By Donald B. Ardell - 02.14.16

 

INTRODUCTION

U.S. Surgeon Generals, psychiatrists and all manner of sensible people are aware that vast numbers of American are somewhat unhinged. One former Surgeon General, namely David Satcher, released an exhaustive review of research on mental health in 2001 which revealed that one in five Americans has mental disorders. The latest official count of the U.S. population (as of the start of 2015) was 320 million, meaning there are 64 million loonies walking the streets unsupervised.

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By Donald B. Ardell, January 10, 2016

Introduction

Workplace wellness has been a feature of U.S. companies for several decades. Still, many observers question whether outcomes from these endeavors justify the costs. Some critics are urging a reassessment before continuing current funding levels into the future.

 

In 2009, 92 percent of American companies with 200 or more employees sponsored worksite wellness, according to a Rand Report for the U.S. government. A recent estimate put company spending on prevention and assorted risk reduction education (the true nature of so-called “wellness” offerings) at $40 billion annually—on a global basis. Fortune 500 company spending in America designed to reform unhealthy lifestyles and thereby reduce employee medical costs accounted for a painful share of after-tax company profits. (The estimates I’ve seen are so high I won’t include them them because I’m skeptical about their accuracy.)

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By Donald Ardell - 12.13.15

The interest I have in believing a thing is not a proof of the existence of that thing.

~ Voltaire, in reference to Blaise Pascal's infamous wager advice regarding the existence of a god.

Scientific practices-observation and experiment; the development of falsifiable hypotheses; the relentless questioning of established views-have proven uniquely powerful in revealing the surprising, underlying structure of the world we live in, including subatomic particles, the role of germs in the spread of disease, and the neural basis of mental life.

 Religion has no equivalent record of discovering hidden truths.

~ Paul Bloom, Scientific Faith Is Different From Religious Faith, The Atlantic, November 24, 2015

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By Donald B. Ardell - 10.28.15

Introduction

A few years ago, America’s most reliable news source, The Onion, published an interview with a courageous firefighter named James Farber. The story focused not so much on his heroic deed, remarkable though it was, but rather on his iconoclastic, not-so orthodox views about meaning in life, human existence and virtue.

 

From the start of the interview, Farber focused on a context far broader than the fire and the action he took that saved lives from the conflagration. To quote Mr. Farber:

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By Donald B. Ardell - 10.11.15

Introduction

U.S. medical spending, already at $3 trillion, grew 5.5% last year, according to a study cited in The Wall Street Journal (Louise Radnofsky, "U.S. Health-Spending Growth Jumped to 5.5% in 2014", WSJ, July 28, 2015). Soon, one of every five dollars spent in the U.S. will be on medical care. One likely consequence: employers will continue investing in wellness programs while offering only high-deductible insurance plans with steep out-of-pocket copays. If you’re going to get sick, and who isn’t, you better be well off.

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By Donald B Ardell - 09.13.15

Life is inherently meaningless. If you accept that life is meaningless in the cosmic sense, and that this is applicable to all humans and other life forms, you liberate yourself from religious dogmas and other superstitions and create a clear path to discovering the best, most effective and fulfilling kinds of meanings and purposes for your short existence: A life of bountiful meaning and purposes, despite being cosmically meaningless and inconsequential. Oh joy. Oh happiness.

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