Author Archive for Michael Baruzzini

What the Higgs Is a Boson?
2

What the Higgs Is a Boson?

by

Science is worthwhile for its own sake — even if normal people don’t understand it. “Yes,” the reporter said, “But what can it do? What difference does the? Higgs boson make in the day-to-day lives of ordinary people?” The physicist on the radio stumbled over his words. He had already explained this once, but she […]

Contraception and Contradiction
0

Contraception and Contradiction

by

The Church is a sign of contradiction. On the issue of contraception, in which the Catholic Church is seen as the most inveterate of socially conservative reactionaries, the Church loses not only libertine opponents, but also many conservative friends. In the present debate about the government’s attempt to compel religious institutions to fund the use […]

Atoms Are Imaginary
3

Atoms Are Imaginary

by

“For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood”  — 1 Corinthians 13:12. A group of atheists in Colorado are putting up the newest version of their billboard messages, this time proclaiming that “God […]

Ghost Season
1

Ghost Season

by

I do not see ghosts; I only see their inherent probability – G. K. Chesterton.  This is the season of ghosts. Halloween has been co-opted as a secular holiday, poised to overtake Christmas in terms of commercial sales, and distorted in many cases into a grotesque and diabolical celebration of the macabre and ugly. While […]

Optimum Global Energy Supply: A Technological Summary
7

Optimum Global Energy Supply: A Technological Summary

by

The purpose of this essay is to introduce you to the self-replicating organic fusion energy converter. Fusion energy, as you may know, is the dream of engineers. Fusion energy is produced when atoms collide together and fuse to form new elements. Now, when this fusion process occurs, energy is released. The challenge in energy production […]

The Spiritual Side of <em>Life</em>
6

The Spiritual Side of Life

by

Science and art are not as distant from one another as it might seem. I suggest that one of the reasons “science nerds” also tend to be the “fantasy nerds” is that they are attracted to the same thing: fantastical worlds full of myriad laws and multifarious beings, whose interactions cannot be determined in advance, […]

Justice or Comfort? Conservatives and the Rape Exception
2

Justice or Comfort? Conservatives and the Rape Exception

by

American conservatives do not often argue that it is the government’s role to guarantee comfort. While each of us has a right to be unimpeded by excessive governmental interference in our own “pursuit of happiness”, it is not common to find conservatives arguing that the government guarantees us happiness, or more to the point, guarantees […]