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John Horgan (The Science Writer)

johnhorgan.org

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Posts
285 from 1 Dec 2023 to 30 Oct 2026
Posting
weekly (58 in the last year)
Kind
personal blog

2026 50

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  33. How “Fluid” Is Sex? — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  34. Are You Happy? — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  35. Why the Moon Mission Doesn’t Thrill Me — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  36. Brain Chips Can Prevent War and Lovers’ Spats — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  37. Robert Trivers Is Dead. I Once Thought He Was Going to Kill Me — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  38. I Hate AI! — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  39. Truman, The Bomb and Free Will — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  40. Visiting the UN as Bombs Fall on Iran — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  41. Should Killer Robots Have Rights? — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  42. Epstein and The End of “Pure” Science — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  43. The Upside and Downside of Our Longing to Matter — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  44. What Is It Like to Be a Superintelligent Machine? — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  45. Murray Gell-Mann and “The End of Science” — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  46. Proust Was Goofing on Us — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  47. Why AI Pioneer Marvin Minsky Called Me “Racist” — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  48. India and the Unfairness Problem — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  49. India and the Solipsism Problem — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  50. “Auntie Mame,” “The Dead” and My New Year’s Resolution — John Horgan (The Science Writer)

2025 60

  1. Oliver Sacks Fudged Facts. Does That Bother Me? — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  2. Pynchon, Thanatoids and the Ferris Wheel of Life — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  3. Is Peace a Pipe Dream? — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  4. DESIRE — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  5. Is “The Waste Land” Accurate? — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  6. The End of Physics? — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  7. Doing Nothing — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  8. My Personal Paradigm — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  9. Will AI Save Us From AI? — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  10. The Singularity Cult — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  11. The Rise of the Arrogant Apes — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  12. My Secret Affinity for Many Worlds — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  13. My Weekend at “Rat Fest” — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  14. The Infinite Optimism of David Deutsch — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  15. The God Lunch — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  16. Science as Defiance — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  17. A Philosophical Encounter in Washington Square Park — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  18. Is Reality Weird in a Bad Way? — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  19. Ode to Hoboken: I — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  20. What’s Poetry’s Point? A Riff on “Paterson” — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  21. Holy Shit Science and My Hypocrisy — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  22. The End of Holy Shit Science — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  23. Living Ironically — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  24. To Abolish Nukes, We Must Abolish War — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  25. Umm… Now What? — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  26. Solzhenitsyn, the Gulag and Free Will — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  27. NY Times and New Yorker Exaggerate Cancer Screening Benefits — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  28. An Independence Day Look at Jefferson’s “Brutal” Hypocrisy — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  29. Rhythms and Endings — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  30. Surfing Woolf’s “The Waves” — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  31. Hofstadter on Strange Loops, Beauty, Free Will, AI, God, Utopia and Gaza — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  32. Requiem for a Psychedelic Holy Lady — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  33. No Kings! — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  34. My Odd Link to Apple Coder Bill Atkinson (RIP) — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  35. Woolf Versus Buddha — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  36. Was I Fated to Be in the SAT Premium Prep Guide? — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  37. How I Explain Quantum Weirdness to a Friend — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  38. I Read Gravity’s Rainbow So You Don’t Have To — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  39. Famous Brain Scientist Loses His Mind — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  40. What My Students Worry About — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  41. A Wild Mystic — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  42. Mystical Schtick — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  43. What Good Is “Self-Knowledge”? — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  44. Henry James, The Ambassadors and the Dithering Hero — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  45. Being a Science Critic When Science Is Imperiled — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  46. Mysticism Under Trump — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  47. Scientific American and the Anti-Woke Bros — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  48. How Friends Cope — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  49. Collaboration — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  50. The “Scandal” Behind the Biggest Study of Antidepressants Ever — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  51. Anthropologist Demolishes Claim That War Is in Our Genes — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  52. Resistance — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  53. Why Chomsky Called Trump and Republicans “Criminally Insane” — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  54. How I Cope — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  55. Self-Gaslighting — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  56. Steven Weinberg’s Pointless Final Theory — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  57. The End of Insight — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  58. Costa Rica and the Problem of Beauty — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  59. My Encounter with String Theorist and Naïve Realist Edward Witten — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  60. What It Is — John Horgan (The Science Writer)

