Lives on Earth

3.8 Billion Years

  • Dylann Roof and the Southern Code

    “Someone has to have the bravery to take it to the real world, and I guess that has to be me,” Dylann Roof wrote on the Web about defending the white race. On June 17, 2015, to the black members… Continue reading

  • The Family Dog Grows Older

    I wrote about Ginger, our family’s Golden Retriever, a couple of years ago when she was 11. She is still living out her golden years with, so far, no visible or excruciating diseases. She’s become a fussier lady, finicky about… Continue reading

  • Spirituality From Science

    Several pieces of scientific information have been important to me in finding perspective and direction in my life. This information is spiritual to me, which is to say that it gives me a sense of having a meaningful place in… Continue reading

  • The Fading Individual

    I used to see people, including myself, as individuals first and as social creatures after that. Emotions and words, my own and others’, seemed the prime movers; groups, society as a whole, seemed a context, a setting, not an essence.… Continue reading

  • Reverence for (Some) Life

    Here is a tug-of-war. At one end of the rope is our common conviction that life—our life, other lives, life in general—is a good thing. For many, this conviction is little more than a cliche, a toast, an instinct for… Continue reading

  • Friends as Allies?

    “A friend will always be there for you.” Yes, but why? Tracing the evolutionary roots of friendship is proving to be more difficult than expected. What are the evolutionary benefits of friendship? Friendship doesn’t boost the survival of the family… Continue reading

  • Do Virtues Require Adversity?

    I was thinking recently that I’ve never taken stock of which virtues I believe are the most important ones. There are, after all, a lot of virtues out there, as a quick search shows. I especially like the descriptions in… Continue reading