Robert de Neufville
Contributor, Big Think
I lecture and write about politics and philosophy. I hold degrees in politics from Harvard and Berkeley, and have studied complex systems at the Santa Fe Institute. Other interests include theoretical physics, cognitive science, evolutionary biology, and the game of Go. You can find me on Twitter at @rdeneufville.
In a move that goes completely against the conventional wisdom of online media—which Orion Jones discusses here—News Corp. chairman Rupert Murdoch is considering preventing Google from indexing his news sites, […]
The battle for control of the Republican Party continues. Earlier this week, 10 Republican National Committee members circulated a resolution aimed at making sure that every Republican supports “conservative principles […]
Greg Sargent calls our attention today to an interview Bush’s former White House Press Secretary Dana Perino gave last night on Fox News’ “Hannity.” In the interview, Perino takes the […]
As one of my professors used to joke, any field with the word “science” in its name is probably not a science. If you have to explain that what you’re […]
The social networking site Twitter has taken off this year. According to Alexa it is now the 15th-most widely used site on the web. Its micro-blogging format—users post 140 character […]
For the first time, according to Gallup’s latest tracking poll, less than fifty percent of Americans approve of the job Barack Obama is doing as President. That’s down from 60% […]
In the 1960s, the world seemed on the verge of a global food crisis, as the population grew faster than the food supply. As I wrote last week, thanks largely […]
The Obama administration is finally getting serious about closing Guantanamo. The main obstacle to closing the military prison has always been that it wasn’t clear where to put the approximately […]
In 1968, a highly-respected population biologist at Stanford named Paul Ehrlich published a best-selling book called “The Population Bomb,” warning of global famine as the global population grew faster than […]
In what was a remarkable turnaround—and a huge victory for progressives—last week, the House of Representatives passed a health care reform bill that includes a provision for a government-run program, […]
There’s no question that we’ve come along way in the way we perceive race. So far, in fact, that we elected a black man to the highest office in the […]
Last week, I wrote about the dangers of waiting until the chemicals we are exposed to are conclusively proven to be dangerous before regulating them, especially when most studies on […]
Bisphenol A—generally known as BPA—is an organic compound used in the manufacture of plastics. It’s also what’s known as an endocrine disruptor. Because it’s chemically similar to our own hormones, […]
In a special election Tuesday, Democrat Bill Owens won a seat in upstate New York that the Republicans had controlled since 1872. And if the Republican party had been able […]
On Tuesday—on the anniversary of President Obama’s election—Republicans won significant victories in a handful of off-year elections around the country. In particular, they won both open governor seats. In Virginia, […]
In 2005, The New York Times revealed that under a presidential order signed in 2002, the National Security Agency (NSA) had been monitoring the phone calls, e-mails, and internet traffic […]
In 2006 incumbent Connecticut Senator—and former Vice Presidential candidate—Joe Lieberman lost in the Democratic primaries to Ned Lamont, a relative unknown who had challenged Lieberman’s support of the Patriot Act […]
Perhaps it’s not surprising that people take political results personally. We come to identify with our favored candidate—and sometimes to revile their opponent. When our party wins, we are elated; […]
Politicians like to brag about having passed their bills with bipartisan support. It shows that they are willing cooperate with their political opponents and that they are—at least superficially—more concerned […]
“If someone tells you he is going to make ‘a realistic decision,’” Mary McCarthy wrote, “you immediately understand that he has resolved to do something bad.” Calling a course of […]
Federal Communications Commission Chair Julius Genachowski called this week for the agency to formally adopt a set of rules governing access to the Internet. The proposed rules are meant to […]
As I wrote yesterday, momentum continues to build in Washington for a health-care reform that includes a provision for a government-sponsored program which would compete with private insurance companies. Greg […]
After hearing for months that the so-called “public option” was dead, it looks like it might yet make a miracle recovery. Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid finally seem to be […]
Before arriving in New England in 1630, John Winthrop famously told his shipmates that their colony would be like “a city upon hill.” Evoking a passage from the Sermon on […]
As part of its effort to reinvent itself, the Republican National Committee launched a completely redesigned website earlier in the week. The problem is not so much that the website […]
During the presidential campaign last year, a woman told Sen. John McCain at a town hall meeting that she couldn’t trust then Sen. Barack Obama because she had read that […]
Amidst the all the discussion of President Obama’s Nobel Prize, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences quietly made another political statement by giving the Nobel Prize in Economics to to […]
Last week I wrote that President Obama was given the Nobel Peace Prize more as a show of support for the multilateral policy he advocates than for anything he has […]
President Obama is now the just third sitting president to win the Nobel Peace Prize—the first since Woodrow Wilson won in 1919 for his role in setting up the League […]
There have been recent signs that the Republicans could bounce back from their devastating defeat last fall in the upcoming midterm elections. As I wrote a month ago, the early […]