On Tobacco, Technocracy Has a Clever New Idea

Australia, Brookline, cancer, cocaine, Culture & Ethics, European Union, fentanyl, fossil fuels, global warming, hard drugs, health emergency, Malaysia, Massachusetts, Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, meat, Medicine, meth, New England Journal of Medicine, New Zealand, nicotine, Norway, Oregon, Philippines, Singapore, smoking, technocracy, THC, Tobacco Free Generation
Is tobacco just the first villain to be punished by a growing technocracy that seeks to limit freedom based on an ever-expanding definition of “health”? Source
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The Problem of Pain: Julian Huxley, Magnus Carlsen, and the Meaning of Life

Atheism, atheists, Charles Darwin, chess, chessboard, Evolution, Faith & Science, fossils, Intelligent Design, Julian Huxley, Lex Fridman, Magnus Carlsen, Meaning, meaning of life, meaninglessness, Norway, origin of life, Origin of Species, pain, paleontologists, religion, Thomas Henry Huxley, University of Chicago
In a conversation with Lex Fridman, Magnus Carlsen betrays no sense of empathy for how his view that life is an accident might negatively impact others. Source
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Darwin’s Desperation?

"survival of the fittest", appendix, beards, BioEssays, Brois Yeltsin, California Science Center, cell's, censorship, chimpanzees, choking, Christians, Communist Party, conferences, Current Biology, Darwin Devolves, Darwinian theory, Dave Speijer, Dover trial, dysteleology, epiglottis, Evolution, Glenn-Peter Sætre, Heretic, Intelligent Design, J.B.S. Haldane, Judge John E. Jones, Kremlin, lip-smacking, Matti Leisola, methodological naturalism, Michael Behe, Norway, peasants, Richard Dawkins, Richard Sternberg, Social media, speech, Stephen Jay Gould, Summers Seminars, Uncommon Descent, University of Oslo
They used to just ignore us. That worked for many years. Rare appearances of the loathsome words “intelligent design” in scientific journals were quickly squashed, as Richard Sternberg can attest. Occasional payouts to avoid lawsuits, like at the California Science Center, could be dismissed as inconvenient hush money, quickly settled and ignored by the press.  Meanwhile, Darwinism marched on, confident and triumphant. Largely unimpeded by any need for debate, evolutionary biologists and psychologists, safe in the accepted custom of methodological naturalism, could spin their just-so stories without fear of contradiction. The media were willing accomplices, keeping the public submissive and quiet, satisfied with the daily illusions pouring forth from the ministry of truth. See how wonderful, elegant, and powerful Darwin’s theory is at explaining everything — from human speech evolving…
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“World Happiness Report” Focuses on…Government

Canada, creator, Culture & Ethics, Czech Republic, Declaration of Independence, Denmark, faith, Finland, France, Gallup World Poll, GDP per capita, happiness, happiness inequality, Iceland, Israel, Italy, life expectancy, life satisfaction, meaningful life, Norway, Pilate, pro-social behavior, religion, Spain, suicide, technocrats, United States, World Happiness Report
The annual “World Happiness Report” for 2019 is out. Depending on the Gallup World Poll, it turns out the U.S. comes in rather low among free countries at number 19. The Declaration of Independence states that all of us are “endowed” by our Creator with “inalienable rights,” among which is “the pursuit of happiness.” The idea, of course, is that finding happiness is the responsibility of the individual and that government may not unduly interfere with that quest. The Technocrats Speak But according to the study’s technocratic authors, government is the prime creator of happiness. Indeed, the first topic mentioned in the report is “happiness and government,” which are the subjects of the first two chapters. In Chapter 2 they write: At the most basic level, good government establishes and…
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