Category: Thinking with Somebody Else’s Head

Everyone has weighed in with opinions on the subject. The comments flow endlessly from book titles and magazine articles. Our predominating materialistic world view limits our discussion of it to fields of money or fame. But as our defining economic structure crumbles before our very eyes, we'd be well advised to try to redefine it.

Hundreds of years before the meteoric rise of Cisco Systems or Qualcomm stock prices, Semper Augustus tulip bulbs were selling for the price of a house in Holland. Tulipmania was in full swing in the 1600s, and it looked much like the dotcom madness of the 1990s. It crashed eventually, of course, but caused little

They're forecasting possible energy price hikes of 30 - 50% this year. On top of a recession, it's hardly good news. We've been warned about this for at least 30 years, but we've been dinosaur slow in adapting to the warnings. Obama's got his New Energy for America Plan ... but is it possible we're

Philosopher David Hume called it the most contentious issue in metaphysics. Actually, nearly every major figure in the history of philosophy has weighed in on the topic somewhere in their work. Free will ... the capacity of rational agents to choose a course of action from among various alternatives. Is the issue really that complicated?

We've heard the spin. The rhetoric-loaded speeches that gave us goosebumps. The hand-on-the-heart pledges that promised to lead us out of the darkness. The words from the speechwriters are scarily simple to speak. But after we're all softened up, after we're primed for change, we usually get ... more of the same. Will it really

Unemployment rates are the highest in 16 years. We've got massive foreclosures and forecasts of trillion dollar deficits. Our kids have A.D.D. Everything we touch causes cancer. And our football team missed the playoffs. Again. No doubt about it ... living in the 21st century is bringing a lot of stress. Today on Thinking with

We put up the decorations. We send out the cards with the heartfelt wishes for peace and goodwill. We sometimes sing the songs. But the desires for peace on earth and remembrances of the real meaning have long been obscured in the frustration of finding a blasted parking spot. Joyous Christmas time is not much

Everybody has theories about what's causing our current economic breakdown. Those raised on the French philosophy of Sartre and Voltaire might lay the blame at the feet of society. More existential thinking would point the finger at individual responsibility. But only Norberto Keppe's new science gives us the tools to do a more complete analysis.

Normally we see a person with serious problems we recommend professional help. After all, we go to the gym to keep our bodies toned, we go to the driving range. Why wouldn't we do something to address those psychological glitches that pop up in all of us? But what do we do when our whole