2024 67

  1. Jimmy Carter’s Thoughts on the End of War — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  2. Was Wittgenstein a Mystic? — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  3. A Science Writer’s Winter Solstice — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  4. Decorating a Tree with Skye: A Christmas Story — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  5. The Backstory — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  6. The Particle in a Box — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  7. Is the Omega Point Ironic Science? — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  8. Is David Foster Wallace’s “Infinite Jest” Really, Like, Great? — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  9. Scientific American Loses Its Bold Leader — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  10. The Election and the Problem of Evil — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  11. Drawing Pretty Pictures in Troubled Times — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  12. How Quantum Mechanics Helped Me Escape the Shitshow — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  13. More Medicine Does Not Mean Better Health — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  14. Beyond Virility Signaling: How Moms Made Us — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  15. Psychiatry Is Broken. Can It Fix Itself? — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  16. The Drug-Based Approach to Mental Illness Has Failed. What Are Alternatives? — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  17. The Beyond-Spacetime Meme — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  18. The Metaphysical Meaning of Performance Anxiety — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  19. The Consciousness Panel — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  20. Is God a Strange Loop? — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  21. Moby Dick and Hawking’s “Ultimate Theory” — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  22. On Skipping Stones and Getting Old — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  23. Solipsism, Quantum Mechanics and Online Dating — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  24. Should I Wear a Mask in Class This Fall? — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  25. Math, God and the Problem of Evil — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  26. Dumpster Diving: Why I Draw Trash Cans — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  27. What’s the Point of Poetic, “Gee-Whiz” Science Writing? — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  28. Is There Hope for Men? — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  29. The “Horgan Surface” and “The Death of Proof” — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  30. Francis Crick’s Depressing Hypothesis — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  31. Shit My Pal Richard Says — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  32. Jack London, Liberal Arts and the Dream of Total Knowledge — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  33. Why Freud Still Isn’t Dead — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  34. A Writer Reflects on Turning 71 — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  35. I’m a Rational Anti-Medicine Nut — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  36. Why I Quit a Class on Zen — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  37. Freeman Dyson’s Disturbing Scientific Theology — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  38. Judith Butler on Nonviolence: A Critique — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  39. Can a Mood Be True? — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  40. The Ironic Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  41. Quantum Mechanics, Plato’s Cave and the Blind Piranha — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  42. I Am One of Those Evil Woke Professors — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  43. Gene-Whiz Science Is Dead. Yay! — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  44. Dear Student Protesters, Please Oppose All War — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  45. Consciousness and the Dennett Paradox — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  46. Nicaragua, Quantum Mechanics and Other “Solutions” to Habituation — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  47. The Consciousness Salon — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  48. Defending My Naïve Realism — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  49. Is Derealization a Delusion or Insight? — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  50. Is “Information” Eternally Conserved? — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  51. The Statistics of Lovers’ Quarrels — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  52. Frans de Waal (RIP) and the Origins of War — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  53. Can Physics Ease the Sting of Death? — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  54. My Melanoma Melodrama — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  55. My Daily Routine — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  56. Quantum Mechanics, the Chinese Room and the Limits of Understanding — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  57. Ten Tough, Terrific Quantum Books — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  58. Multiverses Are Pseudoscientific Bullshit — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  59. Is the Schrödinger Equation True? — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  60. Will Psychedelics Save Us? Nah — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  61. Quantum Mechanics, Free Will and “The Game of Life” — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  62. Stuff I Love Making Students Read — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  63. Mitchell Feigenbaum and the End of Chaoplexity — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  64. The Chaoplexity Delusion — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  65. Things Were Worse When I Was Young — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  66. Bayes’ Theorem and Bullshit — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  67. Self-Doubt Is My Superpower — John Horgan (The Science Writer)

2023 4

  1. Free Will, War and the Tolstoy Paradox — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  2. Is Killing Children Ever Justified? — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  3. Quantum Mechanics and the Holiday Blues — John Horgan (The Science Writer)
  4. Farts, Boners and Free Will. Seriously — John Horgan (The Science Writer)

