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Category Archives: Evo Psych
Religion and Endgame
So three things occasion this post: I watched Avengers: Endgame last night, Will Shetterly posted an observation about fandom and its religious nature, and I stumbled upon an article in my feed from a left-ish site about how new studies … Continue reading
Posted in Evo Psych, Evolution, Fantasy, Philosophy, Religion, Uncategorized
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Civilized Argument Online
Since the beginning of this year, I’ve been involved in a private Facebook group that has sought to bring ideological opponents together to discuss contentious issues. I was part of the moderating staff for a few months, and I gave … Continue reading
Posted in Evo Psych, HIgh Tech, Politics, Social Media, Uncategorized
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Do Dungeon Masters roll magic dice?
Tony Daniel at Baen commissioned this article from me. I’d been thinking about the role of self-deception in both creating and appreciating stories.
Posted in Dungeons & Dragons, Evo Psych, Fantasy, Games, Uncategorized, Writing
Tagged Dungeons & Dragons
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Liberalism Needs a Housecleaning
After this post, I hope to leave off religion and politics for a while. I’m a liberal and liberal apologist but also a philosophical conservative, meaning I’m more into Adam Smith than Karl Marx, more into Plato and Lao Tzu than Nietzsche. … Continue reading
Posted in Evo Psych, Philosophy, Politics, Religion, Uncategorized
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Secularism, and Pounding on Religion
Here’s a redacted set of outtakes from my side of religion Facebook arguments I’ve been having. Of course they’re inspired by the tragedy in France. I’d really like to be done with this, but as soon as I’m out, they … Continue reading
Depression and Evo Psych: Fighting Yourself, So the Group Can Win
There are several models of depression that psychologists have arrived at from consideration of its potentially adaptive function. Some are weaker than others; some are mutually compatible. When I posted a Facebook link to the Wikipedia article giving an overview … Continue reading
Keep Your Reader Reading, an Evolutionary View
I was going to title this post “A Hypothesis About Cognition that Roughly Explains Just About Everything,” but I’m most interested in this idea from the standpoint of narrative. Why do we do something rather than nothing, like, say, eat … Continue reading
Posted in Evo Psych, Evolution, Writing
Tagged evo psych, Writing, Writing Technique
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The Cognitive Science of Religion, Filed Under “Gaming”
http://hubpages.com/hub/The-Cognitive-Science-of-Religion This is a fascinating and important area of inquiry. I used to think that disavowing religion was like denying your blind spot, not because I think that everyone secretly believes in God but rather that if they don’t, they’ll … Continue reading
Posted in Dungeons & Dragons, Evo Psych, Games, Politics, Religion
Tagged literalism, politics, religion
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The Craft and Art(?) of Roleplaying Games
Since I wrote my essay for Baen early this year, I’ve continued to navel-gaze about rpgs. I’m far from having exhausted the topic for myself. Here are some of the strongest conclusions about them that I’ve arrived at:
The Fallacy of Politics
If we really want progress, we should recognize a much more fundamental and deep divide than conservative versus liberal: those who use logical fallacies in argument and those who don’t. Liberalism and conservatism are the poles of constructive debate; as … Continue reading
Posted in Evo Psych, Politics
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Far Green Country 