There are people who leave religion because they hate it, and people who leave because they loved something in it and could no longer pretend. I understand the second group better. Not because they are smarter, but because they are usually gentler. They are not trying to win arguments. They are trying to stop lying to themselves.
Most believers I have met are not hungry for control. They are tired, … Read the rest
Utilitarianism has a terrible publicist. Say “maximize aggregate welfare” at a dinner party and people reach for the cheese knife as if you’d proposed replacing birthdays with quarterly KPI reviews. The brand evokes spreadsheets, grim trade-offs, and philosophers who haven’t seen the sun since dial-up. And yet, the quiet, unfashionable habit of asking “What helps the most people, by how much, at what cost?” is the closest thing civilization has … Read the rest
