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The Right’s Empathy Problem
They are long-established clichés: conservatives, according to liberals, are heartless – while liberals, according to conservatives, are...

Scott Robinson
Apr 15, 20235 min read


The Friendship Recession
Behavioral professionals have been quick to note that today, three-plus years into the Covid-19 pandemic, most people are experiencing...

Scott Robinson
Apr 15, 20232 min read


Sly’s Crew
I was never a Sylvester Stallone fan. I saw the Rocky movies and Rambo movies – some of them, anyway – and I didn’t find them...

Scott Robinson
Apr 15, 20234 min read


Republican Freedoms
I grew up in a very conservative clan in a very conservative community in a Midwestern state that has become, over the decades, as red as...

Scott Robinson
Apr 15, 20234 min read


Paul McCartney Meets Bertrand Russell
Bob Dylan stands in the role of rock’s resident philosopher – or he did, back in the Sixties. No surprise, then, that both John and Paul...

Scott Robinson
Apr 15, 20234 min read


For the Culture War Win
To: My old far-right conservative friends Re: Your Culture War Dear old friends! I write to you today from a position of great confusion,...

Scott Robinson
Apr 9, 20235 min read


Back into the Chinese Room
Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in! I’ve spent decades now immersed in the Chinese Room. I’ve argued it endlessly with...

Scott Robinson
Apr 9, 20237 min read


Trickle-Down
As Ronald Reagan was being sworn in, I took up a post at my campus paper, the University of Kentucky Kernel, as its editorial editor....

Scott Robinson
Apr 9, 20235 min read


Holodeck Lives
Lt. Reginald Barclay is a diagnostic engineer on Geordi LaForge’s staff, aboard Picard’s Enterprise. Awkward and nebbishy, he is...

Scott Robinson
Apr 9, 20233 min read


Puzzles of My Childhood
I grew up in a Fundamentalist Christian world, an extended community of conservative middle-class families that took very seriously the...

Scott Robinson
Apr 8, 20234 min read


Picard and His Entourage
Part of the fun of Star Trek, for me, is how it teases the futurist in me. When I was a kid, I tried to figure out how the Transporter...

Scott Robinson
Apr 7, 20235 min read


AI’s Hidden Truths
The growing hubbub over ChatGPT, a truly landmark AI that is swiftly upgrading public perception of what AI is and what its advent means,...

Scott Robinson
Apr 7, 20234 min read


Ranveer’s Razor
I grew up in a very insular community in the American Midwest. And when I say insular community, I don’t mean an isolated or standoffish...

Scott Robinson
Apr 7, 20234 min read


Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations
“May we together become greater than the sum of both of us.” ~Surak Few attributes of the Star Trek universe stand out as starkly as its...

Scott Robinson
Mar 5, 202312 min read


Trek, Humanism, and Moral Agency
What constitutes moral behavior for a humanist? First, we note that many on the outside looking in believe that humanism and morality are...

Scott Robinson
Feb 27, 20236 min read


Kirk, Sisko, and Moral Dilemmas
What is the humanist response when two courses of action are available, and both involve a negative outcome? How is the humanist to...

Scott Robinson
Feb 27, 20235 min read


Mirror Universe Me
Those of us who are deeply into Star Trek are well-acquainted with the Mirror Universe, a kind of alternate reality that looks almost...

Scott Robinson
Feb 11, 20233 min read


smalldickenergy@getalife.com
Every so often, a ridiculous event in the media will rise above the endless river of absurdity and spectacle in such a way as to showcase...

Scott Robinson
Jan 21, 20235 min read


In Praise of Word Salad
Many are the modes of linguistic expression that brighten the human experience, from the evocative stirrings of sublime poetry to the...

Scott Robinson
Jan 21, 202312 min read


Kubrick's Rubric
Gotta love Stanley Kubrick, right? Iconic filmmaker, he should be on everyone’s Top 10 list. Dr. Strangelove... 2001... A Clockwork...

Scott Robinson
Jan 16, 20233 min read
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