Undated 104

  1. Dear feminists please help end war
  2. Thanksgiving and scientists slander of native americans
  3. My doubts about the end of science
  4. Free will and chatgpt me
  5. Free will and the could you have chosen otherwise gambit
  6. Free will and the sapolsky paradox
  7. Can beauty redeem the world
  8. Theories of consciousness gaza and my cognitive dissonance
  9. Can a chatbot be aware that its not aware
  10. A buddhism critic goes on a buddhist retreat
  11. Cutting through the chatgpt hype
  12. The golden bowl and the combinatorial explosion of theories of mind
  13. Why time flies when youre old
  14. The rise of neo geocentrism
  15. The brouhaha over consciousness and pseudoscience
  16. The big bang theory is true deal with it
  17. The ocean is getting on my nerves
  18. Drawing a pen with the same pen and other strange loops
  19. Entropy meaninglessness and miracles
  20. The delusion of scientific omniscience
  21. Pluralism beyond the one and only truth
  22. My encounter with philosophical anarchist paul feyerabend
  23. The paradox of karl popper
  24. Oppenheimer bethe and the doomsday hypothesis
  25. Thomas kuhns skepticism went too far
  26. Is self knowledge overrated
  27. Whats the point of the humanities
  28. Should machines replace mathematicians
  29. My meeting with david bohm tormented quantum visionary
  30. Physicist john wheeler and the it from bit
  31. My meeting with claude shannon father of the information age
  32. How dave chalmers invented the hard problem
  33. Confessions of a namedropping humblebragger
  34. My bloomsday tribute to james joyce greatest mind scientist ever
  35. My slam dunk arguments for free will
  36. How i kicked caffeine addiction
  37. Ai execs are monetizing fear just like the sopranos
  38. Youre not free if youre dead the case against giving ukraine f 16s
  39. Mammography screening is a failed experiment
  40. Do colonoscopies really save lives
  41. Were too scared of skin cancer
  42. The cancer industry hype versus reality
  43. Tripping in lsds birthplace a tale for bicycle day
  44. What is it like to be god
  45. Advice to aspiring science writers remember marx
  46. My controversial diatribe against skeptics
  47. What is a question
  48. The dark matter inside our heads
  49. The solipsism problem
  50. On god quantum mechanics and my agnostic schtick
  51. The end of philosophy whats the point a call for negative philosophy
  52. Philosophy whats the point part 4 maybe its poetry with no rhyme and lots of reason
  53. Philosophy whats the point part 3 maybe it should stick to ethics
  54. Philosophy whats the point part 2 maybe its a martial art
  55. Philosophy whats the point hint its not discovering truth part 1 of a series
  56. The weirdness of weirdness
  57. Sabine hossenfelder the end of science and my quantum experiment
  58. Conservation of ignorance a new law of nature
  59. Confessions of a woke antiwar hockey playing demonic male
  60. The upside of getting old and falling on your face
  61. Can curses topple putin and other tyrants
  62. Yrb9e7uefpeqrlkiasoc6octxtnm5g
  63. How ho ho hoboken became my home
  64. Is ultimate truth an equation nah
  65. Physicists teleport bullshit through wormhole
  66. Blog 1
  67. Requiem for a holy lady
  68. Requiem for a psychedelic holy lady
  69. Introduction
  70. Mind body problems
  71. Chapter one
  72. Chapter two
  73. Chapter three
  74. Chapter four
  75. Chapter five
  76. Chapter six
  77. Chapter seven
  78. Chapter eight
  79. Chapter nine
  80. Wrap up
  81. Thanks
  82. Discussion
  83. Introduction
  84. Chapter three
  85. Chapter five
  86. Chapter four
  87. Chapter eight
  88. Chapter nine
  89. Chapter seven
  90. Chapter ten
  91. Chapter eleven
  92. Chapter thirteen
  93. Epilogue
  94. Chapter twelve
  95. Chapter one
  96. Chapter two
  97. Chapter six
  98. About john horgan
  99. My quantum experiment
  100. Home
  101. About cross check
  102. https://johnhorgan.org/blog
  103. Thanks
  104. Discussion