Rationally Speaking News Today

In a forthcoming episode of the Rationally Speaking podcast, Julia and I discuss the philosophy and science of suicide, i.e. what empirical inquiry tells us about suicides (who commits them, how, what are the best strategies for prevention) and how philosophical reflection may lead us to think of suicide.

Massimo Pigliucci argues against the simplicities of nature versus nurture as they are manifested in debates over gender and race.

Spock is famous for logic. Ask anyone, even people who arent necessarily  Star Trek fans, and theyll tell you that the half-human, half-Vulcan science officer of the U.S.S. Enterprise is the guy whos always looking for the most logical, rational way to tackle any problem, whether were talking about discovering new life and new civilizations or just trying to figure out what to have for lunch. But does that approach always serve Spock well? One expert says no, and she has the data to prove it....

In the franchise, Spock makes confident predictions based on his superior Vulcan mind. Galef was curious to see exactly how often these predictions pan out. “I went through all of the Star Trek episodes and movies—all of the transcripts that I could find—and searched for any instance in which Spock is using the words ‘odds,’ ‘probability,’ ‘chance,’ ‘definitely,’ ‘probably,’ etc.,” she says. “I catalogued all instances in which Spock made a prediction and that pred...