Arts and Culture
By Jim Baggott ; from Aeon
‘The theory produces a good deal but hardly brings us closer to the secret of the Old One,’ wrote Albert Einstein in December 1926. ‘I am at all events convinced that He does not play dice.’
Einstein was responding to a letter from the German physicist Max...
I have occasionally been critical of the way we do politics. The recent leaders’ debate on electoral reform provides me with material to explain.
The Opposition prefers electoral reform to be studied by a citizens’ assembly, as in 2003, over the Government’s process. It is a reasonable proposal. The members of the 2003 Citizens’ Assembly were selected at random. It was not an absolute...
Don’t worry!
The Group of Twenty (G20), composed of nineteen countries (including Canada) and the European Union, will meet in Buenos Aires (Argentina) November 30th and December 1st.
By then, newspapers and media analysts will most likely tell us again that they won’t all get along on some major issues during this summit.
But please...
Introduction: topics committed, topics mapped
“I will probably write the next column with the intent to persuade readers that the human project demands that non-conforming individuals challenge culture more and more, as culture more and more escapes our understanding, our ethics and ...
Editor's Note: In this age of fake news, when politicians are allowed to lie with impunity -- perhaps even encouraged to lie, because they appear to get good results by lying -- how are people reading the news, or social media, where bizarre fake news abounds -- to know what to believe? For that matter, is it ever a good idea to believe something that is not true? This is...
War, what is it good for? Absolutely nuthin.’ -- pop song, 1968
War is the Father of us all. – Herodotus, Greek historian, 5th C. BCE
War is over, if you want it. – John Lennon
Forgive me Lord, I do so love it. – General Patton, American Army
...
Having read the challenging piece on May 14, 'You don't have the right to believe whatever you want to', I feel that since the piece was intended to be challenging, perhaps it should be challenged.
The basic premise of the text by Professor DeNicola was that some...
By Stephen T. Asma, from Aeon
Religion does not help us to explain nature. It did what it could in pre-scientific times, but that job was...
“All along the watchtower…There's too much confusion, the hour is getting late... Bob Dylan
“Here we are in the years… Children cry in fear, ‘let us out of here.’” Neil Young
By Charles Jeanes
So much food for thought, and limited space on the...
My parents married during the Great Depression. After the 1929 market collapse, people had to learn to make do, help each other out and live on meager incomes. Those times were seared into my parents’ attitudes and values.
Although we were all born and raised in Canada, my family was seen as the enemy during the Second World War. Because of our Japanese ethnicity, the government...