Support First Things by turning your adblocker off or by making a  donation. Thanks!

Humanism as Cluelessness

Professor Robert Edwards, the creator of IVF, was featured recently in a newspaper profile. The results demonstrate—as we have discussed here previously about James Watson—that being a brilliant scientist does not necessarily translate into the ability to engage in sound moral reasoning. . . . . Continue Reading »

Losing Oxygen to the Cultural Brain

I am the last person in America to have heard of Walter the Farting Dog . My cousin is the next-to-last, and she heard about Walter from her son, who came home from kindergarten one day recently and actually told her for a change what he had done at school. They had had story time, he said, and . . . . Continue Reading »

Inconceivable

Here’s a slippery problem. According to this story in the Legal Intelligencer , in the early 1990s Joel McKiernan and Ivonne Ferguson were involved in a romantic relationship. After the relationship ended, they remained in contact, and when, several years later, Ms. Ferguson wanted to . . . . Continue Reading »

The Spoiler for 2008

It’s not Ron Paul, it’s not Michael Bloomberg, and it’s not Harold Stassen (who is as dead as Julius Caesar). No, the man who threatens to tear this presidential election apart is none other than Gene Amondson , candidate representing the 139-year-old Prohibition Party . Thought . . . . Continue Reading »

In Defense of Huckabee (Sort of)

Jody correctly notes that Mike Huckabee isn’t getting much credit for his win last night, but I think that’s an analytical mistake. Huckabee is still an underdog. If I had to bet $100 on who wins the nomination, I wouldn’t put it on him. But Huckabee has done something which . . . . Continue Reading »

On to New Hampshire

So what really happened in Iowa? Candidates can’t win the nomination in Iowa, but they can lose it if they expose a colossal weakness (see: Dean, Howard). And the big loser in Iowa was Mitt Romney, whose campaign is now over. Let’s look at what happened to Romney in the Hawkeye State: . . . . Continue Reading »

First Iowa, Then the World!

Victory! We win! In Iowa! A triumph for, um, somebody! The results of the caucus in Iowa are in, but what they mean is hard to say. Some Republicans friends are insisting it’s an enormous victory for McCain, who skipped Iowa and thus wasn’t damaged there, while his clearest rivals, . . . . Continue Reading »

Marketing Transhumanism

I received a solicitation by e-mail because of my “interest” in transhumanism from the “Terasem Movement Foundation” offering a Web site that will—for free:...preserve one’s individual consciousness so that it remains viable for possible uploading with . . . . Continue Reading »

Tags

Loading...

Filter First Thoughts Posts