of the U.S. population, new evidence is in that bears on the question. As a preliminary, can we agree that, while the dimension of spiritual health may be somewhat mysterious, it...
Does Humanity Deserve to Survive?
We sometimes seek new perspective on a difficult question by stepping back and attempting to approach it “from the view of the Universe,” meaning a comprehensive and true view of the matter, one that sees through and above all partial views, but which may, to varying...
Another Extinction, Waiting to Happen: Civilization, Part III
For close to 75 years humans have accepted life under the shadow of great loss—Loss of everything they value, including their lives. In the case of nuclear weapons, they were convinced that having them, with the readiness to use them, was mandatory to protect...
Another Extinction, Waiting to Happen: Civilization, Part II
Thanks to “Losing Earth: The Decade We Almost Stopped Climate Change,” Nathaniel Rich’s August 2018 NY Times investigative report about how people in leadership positions dithered while anthropogenic climate disruption gathered destructive strength, we have historical...
Another Extinction, Waiting to Happen: Civilization, Part 1
According to a 1998 “Physics Today” report, the “estimated costs of U.S. nuclear weapons arms race, 1940-1996” (in ’96 dollars) was $5.8 trillion. A year later, in a letter to the editor of the NY Times, Stephen Schwartz, Publisher of the Bulletin of Atomic...