Richard Carrier Blogs

The Weird Fruit Mystery (Correcting a Sentence in My Survey of Roman Science)

Richard Carrier — Sun, 30 Mar 2025 18:07:33 +0000

An attentive reader caught an error in my book on The Scientist in the Early Roman Empire (which was based on my Columbia university dissertation). It actually involves a Weird Fruit Mystery. So this article will serve as a corrective footnote, and a solution to the mystery! In my book I have a whole chapter […]

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A Thorough Fisk of the Arguments of Fernando Bermejo-Rubio and Franco Tommasi

Richard Carrier — Thu, 27 Mar 2025 17:27:00 +0000

I just published the English edition of my debate with Fernando Bermejo-Rubio and Franco Tommasi, Jesus: Militant or Nonexistent? Two Views Compared (Philosophy Press, 2025), including a chapter by Robert Price, and originally published in Italian as Gesù resistente Gesù inesistente: Due visioni a confronto (Manni, 2022). See last week’s announcement for a description and […]

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My New Book! Jesus: Militant or Nonexistent? Two Views Compared

Richard Carrier — Wed, 26 Mar 2025 22:55:57 +0000

I just published the English edition of my debate with Fernando Bermejo-Rubio and Franco Tommasi, Jesus: Militant or Nonexistent? Two Views Compared (Philosophy Press, 2025), including a chapter by Robert Price, and originally published in Italian as Gesù resistente Gesù inesistente: Due visioni a confronto (Manni, 2022). There we composed a written debate, meeting assigned […]

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My Monthly Recommendation: Ancient Science Starter Kit

Richard Carrier — Fri, 21 Mar 2025 15:28:34 +0000

Every month I will write about something I recommend buying and why. I am an Amazon Associate, so if you click through the sales link in any of these recommendation blogs (like today’s), or indeed any article or page here at all, I will get a commission on everything in your cart when you check out (even if you […]

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Ross Douthat’s Worst Argument for God

Richard Carrier — Tue, 11 Mar 2025 21:00:40 +0000

I’ve written before about the recent decline of Christian apologetics (e.g. Addressing the New Christian Apologetics and Ben Shapiro’s Worst Argument for God and Another Two ‘Best’ Arguments for God?)—a trend that is illustrated by the enthusiastic revival of such antiquated and bumbling arguments as Undesigned Coincidences and Thomism: The Bogus Science. Ross Douthat of […]

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How Not to Be an Idiot: Lessons from Elon Musk

Richard Carrier — Fri, 28 Feb 2025 22:54:57 +0000

Elon Musk is an idiot. He has never accomplished anything by himself in his life and has no remarkable competencies. He could be the most incompetent person on the planet. Like most rich people, he’s just lucky. And Luck Matters More Than Talent. He fell ass-backwards into big money, and our system protects big money. […]

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My Monthly Recommendation: The Bible Unearthed and Jesus Interrupted

Richard Carrier — Tue, 18 Feb 2025 16:48:03 +0000

As I mentioned last month, with the loss of a family member our income took a hit. I’m so grateful for my Patreon supporters who ensure I will never employ paywalls or intrusive third party ads (so I always welcome more ongoing support there, or through PayPal for those who don’t like Patreon). And there are other […]

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Audiobook of Jesus from Outer Space? Now Available!

Richard Carrier — Sat, 15 Feb 2025 14:21:42 +0000

It’s been a long time coming. But finally I can say again that every book I have written is available in audio! But I won’t be able to say “all read by me” anymore. Jesus from Outer Space is now available in an Audible edition, read by KC Gleason. She does a fantastic job and […]

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The Evolution of Awe vs. The Aesthetic Argument for God

Richard Carrier — Fri, 14 Feb 2025 15:53:16 +0000

Over a decade ago I wrote my last update on the science of aesthetics and how it confirms naturalism over theism (“Musical Aesthetics”), building on and updating my argument from visual science in Sense and Goodness without God with a discussion of music science. I also there listed scientific surveys of other domains of aesthetic […]

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Defining Naturalism: The Definitive Account

Richard Carrier — Fri, 07 Feb 2025 22:13:10 +0000

Years ago I wrote on how ‘natural’ and ‘supernatural’ should be defined based on how those words are actually used in practice. And I developed from that a more useful ontology of naturalism and the supernatural, and a more apt scientific epistemology capable of detecting either. This began all the way back in 2003 with […]

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