Peter Biles

Writer and Editor, Center for Science & Culture

Peter Biles is a novelist, short story writer, poet, and essayist. He is the author of three books, most recently the novel Through the Eye of Old Man Kyle. His essays, stories, blogs, and op-eds have been published in places like The American Spectator, Plough, and RealClearBooks & Culture, among many others.

Archives

Is “New Media” Really the Answer?

Old and new media and the crisis of trust and expertise
Some might say we are introducing a new oral culture, where people have switched from reading words, arguments etc. to listening and watching the screen.

Are Colleges Beyond Saving?

They need to rediscover the purpose of higher education
The impact of AI and tech addiction is obvious everywhere. But is every college student falling prey to the trends?

Are We Experiencing a Universal Cognitive Decline?

People are increasingly having trouble reading, focusing, and solving complex problems.
A new study shows that people are struggling more than ever to read, concentrate, and solve problems. The research comes just a few months after Oxford’s indicative decision to make “Brain Rot” its 2024 “Word of the Year.” Common experience itself lends itself to the conclusion that we are struggling to focus, that our attention is fragmented, and that simply thinking about one issue for more than a few seconds is difficult. The Financial Times reported that intelligence and reasoning capacities have declined since the early 2010s. While the COVID-19 pandemic is commonly blamed for the plummet and is indeed responsible for much of the cognitive decline, the downward trend preceded the crisis according to the study. John Burn-Murdoch reports: Given

Ross Douthat Makes the Case that Religious Belief Is Rational

His new book is written largely with the agnostic or full-on atheist in mind but believers would certainly also benefit, as I did
He notes, if our brains evolved merely to help us stay alive, then it’s strange that those same mental states could invent the telescope to explore the cosmos.

“60 Minutes” Segment Lauds Censorship

Free speech can indeed be "weaponized," but according to the founders of the United States, it was intended to be a weapon against government overreach.
People debate whether Huxley’s Brave New World or Orwell’s 1984 gives a clearer diagnosis of the Western malaise. Fahrenheit 451 should be in the conversation.

A Novelist Posts on the Paranormal

Accounting for experiences of the supernatural
Lin notes that scientists and online outlets like Wikipedia, entrenched in a materialistic perspective, tend to simply dismiss them.

Sports Gambling: The New Addiction Storming America

Making money off your favorite team just got wildly popular. But is it healthy?
Super Bowl 2025 is less than two weeks away, with the Philadelphia Eagles finding themselves in a rematch with reigning champions, the Kansas City Chiefs. Sports engagement has ballooned over the past few years through the medium of online sports betting. Formerly illegal, sports betting has taken the U.S. by storm, with major celebrities and sports stars going on air advocating the practice. Making money off your favorite team just got wildly popular. But is it healthy? A recent article titled “I Got Divorced Because of Sports Betting” shows the dark side of the gamble. Pitched as an easy way to make money online, no one talks about the mad fury that ensues after your bet fails to deliver, your team loses, and someone else gets to take your money. The article

Douthat: Our Minds Are Tied to Reality

The New York Times columnist thinks everyone should be more religious
“The world is intelligible,” Ross Douthat said to Jonah Goldberg on “The Remnant” podcast. Douthat, an opinion columnist at The New York Times, has a new book coming out on religion and why “everyone should be more religious,” and he joined Goldberg to discuss the book along with our current political landscape. Douthat, a Catholic, referenced fine tuning and the profound evidence of intentional design in nature as one of the motivations for his own faith. He told Goldberg that it’s remarkable that we have minds that are able to accurately comprehend the world around us, let alone the chemical makeup of the universe. Our questioning natures, bent on discovering the truth of things, demonstrate that we live in something of an ordered

The Tech Giants Looming in the Background

The presence of these tech giants at Trump's inauguration signals a major "vibe shift" in the culture.
The Constitution guards against government interference in the speech of American citizens.