Mark Veltzer's personal website — blog, media tracker, calendar, and chess viewerhttps://veltzer.github.io/ en Sat, 30 May 2026 22:56:29 -0000 Sat, 30 May 2026 22:56:29 -0000 1440 MkDocs RSS plugin - v1.19.0 None https://veltzer.github.io/ opinion philosophy science <h1>The Engineers Pay for Everyone's Fantasies</h1> <p>There is a small caste of people in any society whose ideas are immediately and mercilessly checked against rea...</p> https://veltzer.github.io/2026/05/31/the-engineers-pay-for-everyones-fantasies/ Sun, 31 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Mark Veltzer's personal sitehttps://veltzer.github.io/2026/05/31/the-engineers-pay-for-everyones-fantasies/ fiction philosophy science <h1>The Imagination of Science Dwarfs the Imagination of Fiction</h1> <p>We habitually credit novelists, screenwriters, and especially science-fiction authors with gr...</p> https://veltzer.github.io/2026/05/30/the-imagination-of-science-dwarfs-the-imagination-of-fiction/ Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Mark Veltzer's personal sitehttps://veltzer.github.io/2026/05/30/the-imagination-of-science-dwarfs-the-imagination-of-fiction/ game-theory philosophy <h1>Kant's Categorical Imperative Is a Misreading of Game Theory</h1> <p>Immanuel Kant gave us one of the most famous tests in moral philosophy: *act only according t...</p> https://veltzer.github.io/2026/05/30/kants-categorical-imperative-is-a-misreading-of-game-theory/ Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Mark Veltzer's personal sitehttps://veltzer.github.io/2026/05/30/kants-categorical-imperative-is-a-misreading-of-game-theory/ religion <h1>The Two Kinds of Believers and the Hypocrisy of the Sophisticated</h1> <p>Spend enough time arguing about religion and you notice that you are never arguing with ...</p> https://veltzer.github.io/2026/05/30/the-two-kinds-of-believers-and-the-hypocrisy-of-the-sophisticated/ Sat, 30 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Mark Veltzer's personal sitehttps://veltzer.github.io/2026/05/30/the-two-kinds-of-believers-and-the-hypocrisy-of-the-sophisticated/ finance markets opinion <h1>Is Short-Timescale Algorithmic Trading Good or Bad for the Market?</h1> <p>This is a genuinely contested question, and reasonable people in finance and economics ...</p> https://veltzer.github.io/2026/05/16/is-short-timescale-algorithmic-trading-good-or-bad-for-the-market/ Sat, 16 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Mark Veltzer's personal sitehttps://veltzer.github.io/2026/05/16/is-short-timescale-algorithmic-trading-good-or-bad-for-the-market/ religion <h1>The Mind Is the Brain, and Pretending Otherwise Is a Special Pleading</h1> <p>There is a question that almost everyone treats as deep: is the mind the same thing ...</p> https://veltzer.github.io/2026/05/07/the-mind-is-the-brain-and-pretending-otherwise-is-a-special-pleading/ Thu, 07 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Mark Veltzer's personal sitehttps://veltzer.github.io/2026/05/07/the-mind-is-the-brain-and-pretending-otherwise-is-a-special-pleading/ religion <h1>Vicarious Atonement: Punishing the Innocent to Forgive the Guilty</h1> <p>At the heart of mainstream Christianity is a claim that, examined plainly, violates one ...</p> https://veltzer.github.io/2026/05/06/vicarious-atonement-punishing-the-innocent-to-forgive-the-guilty/ Wed, 06 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Mark Veltzer's personal sitehttps://veltzer.github.io/2026/05/06/vicarious-atonement-punishing-the-innocent-to-forgive-the-guilty/ religion <h1>Moral Progress Happens Against Scripture, Not Because of It</h1> <p>A common claim from religious apologists is that morality comes from scripture and that withou...</p> https://veltzer.github.io/2026/05/05/moral-progress-happens-against-scripture-not-because-of-it/ Tue, 05 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Mark Veltzer's personal sitehttps://veltzer.github.io/2026/05/05/moral-progress-happens-against-scripture-not-because-of-it/ religion <h1>Hell: Infinite Punishment for Finite Crimes</h1> <p>The doctrine of hell — eternal, conscious torment for those who fail some criterion of belief or behavior in a...</p> https://veltzer.github.io/2026/05/04/hell-infinite-punishment-for-finite-crimes/ Mon, 04 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Mark Veltzer's personal sitehttps://veltzer.github.io/2026/05/04/hell-infinite-punishment-for-finite-crimes/ religion <h1>The Geography of Belief: Why Your Religion Is Almost Always Your Parents'</h1> <p>If you want to know what religion someone follows, the best predictor is not the...</p> https://veltzer.github.io/2026/05/03/the-geography-of-belief-why-your-religion-is-almost-always-your-parents/ Sun, 03 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Mark Veltzer's personal sitehttps://veltzer.github.io/2026/05/03/the-geography-of-belief-why-your-religion-is-almost-always-your-parents/ religion <h1>Neurotheology: When God Is a Brain State</h1> <p>Religious experiences — the sense of presence, dissolution into a greater whole, ineffable certainty, encounter w...</p> https://veltzer.github.io/2026/05/02/neurotheology-when-god-is-a-brain-state/ Sat, 02 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Mark Veltzer's personal sitehttps://veltzer.github.io/2026/05/02/neurotheology-when-god-is-a-brain-state/ religion <h1>What the Prayer Studies Actually Found</h1> <p>If prayer worked — if a personal God answered the petitions of the faithful — this would be the most easily demonst...</p> https://veltzer.github.io/2026/05/01/what-the-prayer-studies-actually-found/ Fri, 01 May 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Mark Veltzer's personal sitehttps://veltzer.github.io/2026/05/01/what-the-prayer-studies-actually-found/ religion <h1>The Incoherence of the Omni-Properties</h1> <p>Classical theism describes God as omnipotent (all-powerful), omniscient (all-knowing), and omnibenevolent (all-good...</p> https://veltzer.github.io/2026/04/30/the-incoherence-of-the-omni-properties/ Thu, 30 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Mark Veltzer's personal sitehttps://veltzer.github.io/2026/04/30/the-incoherence-of-the-omni-properties/ religion <h1>Omniscience vs. Free Will: The Contradiction at the Heart of Theism</h1> <p>Most theists hold two beliefs simultaneously: that God knows everything, including the...</p> https://veltzer.github.io/2026/04/29/omniscience-vs-free-will-the-contradiction-at-the-heart-of-theism/ Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Mark Veltzer's personal sitehttps://veltzer.github.io/2026/04/29/omniscience-vs-free-will-the-contradiction-at-the-heart-of-theism/ religion <h1>The Euthyphro Dilemma: Why Morality Cannot Come From God</h1> <p>Religious people often claim that without God, there is no real morality — that good and evil req...</p> https://veltzer.github.io/2026/04/28/the-euthyphro-dilemma-why-morality-cannot-come-from-god/ Tue, 28 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Mark Veltzer's personal sitehttps://veltzer.github.io/2026/04/28/the-euthyphro-dilemma-why-morality-cannot-come-from-god/ religion <h1>Divine Hiddenness: The Argument from Reasonable Non-Belief</h1> <p>If there is a loving God who wants a personal relationship with every human being, then His exi...</p> https://veltzer.github.io/2026/04/27/divine-hiddenness-the-argument-from-reasonable-non-belief/ Mon, 27 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Mark Veltzer's personal sitehttps://veltzer.github.io/2026/04/27/divine-hiddenness-the-argument-from-reasonable-non-belief/ religion <h1>The Equivocation of "God": One Word, Many Gods</h1> <p>When religious people, philosophers, and theologians use the word "God," they are very often not talking ab...</p> https://veltzer.github.io/2026/04/26/the-equivocation-of-god-one-word-many-gods/ Sun, 26 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Mark Veltzer's personal sitehttps://veltzer.github.io/2026/04/26/the-equivocation-of-god-one-word-many-gods/ religion <h1>What Brain Damage Tells Us About the Soul</h1> <p>If there is a soul — an immaterial self that carries your memories, your personality, your moral character, and ...</p> https://veltzer.github.io/2026/04/18/what-brain-damage-tells-us-about-the-soul/ Sat, 18 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Mark Veltzer's personal sitehttps://veltzer.github.io/2026/04/18/what-brain-damage-tells-us-about-the-soul/ religion <h1>The Burden of Proof Is on the Claimant</h1> <p>In nearly every argument with a religious believer, the same rhetorical maneuver eventually appears: "Well, you can...</p> https://veltzer.github.io/2026/04/17/the-burden-of-proof-is-on-the-claimant/ Fri, 17 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Mark Veltzer's personal sitehttps://veltzer.github.io/2026/04/17/the-burden-of-proof-is-on-the-claimant/ religion <h1>The Cosmological Argument Does Not Get You to God</h1> <p>Of all the philosophical arguments offered for the existence of God, the cosmological argument — in its ...</p> https://veltzer.github.io/2026/04/16/the-cosmological-argument-does-not-get-you-to-god/ Thu, 16 Apr 2026 00:00:00 +0000 Mark Veltzer's personal sitehttps://veltzer.github.io/2026/04/16/the-cosmological-argument-does-not-get-you-to-god/