Sad about Anthony Bourdain. Apparently suicide has increased dramatically in the US in recent years. My explanation: people have got a lot more disgusting recently and sensitive souls can’t stand it. Very nice to see Simona Halep win the French Open–and what a match! I was impressed with Sloan Stephens’ graciousness in losing. Trump goes […]
I just watched the first episode. I had high expectations, being such an admirer of the novels, and it lived up to them. Benedict Cumberbatch captured the “hero” perfectly. Disturbing stuff, but beautifully rendered. The brilliance and originality of the novels shone through. The series has kept up the quality and is one of the […]
My favorite people of the moment are: Don Lemon, Kamau Bell, Janelle Monae, Van Jones, Stephen Curry, April Ryan, Laura Coates, Chadwick Boseman, and Lupita N’Yongo. Do they have anything (significant) in common? Not that I can see.
Of course these two things are opposed. But what leads to tribalism and the consequent divorce from truth? Tribalism is a substitute for truth–it’s what you cleave to when truth isn’t going your way. It takes up the slack between wish and fact. If your beliefs can’t be true, they can at least agree with […]
I was just perusing the “Inclusivity Workshop” recently held at the University of Miami and was amused to see that the event opened with something described as a “Women’s Lunch”. No men invited presumably. Moreover, all the speakers seemed to be women. Doesn’t seem very inclusive. A black man would have been nice, for example. […]
I just got back from Nicaragua. Fine people, terrible roads, great surf. It’s still not a popular tourist destination, especially on the Pacific coast (Playa del Maderas), so it is relatively unspoiled. The beaches are spectacular, with perfect surfing waves for both beginners and experts. And good to be out of America!
As I watched Trump’s response to the latest gun massacre in America a sentence pressed itself upon me: “He has the mind of a sociopathic rat”. Or am I being unfair to rats? His boorish indifference was almost titanic.
Am I the only one who feels that the world has stopped feeling real? Is this evidence that we are living in a simulation? Nothing makes sense any more. Is this a new syndrome–global unreality syndrome?
I have a solution to the problems of higher education (sic) in America: I am founding my own university–McGinn University (MU). It will of course have a vibrant philosophy department teaching all branches of the subject. We will also cover psychology and brain science, as well as literature, biology, and the more interesting parts of […]
I sometimes think of all the close possible worlds in which I am still teaching–all those happy students! Sorry (actual) chaps (and chapesses), it wasn’t my idea to deprive you. But at least I have a counterpart who is still teaching. The actual world is just one possible world in which I don’t teach, but […]