Holiday Cards and Weak Ties?
By Robert Bernstein   |   January 7, 2025

As a secular humanist, I don’t do Christmas. But I enjoy the end of year ritual of sending “holiday” cards. A few dozen people get real cards, and a larger circle get emails. Some of these people are close friends. But some are family and friends with whom I rarely have contact. Sometimes for years […]

Getting Stuff Done?
By Robert Bernstein   |   November 26, 2024

There is no single explanation for the popularity of Trump. But one thread is that he can “get stuff [sh-t] done.” Supporters (MAGAs) don’t care about his long history of cheating people out of their money, his talk of “grabbing pussies”, or even that he violently tried to overthrow an election. “He gets stuff done.” […]

 

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Post Election Power?
By Robert Bernstein   |   November 19, 2024

Reflecting on this election involves both Big Questions and smaller thoughts. Some of my friends offer conspiracies of how the election was rigged. For weeks we knew that this election was too close to call. Statistician Nate Silver predicted the election had a 40% chance of being a blowout for either side. In short: I […]

Truth vs. Focus?
By Robert Bernstein   |   November 12, 2024

Almost five years ago I was honored to be hired by MoJo CEO and Executive Editor Gwyn Lurie. “What is Truth?” was her recommendation for my first article. Neuroscientist/podcaster Sam Harris raised a related point: “There are an infinite number of facts one could choose to focus on. And the act of focusing changes how […]

Win-Win Unions?
By Robert Bernstein   |   October 22, 2024

As I finish this, dock workers have paused their strike in the East and Gulf Coast. Workers have won a bigger cut of the massive profits of the shipping industry. But they are still demanding a total ban on the automation of cranes, gates and container-moving trucks used for loading and unloading freight. Two years […]

Death Isn’t Everything?
By Robert Bernstein   |   October 8, 2024

For over 30 years, we worked to get bicycle lanes and safe pedestrian crossings in Old Town Goleta. Endless meetings, hearings, studies, surveys and public input. It was never enough. Seven lanes were devoted to motor vehicles: Four traffic lanes, a center turn lane and two lanes for parking motor vehicles. But no room for […]

Living Like There Really is a Climate Crisis?
By Robert Bernstein   |   September 10, 2024

How can we use behavior science to persuade people to solve the Climate Crisis? I recently attended a UCSB Psychology talk on this subject. To me, facts and evidence should be enough. It takes a lot more than that for most people. It turns out that people who are most environmentally aware are often worse […]

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  • God Is all Evil?
    By Robert Bernstein   |   September 3, 2024

    Atheists and god believers often debate whether any gods exist. God believers actually mostly agree with atheists without realizing it. Most god believers reject 99.9% of gods as being fictitious. They only believe in their god or gods. Atheists just take it to 100%. But I think there is a more interesting debate: If there […]

    Anger At Inanimate Objects?
    By Robert Bernstein   |   July 9, 2024

    Today was an interesting news day. The Supreme Court just ruled that “bump stocks” cannot be banned. Even though these devices effectively turn legal guns into machine guns. And even though the Firearms Owners’ Protection Act of 1986 banned civilians from owning any machine guns manufactured after that date. The bump stock ban was a […]

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    Tribalism: Good, Bad, Ugly?
    By Robert Bernstein   |   June 18, 2024

    I recently had lunch with a former coworker friend. He doesn’t like talking politics, but I had to know if he was still a Republican after Trump. He agreed with most of my positions on most issues. And he agreed that Trump was not a good president. But he could not ever imagine voting for […]

    Life Emerged Just Once?
    By Robert Bernstein   |   June 11, 2024

    Star Trek is my religion. I grew up imagining a future of contact with alien beings who we could learn from. Back in 1950 physicist Enrico Fermi asked, “But where is everybody?”  If our galaxy is teeming with planets and our planet is nothing special, why haven’t we encountered any evidence of aliens? We have […]

    Protest What?
    By Robert Bernstein   |   May 21, 2024

    Campuses are in turmoil across the U.S. with protests. I won’t discuss the substantive issues they are protesting. But I will raise this Big Question: How does an issue become a protest issue? I claim that it is not based on what is most important or on what is most urgent. Clearly, some issues are […]

    Japan First Impressions?
    By Robert Bernstein   |   May 14, 2024

    Merlie and I have just returned from three weeks in Japan. Very fortunate to catch the cherry blossoms. It is risky to offer impressions after such brief exposure, but I will try. Many things are exactly as you would expect. Things are orderly. There is no trash or graffiti. People are extremely polite. But guess […]

    Flat Earth
    By Robert Bernstein   |   April 16, 2024

    My wife and I came out of a party recently just in time to catch a rocket launch in the sky. I took some photos of the beautiful colors and patterns and posted them on Facebook. A Facebook childhood friend “Bill” replied, “The rockets that go nowhere under the firmament.” Was he pushing the bizarre […]

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