Category Archives: Critical Thinking

Some of the posts are examples of critical thinking, rather than being about critical thinking

Where do we come from, who are we, and where are we going?

Posted on December 2, 2020 by

Preface.  This is a book of review of The Social Conquest of Earth, in which E. O. Wilson answers these questions.  Although tribes have invented thousands of creation myths since paleolithic times, Wilson finally has written a book explaining our … Continue reading →

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Climate Change dominates news coverage at expense of other equally important existential issues

Posted on November 17, 2020 by

Preface. I’ve noticed that in the half dozen science magazines and several newspapers I get practically the only environmental stories are about climate change. Yet there are 8 other ecological boundaries (Rockström 2009) we must not cross (shown in bold … Continue reading →

Posted in Acidification, Biodiversity Loss, BioInvasion, Climate Change, Critical Thinking, Peak Oil, Planetary Boundaries | Tagged , , , , , , , | 17 Comments

Telling others about peak oil and limits to growth

Posted on November 14, 2020 by

Preface. Obviously the planet is finite. We’re using many times more oil than we’re discovering, and therefore at some point global oil production will peak and decline.  In fact, global oil production peaked in 2018 (EIA 2020) or 2008 (EIA) … Continue reading →

Posted in Critical Thinking, Limits To Growth, Peak Oil | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Book review of “The Death of Expertise: the campaign against established knowledge and why it matters”

Posted on November 5, 2020 by

Preface.  Those who attack experts are exactly the people who will not read this book review (well, mainly some Kindle notes) of Nichols “The Death of Expertise: The Campaign against Established Knowledge and Why it Matters”. They scare me, they … Continue reading →

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Book Review “conservatives without Conscience” by John Dean

Posted on October 9, 2020 by

Preface. This is a book review of “Conservatives without Conscience” by John Dean. It is the best book I’ve read in explaining the history of conservatism and leaders like Newt Gingrich on the increasing authoritarianism of Republicans, It also explains … Continue reading →

Posted in Critical Thinking, Human Nature, Pat Robertson, Politics, Politics | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Russia has been bombarding Ukraine with fake news since 2014. Sound familiar?

Posted on February 13, 2020 by

Preface.  Long before Russia bombarded the U.S. with fake news in the 2016 election campaign, Ukraine was the target, where Russia honed its propaganda skills.  The parallels with their fake news assault on the U.S. are striking, perhaps if more … Continue reading →

Posted in Critical Thinking, Politics, Russia | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Fox news estranges millions of families and instills hate and fear in its cult members

Posted on February 10, 2020 by

Preface.  This is a book review that has key excerpts of “Foxocracy”, by Tobin Smith, who worked at Fox for 14 years and was friends with Roger Ailes as well as the staff that decided what the propaganda of the … Continue reading →

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Why technology can’t solve all of our problems

Posted on September 13, 2019 by

I have many posts about energy contraptions that have had hundreds of thousands of breakthrough stories in the media, yet here we are, without powerful enough batteries, hydrogen fuel cells, and so on to replace fossil fuels despite the exciting … Continue reading →

Posted in Critical Thinking, Transportation | 2 Comments

Why did people vote for Trump?

Posted on August 22, 2019 by

Before the election, it was widely known that Trump was a gangster who bragged about grabbing women’s asses, lied constantly, went bankrupt 4 times, and much more. So how could people have voted for him? To find out I read … Continue reading →

Posted in Critical Thinking, Politics | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Utility scale energy storage has a long way to go to make renewables possible

Posted on May 15, 2019 by

What follows comes from my book “When Trucks Stop Running: Energy and the Future of Transportation” , which is also where you’ll find the references backing up what I’ve written below. I often get letters from people about energy breakthroughs … Continue reading →

Posted in Alternative Energy, Batteries, Battery - Utility Scale, Critical Thinking, Electric Grid, Electricity, Renewable Integration | Tagged , , | 7 Comments