I write a lot. But much of what I write ends up in disconnected places so that it can be hard even for me to find what I’ve written. A lot of my writing is anonymous or under a pen name so that my history in intelligent design doesn’t undermine the work (much of it content for business websites).
I also prefer to write long-form pieces, which can take weeks of work, and thus don’t allow the steady flow of material expected for a forum like Substack. I’ve found, however, that even long-form work can be serialized. So I think I’m finally at a point where I can contribute weekly to Substack and encourage a growing readership.
If you don’t know who I am, I’d encourage you to visit my blog (BillDembski.com) or the website of the think-tank where I’m a fellow (Discovery.org/CSC). I have a substantial Wikipedia page, but it is biased and I would urge readers of it to verify anything they read there before taking it seriously.
I plan to post weekly and hope to do so even more frequently. That’s probably a realistic expectation because I’ve written lots of things I’ve never published or never adequately circulated, which can therefore see new light here.
What drives everything I do is education. Jesus, whom I serve, was known as a prophet, priest, and king. But in his day-to-day activities he was referred to as rabbi. In other words, people saw his principal role as a teacher. Our word “doctor” comes from same root as “doctrine,” and thus likewise refers to a teacher (it got co-opted by medical professionals).
It seems to me that many of the ills that afflict our culture are the result of poor education. Thus students lack not just basic knowledge but also the critical thinking skills for sorting through the (mis/dis)information that now inveterately bombards us. It also seems that there are many forces at play in our culture designed to dumb us down with the goal of making us compliant.
I believe humans are capable of so much more than we give ourselves credit for. My hope with this Substack is to foster a community committed not so much to reforming education as to turning the life of the mind into a playground where learning is exhilarating. I didn’t say “fun”—deep learning can involve strenuous work. But the adversity in doing the hard thing becomes a small price if the rewards are palpable. Much of education these days is tedious and lack rewards.
Education touches everything, so I plan to touch lots of different areas and topics in this forum. If you want an overview of my life and work, see my CV (it’s a bit outdated, focuses on academics, and sidesteps my work as a tech entrepreneur) as well as an extensive interview I did with my friend and colleague James Barham.
Below is my favorite picture of myself aside from pictures with members of my family. It is with my physics advisor Leo Kadanoff in 2014, a year before his death. I was noticeably younger then.
P.S.: The bluish image that you’ll see throughout my Substack and that is also a favicon is the Mandelbrot set. The small circular image of me that appears in my Substack is from a photo by my professional photographer friend Laszlo Bencze.
Keep up the good work, Bill.
Good to connect on Substack. It's a great platform.