Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.     Niels Bohr, Nobel prize-winning physicistWe must always tell what we see.  Above all, and this is more difficult, we must always see what we see.      Charles Peguy, poet, essayist and editor Just over a...

 Free Rider: a person or company that gets an advantage without paying for it or earning it. Today’s American left finds itself in a bit of a funk. The new President has jumped out of the starter blocks at lightening speed. His strategy is to declare the election a...

 Jack of all trades master of none, though oftentimes better than master of one. The Hedgehog and the Fox is arguably Isaiah Berlin's most famous book, a short book of just 80 pages although in the most recent updated edition it extends to 122 pages with a forward by...

 Hubris: Excessive pride, self confidence "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the King's horses and all the King's men couldn't put Humpty together again." America is at one of those lull before the storm moments. Inequality of income and...

 These are strange times in America. Republicans, traditionally the political party of the wealthy owner and business class, have rebranded themselves as the working man’s party while the Democrats, traditionally the political party of labor, the disenfranchised and...

 "There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in."     Leonard Cohen Is the glass half full or half empty? It’s the age old question. There has been much handwringing about an authoritarian takeover of the world and even of the United States. A few...

 “Every society gets the kind of criminal it deserves.” City of LiesHistorically Republicans have been in favor of smaller and limited government while Democrats have supported a larger and more activist government. In recent years that framework has changed in...

 It’s been quite a shock at my age to discover that the values I’ve lived by all these years are wrong. I grew up in the fifties and sixties. We didn’t have personal computers or smart phones to guide us so we lived according to the popular maxims of the day. For...

 To compare Donald Trump to Viktor Komarovsky does a disservice to Komarovsky. Trump lacks Komarovsky’s best qualities and embodies the worst. However the comparison is useful in that it explains Trump’s success and the dangers that may lie ahead for us and for...

 People tend to overestimate the impact of future events. That is, they predict that future events will have a more intense and more enduring impact on their personal lives than they actually do. Psychologists call this the impact bias. Harvard Psychologist Daniel...

 There’s no denying these eight-legged segmented micro-animals are pretty cute. But the real allure of the tardigrade lies in its incredible hardiness. These small creatures have been subjected to all manner of supposedly unliveable conditions – from temperatures near...

 Election Day, November 5th, looms ahead. Some fear armageddon. Others look forward to a golden age. Voters are divided into teams. We view the future through different colored glasses, red or blue, and we choose an elephant or a donkey for our mascot.Path dependence...