This week, I have been mostly reading:

• Perry Bible Fellowship — by Nicholas Gurewitch:
  
• There’s a psychological link between conspiracy theories and creationism — Stephan Lewandowsky in the Conversation: The Fribourg researchers conducted three studies with more than 2,000 participants overall. Echoing previous studies, the findings showed that teleological thinking was associated with the rejection of evolution and the acceptance of its pseudo-scientific alternative, creationism. But the researchers also showed a strong association between creationism and conspiracism. People who believed in creationism also tended to believe in conspiracy theories, regardless of their religious or political beliefs. Conspiracism was also associated with teleological thinking. This confirms that seeking purpose in random events, such as the death of Princess Diana in a drink-driving accident, or natural phenomena such as rain clouds or the necks of giraffes, reflects a common underlying way of thinking.
• The economy of permanent war — Claire Connelly in Medium: What the world thinks of as debt creation is actually the creation of credit for the financial sector. Dr Kadri says the west can make far more money from destruction than from trade. […] “You cannot expand the economy without war. War is, in fact, a necessity; it absorbs the surplus. By issuing bonds the state absorbs the excess surplus existent in the western hemisphere. That is the principal condition for global economic imbalance.” Issuing bonds has the effect of creating a military economy in a way that doesn’t interfere or compete with the private sector and acts as conveyer belt for its resources.
• Non Sequitur — by Wiley Miller: