Caveman Logic

A look at the scary and entertaining ways in which our primitive minds are mismatched to the modern world around us.

by Hank Davis

Ready! Action! Boredom!!

Do you want to watch me write a book? I don't think so. Do you want to watch a farmer down the road from me harvest some hay? Errr, no thanks. How about a chef whip up a soufflé? Well, maybe, but I'd rather eat it than watch it being made. But watch a movie being filmed in your home town? Now you're talking! That's excitement. That's magic! Read More

What You Don't Know About Rick Santorum

A pair of taboos about religion and dead bodies have gotten in the way of open dialogue and good political journalism. Read More

Get Outta Dodge!

Getta Outta Dodge! From Matt Dillon to Dexter, we still love those who detect and punish cheaters. Read More

I'm No Longer Attracted to You

Nobody said love was fair. Nobody said attraction was rational or consistent. But are they both too much to ask? Read More

The Hell with Bigfoot

I'm not telling you Bigfoot doesn't exist. I'm saying, the hell with him. You don't need him. Read More

Why Do We Care For Baby Animals?

With billions of mice in the world today, these creatures are hardly an endangered species by anyone's reckoning. They share our habitats, living successfully in our homes and our laboratories. We've domesticated them and we also let them go wild around us. We fear them and we sentimentalize them. They can be a royal pain in the neck and also cute as hell. Read More

Idiocracy: Can We Reverse It ?

America is on a precipitous slide toward Idiocy. The most obvious signs of the decline we see around us are growing illiteracy, lack of education, widespread obesity, and religiosity: an overweight, uninformed, irrational people. Read More

Creationists Have An Unfair Advantage But They're Still Wrong

Whether it's about baseball, music or human origins, we all seem to be suckers for a good Creation Myth. Read More

Stuart Little Is Drowning!

Mice - Do we love them or hate them? The answer seems to be "both." We're surrounded by adorable and sentimental images of mice, yet we kill them casually and often cruelly. Maybe it's time to make up our minds. Read More

Sacred Sneezes and Blessed Burps

Our Medieval customs are alive and well as 2011 begins. Read More

Overestimating Our Intelligence: Just How Smart Are Other Animals?

Last week a student of mine uttered a classic piece of misinformation. She said, "Humans think before everything they do but animals act entirely by instinct." She then reluctantly added, "Right?" Read More

The Uptalk Epidemic

Even grown men and women are starting to talk like Valley Girls. What's happening to us? The Meme from Hell is taking over. Read More

Who Do You Love?

Forget the grammar. We have bigger fish to fry here. We're going to try to define the nature of love in 1000 words or less. I admit that even including some checkered personal experience, I'm far from an expert. In fact, I'm not even sure what expertise would consist of. Administering and scoring questionnaires? Read More

Let's Hear It For War!!!

There are some Americans who still believe that war is grand. They see it as a way to assert the glory and power of their nation on an international stage. It's like some kind of Olympics or FIFA (Soccer) World Cup, only bloodier. Over 715 million people (1/9th of the population on Earth) watched the final match of the 2006 World Cup. There's pomp, gallantry and headlines. Read More

Even Heroes Need Heroes

The thought that a hero might be like us - listening, watching, absorbing, admiring, even idolizing - may be troubling to us. Does it humanize our heroes more than we'd like? Perhaps even to the point where they are no longer what we think of as heroes? Read More

Music from Another Planet

Religion is an inevitable result of Caveman Logic. But at least one good thing has come of it over the centuries: Music and art. Even delusions can lead to a rich array of beautiful music. We look at some of it here - and not just the kind of examples you'd expect. Read More

Singing, Painting and Praying

The truth is, I spend a lot of time bitching and moaning about religion and religious belief. Like Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris and so many other authors, I do it in my book Caveman Logic, as well as (somewhat more discretely) in my University teaching. And believe me, when it comes to religion, there's plenty to complain about. Read More