These people are living the brainless life of primates; they operate at a sub-human level. There are billions of people in the world operating at this level, mindlessly procreating even though they can barely feed themselves. I do feel sorry for the children born into such an environment. On the other hand, perhaps such a life is still better than no life at all - that is for philosophers to decide. What do I owe them? Because of their ignorance, they do need help. I would much rather some of my tax money was spent on birth control, universal health care and other social welfare measures than on weapons to enrich the elite class. So the answer would be:

1. Spend resources to inform people like these about birth control

2. Increase the minimum wage and job security so they have a chance at making a living

3. Have universal health care, like any civilized country

4. Spend resources to educate these unintelligent people about how to shop, how to use money, how to cook, how to take care of kids, etc.

It is a social problem and I have no objection to using tax money to help. There is plenty of money to be had from corportions and the wealthy.

What a strange 1950's attitude - women are all money-grubbers. With that attitude, I'm glad no woman has been foolish enough to marry you.

My wife is a wonderful and giving person and she makes more money than I do. Does that make me a money-grubbing man? Grow up.

What an excellent example of the mumbo jumbo I was referring to. Thank you.

I have lost 9 pounds in the past 2 months simply by walking 4 miles a day and eating less. My BMI is down to 24. My goal is to lose another 5 pounds for a weight of 155 (I'm 5 feet 8 inches tall). I spent a total of $12.00 on exercise equipment - a pedometer. I watch what what I eat carefully - no donuts, potato chips, soda. For dinner, I eat home-cooked Chinese food where each person starts with a small bowl of rice and adds to it vegetables, pork, chicken, fish, tofu, etc. You stop when you feel full. The walking is a great pleasure, not a burden. I really could not sit inside all day now if I tried. I dislike jogging because it is very jarring and no better than walking. That's it - walk and eat less. Good luck!

There is much to be said for mumbo jumbo. It allows you to impress people by sitting on your ass and doing nothing for 14 years, instead of doing hard stuff like math and science - things you flunked out on in school. It lets you exploit credulous people by telling them they will not die - their "soul" or underlying conciousness will survive to live another day (presumably back on planet earth). These same people can be bambozzled into given you money and serving you, the priestly class, night and day. All in return for spouting a little mumbo jumbo. It even sells magazine articles.

All religions are rackets to enrich and empower elites, just as wars are rackets to enrich elites. Whether it is Catholics "tithing" or Buddhist monks selling candles in temples in China in return for telling fortunes, it is all the same. We are animals living on earth for no reason at all; we are just a by-product of chemical processes. We have one life, then its over. End of story. Enjoy!

"We are, profoundly, a seamless part of the natural world, and Buddhism's contributions to human happiness and ability need not invoke magical pixies or floating ghosts to explain any of it."

Well said. This letter expressed everything I would want to say about the article. If this did not deserve to be an "editor's choice", I wonder about the criteria your editor is using. Another letter writer wrote:

"When Wallace says

"[t]he human psyche is in fact emerging from an individual continuum of consciousness that is conjoined with the brain during the development of the fetus."

I have no idea what that is supposed to mean, and I doubt he does, either".

The phrase "continuum of consciousness" is meaningless mumbo jumbo designed to reassure us that there is something of us that will survive death. Science may not have all the answers, but at least it knows how to look for them without falling into delusional traps.

Sometimes the market is the most effecient way to allocate resources and sometimes it is not. Canada spends less per capita on health care and insures everyone in the country because it cuts out the kafkaesque beurocracy in our system. The scandivanian middle way - a blend of capitalism and socialism is, in my opinion the best possible form of economy.

If I were one of the passengers, I may have been thinking "nice roll, but maybe final approach is not the best time or place to practice aerobatics".

"He is basically a person without any moral compass of his own. Hence, the "carnage" in Iraq, so distressing to "normal" Americans, is not something he relates too."

This is exactly right about Bush, but the writer fails to recognize how right it is about so many Americans. There are hundreds of millions of Bushes in this country - 50 year old adolescents still trying to "find themselves". Isn't this what was so attractive to many Americans - they could sense that he was as empty, kitchy, hollow,phoney and self-deluded as they were. On the other hand, Bush may be a lot smarter than we think and this confused common man act may be just that. After all, he did suceed in exempting the rentier class from taxes and enriching his friends in the war, oil and drug businesses. How stupid is that?