I detect an anxiety in America, a palpable tension that has no single focus, that has no one definable cause and no single remedy. If I met a Martian, or even another American, I couldn’t explain it with a single sentence. Continue reading
Blog Posts and Writings Tagged: complex systems
Blog 92. Saviors are in short supply
I sense that Americans are increasingly defined by fear. Fear of what? Continue reading
Blog 90. How to boil an egg in a microwave
Submerge the egg in a mug of water. Turn on the microwave for one minute. Listen for snap as the eggshell cracks. That’s ok, the crack relieves pressure. Reduce power to 40% and run the microwave for another minute. At 35 seconds you will hear a loud pop. Continue reading
Blog 77. Science—what it is, what it isn’t
Along with our cultural distrust of government, American society doesn’t trust science, whether the scientific information is about climate, vaccines, evolution, or toothpaste. What’s going on? Why can’t we sort the valid information from the advertising? Continue reading
Blog 62. Conspiracy theories—making politics crazy.
As reported in Scientific American (Dec. 2014) two political scientists* at the University of Miami find that about one-third of Americans believe Obama is a foreigner, and about as many believe that the 9/11 terrorist attacks were an “inside job” by the Bush administration. Continue reading
Blog 61. Making sense of mayhem in Ferguson
What happened in Ferguson, Missouri? And is this important to the nation? Continue reading
Blog 59. Medicare, Medicaid, Medigap, and Affordable Whatever
The new national health insurance, officially the named the Affordable Care Act, is commonly called “Obamacare” because that’s a way to reduce a complex issue to one word. Continue reading
Blog 58. Hierarchy in Regulation
Society is a set of regulations—written and unwritten—that specify how a person, a social entity, or business should act. Continue reading