A life in words

  • A false dichotomy

    Objective and subjective are the same thing. Somehow. But we all default to dualism – it’s very hard to actually conceive of how the material and experiential worlds are equivalent since, of course, it’s one of the great unsolved problems of our time. That laughter can be provoked by manipulating a certain location in the […]

  • Philosothought

    The acknowledgement of difference is the first step on the path to the integration of difference. Those who discriminate must resemble the thing they discriminate against at least enough to recognize it. To pattern match, the system must somehow embody the pattern. The seed of overcoming discrimination is present within the discrimination itself.

  • ‘they’ is not a drop-in replacement for ‘he’ and ‘she’, but we could use one

    Singular usage of ‘they’ is well-established in English, going back centuries. Depending on your exposure to it, you may yourself use it regularly, as I happily do. It’s great having a single word that can refer to individuals whose gender is unclear or unspecified. However, gender-neutral ‘they’ and its friends ‘them’, ‘their’, and ‘theirs’, do […]

There is nothing I dread so much, as a division of the Republic into two great Parties, each arranged under its leader and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This in my humble apprehension is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution.John Adams, Letter to Jonathan Jackson, 2 Oct 1780