Treebeard’s Razor: The Ents Weigh in on AI Art & Writing

by Jordan Henderson First we need to equip ourselves with a philosophical razor, Treebeard’s Razor. Treebeard is an Ent, a tree man character from J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Treebeard doesn’t like AI art, he thinks it’s crap. In the following excerpt from the Lord of The Rings, Treebeard explains something about his … Continue reading Treebeard’s Razor: The Ents Weigh in on AI Art & Writing

A decade of dissent: tide turning, fog lifting

In the latest part of his retrospective essay on ten years of The Acorn, editor Paul Cudenec looks back on its content in 2021. The online document covering the entire decade can be found here. “The bad guys are winning” warned Peter Hotez on the Nature website in the USA in the spring of 2021. By this, the propagandist … Continue reading A decade of dissent: tide turning, fog lifting

Vaccine Evangelists, Apostates, & Apologists – Part 7: The Apologist’s Playbook

by Jordan Henderson This is the 7th and final installment of this essay series. Here is the itinerary of the final installment: It’s been a while since the publication of the 6th installment, so to get back in the rhythm of the series I’ll kick off this installment with some classic anti-vaccinationist fun – juxtaposing pro-vaccine … Continue reading Vaccine Evangelists, Apostates, & Apologists – Part 7: The Apologist’s Playbook

Vaccine Evangelists, Apostates, and Apologists – Part 6: The Apologists Continued

by Jordan Henderson This is the sixth, and penultimate, installment of the essay series, Vaccine Evangelists, Apostates and Apologists. This series is a study of the vaccine debate itself, using historical mortality questions as the focal point of this analysis. Here are the links to the earlier installments: Part 1 – The Evangelists Part 2 – … Continue reading Vaccine Evangelists, Apostates, and Apologists – Part 6: The Apologists Continued

Vaccine Evangelists, Apostates and Apologists: Part 5 – The Apologists

by Jordan Henderson This is the fifth installment of the essay series, Vaccine Evangelists, Apostates and Apologists. Here are the links to the earlier installments: Part 1 - The Evangelists Part 2 – Apostasy Part 3 - The Red Herring: A Tour of the Motte Part 4 – Spanish Death Data This essay installment is centered … Continue reading Vaccine Evangelists, Apostates and Apologists: Part 5 – The Apologists

VACCINE EVANGELISTS, APOSTATES, AND APOLOGISTS: PART 4 – SPANISH DEATH DATA

by Jordan Henderson Brief recap (skip if the previous essays are fresh in your mind) We’ve reviewed in this essay series historical infectious disease mortality, and the introduction (or lack thereof) of widespread vaccination for various diseases in England and Wales, in Australia, and in the USA (we reviewed this in Part 2: Apostasy). We’ve seen … Continue reading VACCINE EVANGELISTS, APOSTATES, AND APOLOGISTS: PART 4 – SPANISH DEATH DATA

Vaccine Evangelists, Apostates, and Apologists: Part 3 – The Red Herring: A Tour of the Motte

by Jordan Henderson This is the third installment of this essay series. You can read Part 1. The Evangelists at this link here, and Part 2. Apostasy at this link here. I ended Part 2 with the following description for what’s in store in this essay - Part 3. Here’s how we ended the last essay. … Continue reading Vaccine Evangelists, Apostates, and Apologists: Part 3 – The Red Herring: A Tour of the Motte

Vaccine Evangelists, Apostates, and Apologists: Part 2 – Apostasy

by Jordan Henderson In Part 1 we focused on the preaching of the Vaccine Evangelists. Now we will review the work of Vaccine Apostates in which the Apostates have debunked the preaching of the Vaccine Evangelists. If you have yet to read Part 1 of this series, you may wish to do so before reading Part … Continue reading Vaccine Evangelists, Apostates, and Apologists: Part 2 – Apostasy

Vaccine Evangelists, Apostates, and Apologists: Part 1 – The Evangelists

Elephant in the Room – drawing in charcoal and conté on paper, by the author. by Jordan Henderson This essay series is a deep dive into the vaccine conflict: the preaching of the Vaccine Evangelists, the refutation of that preaching by the Vaccine Apostates, and the protection of the Vaccine Evangelists by the Vaccine Apologists. Evangelists preach and promote the faith. Apostates have … Continue reading Vaccine Evangelists, Apostates, and Apologists: Part 1 – The Evangelists