In my last post, I talked about politics and epistemic confidence. My conclusion was basically that when it comes to political issues, high epistemic confidence is not warranted. That creates a problem. How are we supposed to handle the responsibility of voting if we don’t (or at least shouldn’t) have much confidence in our political…
Most people, in normal circumstances, get epistemic confidence right. Once we have reached a certain level of maturity, we generally feel confident about the things we know and less confident the less we know. There are things that can get in the way of our epistemic confidence, like harassment, but we usually know what we know and…
Bob Dylan won the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature. That strikes me as a mistake. I think of myself as a Dylan fan. Blood On The Tracks and The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan are two of the great albums of the rock era. I’ve seen Dylan in concert several times. So, it’s not that the Nobel…
The second Presidential debate is tonight and I implore you, please do not watch it. There is literally nothing to be gained by watching. But, that’s true of every presidential debate. This debate is different, though. There is a moral obligation to avoid watching tonight. You see, there is simply no debate about who you should vote…
Every year on Columbus Day weekend, Hartford hosts a marathon. Can you guess how I know this? They probably advertise, right? Maybe there’s some word of mouth buzz? How about social media? Sadly, the answer is no to all of those. The way people in the Greater Hartford Area learn about the Hartford Marathon is…
A couple of years ago, I wrote a book. It’s not much of a book. It’s even short compared to the ones my daughter and I read together, but it’s a real book. I wrote it to help a friend with breast cancer. Here’s what I wrote in the introduction: A short time ago, a…
Today is September 26th. It is the seventh September 26th since my wedding. I hesitate to call it an anniversary, though. That’s because it is also the first September 26th since my wife moved out. And, barring something crazy, it will be the last September 26th before I no longer have a wife. I’ve been…
There’s something I’ve been feeling guilty about for years. I have a superpower, but all it does is hurt people, mostly the actors, writers and crews that work on TV shows. You see, I have the special ability to get TV shows cancelled. All I have to do is start watching the show from the…
Last weekend, I brought my daughter to the movies. We saw Kubo and the Two Strings. It was a mistake. That’s no reflection on the movie. I quite liked the movie (what I saw of it, anyway). It’s a reflection on my skills as a parent. My daughter is five. This isn’t a kids movie. The…
I’m normally very interested in politics. I pay close attention. I vote. I like to talk and argue about politics. And I like to write about politics. This election is different, though. I find myself avoiding the news. I don’t want to talk about it or write about it. A small part of that comes…
