Why do some people oppose Roe v. Wade?

June 27, 2022

"March for Life," 2020 (photo in public domain)

Why do some people oppose Roe v. Wade? I tried to figure it out by reviewing the responses to a series of open-ended and multiple-choice questions answered by 49 people in the U.S. who say they're "very happy" that Roe v. Wade was overturned. Here is what they said. I posed the following open-ended questions: 1. "What are your views on abortion?" 2. "If you oppose abortion, why do you oppose it?" 3. "Under what circumstances do you think it should be legal to get one?" The...

Understanding Relationship Conflicts: Clashing Trauma

April 17, 2022

Artwork by Alexander Milov | Photograph by Adam Hornyak on Unsplash

Here is a common situation that you might have noticed: close friends (or romantic partners) suddenly have their relationship explode – both people feel like the other one hurt them and that they themselves did nothing wrong. These heart-breaking and all-too-common situations can arise from a pattern we call "Clashing Trauma." It has been estimated that over 70% of adults in the world have experienced at least one traumatic event in their lifetime. Consequently, the majority of fr...

Can you have causation without correlation? (Surprisingly, yes)

March 14, 2022

Usually, when X causes Y that means that X is correlated with Y. This may seem obvious simply because correlation is simply a measure of the extent to which Y goes up, on average, when X goes up. But, fascinatingly, there are some special cases where you can have causation WITHOUT correlation. Here are five ways causation without correlation can occur: 1. Averaging: increasing A sometimes causes increasing B, but other times, it causes B to decrease. The two balance out. Since correlation...

Seven reasons why you could be defining a concept ineffectively

March 2, 2022

Note (December 16, 2022): This piece is cross-posted from the Clearer Thinking blog, where it appeared on March 2, 2021. Can a chosen definition be "wrong"? No. If you choose a definition, then you can define a sound or series of characters to mean whatever you want them to mean. For instance, if you wanted, you could declare that whenever you say "phloop," you mean one of those little paper umbrellas that are sometimes found in Piña coladas. That would be weird, but it wouldn't be ...

The enduring wisdom of a disabled man born into slavery nearly 2000 years ago

March 1, 2022

Imaginary portrait of Epictetus. (Imagine is in the public domain https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Epicteti_Enchiridion_Latinis_versibus_adumbratum_(Oxford_1715)_frontispiece.jpg)

This is a cross-post from my post on the Clearer Thinking blog (from March 1, 2022). The post first appeared on this site on December 3, 2022. Epictetus, born ~50AD, was a disabled man born into slavery in Phrygia (present-day Turkey). Nothing that he wrote down survives; we know about him only through the words of other scholars. But he was so wise that his ideas reverberate through society today. This article summarizes some parts of his incredible life and the impact that he had on the wo...

Why I changed my mind about courage

February 13, 2022

I used to not think much of courage as a virtue. After all, isn't it courageous to drive 50 mph over the speed limit despite being nervous about driving - or to rob a bank despite being next to a police station?Don't soldiers show courage fighting, even when fighting for the more evil side?It takes courage to become a boxer (because you're likely to have your face pummeled by a powerful person), but is that a good trait to encourage?What made me rethink courage was witnessing many cases where p...

Ten theories for how to achieve true happiness (and useful resources for you to try them out)

February 8, 2022

This essay is cross-posted from the Clearer Thinking blog. The question of how to achieve true happiness has been debated for thousands of years. In this article, we've summarized ten approaches to happiness, new and old, that are popular today. How do you think about being truly happy? You might find that your personal views on this topic are captured by one of these ten popular theories. We hope that understanding these different theories will help you to better refine you...

Podcast transcription services comparison

January 4, 2022

Image by Volodymyr Hryshchenko on Unsplash

This essay was co-authored with Josh Castle. In case you haven't heard, I started a podcast about 15 months ago called Clearer Thinking with Spencer Greenberg. The format is that we invite brilliant guests to bring 4 or 5 "ideas that matter", and then we aim to have a fun, intellectual discussion about those ideas. Over the course of several months, listeners repeatedly requested transcripts for the show. So, our production team started doing a little bit of research to figure out how m...

Wishing you a happy new year, in all its meanings

December 31, 2021

1. Psychological: a fresh beginning 2. Scientific: humans record one more orbit around the sun 3. Ritualistic: an opportunity to reflect on how 365 days have gone and what you want to be different for the next 365 4. Traditional: a time for fireworks and celebration 5. Ancient: a dedication to Janus, god of gateways 6. Christian: Jesus’ circumcision (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circumcision_of_Jesus) 7. Nihilistic: another day, like any other 8. Meta: a time to reflect ...

Human behavior makes more sense when you understand “Anchor Beliefs”

November 21, 2021

Photo by Kris-Mikael Krister on Unsplash

There's an important type of belief most of us have, which we call "Anchor Beliefs." These beliefs are, by definition, those beliefs we hold that are almost impossible to change. To the believer, an Anchor Belief doesn't feel like a mere belief - it feels like an undeniable truth. These beliefs are often too deeply rooted to change, and the cost of giving them up may be extremely high (e.g., questioning the belief might cause you to lose your family, friends, livelihood, or your understand...