Published in The Australian, 28th April 2017. (Illustration by Sturt Krygsman)
Tag: Religion
I Think, Therefore I’ll Die
Published in Psychology Today on 29th September 2016. Are you looking forward to reading an article about death? Probably not. Simply reading it-that-must-not-be-named can arrest us in our place. With torturous futility, we fill our heads with whatever is in mind’s reach to ignore one of the surest of facts: To paraphrase Descartes, “I think, therefore I’ll die”. The certainty that our mortality…
Is Vegetarianism a Religion?
Over the past year, author and neuroscientist Sam Harris has made his abandonment of eating animals public – and it’s been inspiring. As I previously noted in an unfortunately titled Salon article, Sam’s secateurs of reasoning attend to the weeds in his own garden as much as those that lie over the fence. Last year…
Bigotry Against the Mentally Ill Cannot Solve Bigotry Against Muslims
*Originally published in Psychology Today. Republished in The Daily Banter. – “Orlando may be strongest example yet showing how mental illness is ignored as factor when mass shooter is non-white” – Glen Greenwald after Orlando shootings. – “Every country has homophobia and mental illness. Not every country has guns.” – Gary Younge, Editor-at-large for The Guardian,…
‘Vegan’ and ‘Veganism’: Ideas Versus People in the Wider Fight For Progress
Published in The Daily Banter, 17th January 2016: ‘Vegan’ and ‘Veganism’: Ideas Versus People in the Wider Fight For Progress. Excerpt: “When one demands their right to criticize religion, they can do so by appealing to their fundamental right to lambast any idea. In the words of Maajid Nawaz, “No idea is above scrutiny, just…
Does God Exist? Perhaps No Evidence Could Ever Be Sufficient
Could there ever be sufficient evidence to prove god’s existence? Given the possibility that we live in a computer simulation, perhaps not. Atheists commonly say that whilst they do not believe in a god, this view could easily shift if presented with the right evidence. For example, if the stars aligned themselves into a particular…
Free Will Is An Illusion
Most people feel like the complexity of human nature points to something other than the physical processes of their brains. From composers of orchestral symphonies that make the emotions soar, to the charitable who devote their entire lives to help others in need, to physicists who strive to answer questions of our own very existence,…
The Pollution of Good Ideas
It is surprising to see how easily some promising ideas continue to be smeared, tarnished and highjacked by misinformation. For example, discussions on meditation are shrouded in so much ignorance that identifying any proven benefit seems akin to finding decent music on the radio; it’s there, but only if you know where to look, what…
Free Will of the Consciousness Gap
(artwork by Diana Zanfirache) Some people challenge the posit that consciousness is a product of the brain. They claim that if we do not know exactly how inanimate material can produce consciousness – how the complex interactions of billions of individual neurons actually produces self-awareness – then basing our experience in the brain is…
Steve Stankevicius 