Everything we can see and touch is made from material produced by thousands of dying stars that contributed elements to the cosmic dust, or interstellar medium, from which the Sun and planets were created about 4.5 billion years ago. The process that created the ISM and the Earth was not a one-time event. We did … More We are Part of an Endless Cycle
Why Disruption Now Works—and What That Says About Us The Present Moment The United States is not merely polarized; it is epistemically fractured. Shared assumptions about truth, legitimacy, and institutional restraint—once treated as background conditions of civic life—are now openly contested. What feels new is not disagreement, but the normalization of bad faith as a … More When Norms No Longer Bind
The advancement in Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities continues its expansion at a breath-taking rate, but it is facing two constraints. One is the immense power data centers require to run the computers that process the AI algorithms and the other is speed at which the algorithms can be executed. Seismic changes are on the horizon … More AI, Quantum Computing, and Fusion – the new Holy Trinity?
Another blog post of personal privilege, or just something I felt like writing. I’m comforted by the fact that no one other than me is likely to read it. I began dental school at Indiana University in 1975, and little did I know what awaited me. Dental education in the 1970s was academically punishing and … More The Transformation of Dental Education: From Humiliation to Empathy
I first wrote about Direct To Consumer Advertising (DTCA)of pharmaceuticals in 2010 [1]. I wanted to revisit the topic to see if things had changed in 15 years. Not much, There are still only two countries in the world that allow DTCA – the United States and New Zealand. The US is responsible for 99.9% … More Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Pharmaceuticals: Fifteen Years Later, Still a Bad Idea
“Truth is not changed by what we believe.” — Plato “There are no facts, only interpretations.” — Nietzsche Plato insisted that truth is eternal and absolute, existing independently of our beliefs or perceptions. Nietzsche turned that idea upside down, arguing that all truths are perspectival — shaped by the standpoint of the observer. This clash … More When Facts Collide: Plato, Nietzsche, and the Politics of Perspective
Introduction History shows that societies don’t march forward in a straight line—they cycle through growth, rigidity, collapse, and renewal. The question isn’t whether these shifts will happen, but whether we stumble through them blindly or face them with open eyes. That’s where two powerful frameworks come in. Panarchy helps us understand the deep, underlying processes … More The Chaos Around Us: Panarchy and the Cynefin Framework
The official line on U.S. control of TikTok’s algorithm sounds benign. By “U.S.,” I mean the federal government—or the corporations it influences or directs. The purported benefits include: National Security / Foreign Influence ConcernsThe fear is that China, through ByteDance or Chinese law, could compel TikTok to share data or manipulate its algorithm to push … More Political Agendas and the TikTok Algorithm
Where is our memento mori to whisper “Respice post te. Hominem te esse memento.” Many societies instituted ritualized humility as a safeguard against any one person becoming too powerful. Athens had its Ostracism, there were the Medieval Coronation Rituals, and the Samurai Tea Ceremony. Of most interest to me in today’s environment is that of … More Where is our memento mori?
Discussions between people, especially political discussions, often go off the rails because each person begins with their own set of facts and truths seeing each as absolute. But what if facts can be fluid and truths can be relative? The issue then should not be hopelessly debating each person’s facts but understanding why their facts … More Facts are Fluid and Truths are Relative
Confronting Mediocrity 