Should We Trust Our Gut? – The Idealization of Intuition and Instinct

December 30, 2009

This is an old essay written in December 2009. I'm posting it on this site (with minor edits) today, January 13, 2023. It is common to hear advice that amounts to "going with your gut," "trusting your instincts," or "following your intuition." But these suggestions seem to indicate that the answers we arrive at through careful thought are sometimes (or perhaps usually) inferior to our immediate reactions. Consider the following representative quotes: Keep the faith, don't lose yo...

Genesis according to science: The Empirical Creation Story

February 8, 2009

Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2022/nasa-s-webb-delivers-deepest-infrared-image-of-universe-yet

This was first written on February 8, 2009. I put it up on this site on February 10, 2023. 1 In the beginning, the big bang created the heavens. 1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 2 The universe was formless and infinitesimal. Plasma hotter than a thousand suns permeated the explosively expanding fabric of space. 2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of t...