Lives on Earth

Chain of life

  • Oliver Sacks and the Comforts of Metal

    I was first aware of Oliver Sacks with the publication in 1985 of his book The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat. The descriptions of his mentally ill patients were as intriguing as the title. A few years… Continue reading

  • Emergent Phenomena: More Than the Sum of the Parts

    I’ve been seeing the word emergence more and more in the last few years. But apart from the obvious sense that something arises, the meaning of the term—and what the excitement is all about—haven’t  been clear to me. So a… Continue reading

  • Genesis for Non-Theists

    Creation narratives are lively stories.  In the Bible, God creates the universe and earth in six days. In other traditions, creatures are dismembered, huge eggs hatch, birds create land.   Even science’s own creation narrative starts with a Bang. And… Continue reading

  • Five Things I Expect My Core Belief To Do For Me

    I want a core belief that does the following things for me. It should help me feel a little less terrified of death. It should point me towards a meaningful purpose in living. It should clarify the foundations of right… Continue reading

  • My Genome and Me

    Recently I sent the National Geographic genome project a sample of my DNA on two Q-tips swabbed inside my mouth. The information I received back described the whereabouts of my ancestors over the last 50,000 years or so. I’d known bits… Continue reading

  • Suicide and Evolution

    Where does suicide fit in the course of human evolution? Has natural selection been, so to speak, against suicide, or accepting of it, or indifferent to it? We might hope that evolution is gradually finding suicide to be disadvantageous and… Continue reading

  • Plants as Aliens

    Plants are so familiar to us that we don’t notice or appreciate some of their characteristics. We see them mostly according to how we use them—for food and beauty. For a fresher perspective, I’ll describe plants as strangers from another… Continue reading