Author Archives: Toban Wiebe

About Toban Wiebe

I’m an undergrad student ultimately aiming for an economics PhD. In a nutshell, I’m an atheist, market anarchist, and paleo health enthusiast. In other words, I reject God, Government, and Grain.

Who says the whole world can’t eat paleo?

Posted on December 1, 2011 by Toban Wiebe

A lot of people try to argue against paleo nutrition by arguing that the whole world couldn’t eat paleo. First of all, this isn’t even a coherent argument—it’s a fallacy of composition: “paleo isn’t be feasible for everybody, therefore it’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Health | 2 Comments

How can one be good WITH God?

Posted on November 17, 2011 by Toban Wiebe

The theist charge that atheists can’t have morality without a sky god is pretty laughable. But the error in the argument goes so deep that the argument is actually much more devastating when applied to theistic morality: how can a … Continue reading →

Posted in Atheism | 6 Comments

Money buys happiness

Posted on May 28, 2011 by Toban Wiebe

It’s commonly believed that money doesn’t buy happiness. Sure, we’re happier for a while after a new purchase, but it wears off. We re-normalize back to our baseline level of happiness. While this is probably not true (richer countries are … Continue reading →

Posted in Libertarian, Psychology | Leave a comment

Grandparenting behavior as evidence for long-lived paleolithic ancestors

Posted on May 22, 2011 by Toban Wiebe

The most common objection to the logic of evolutionary health is that paleolithic humans had short lifespans, presumably because they were in poor health.  This fallacy has been demolished many times over, but I have another argument to add to the pile. The … Continue reading →

Posted in Health, Psychology | 1 Comment

Statheism

Posted on April 26, 2011 by Toban Wiebe

Statheists—statist atheists—claim to fly the banner of reason, but don’t realize that statism is in many ways similar to belief in a supernatural being. Continue reading →

Posted in Atheism, Libertarian | 5 Comments

Paleo Parenting

Posted on December 19, 2010 by Toban Wiebe

I couldn’t find much on this topic in the paleosphere, so here’s an initial attempt at a paleo approach to parenting. I’m not a parent, but I think the basic ideas are simple enough. The leading candidate for a primal … Continue reading →

Posted in Health, Lifehacks, Psychology | 6 Comments

Gluttony & Sloth: Causes or Effects of Obesity?

Posted on December 17, 2010 by Toban Wiebe

One of the main, take home messages in Gary Taubes’s book, Good Calories, Bad Calories, is that overeating and inactivity—gluttony and sloth—are not the causes of obesity as commonly supposed. Rather, they are the effects of hormone-driven fat accumulation. In … Continue reading →

Posted in Health | 2 Comments

The Myth of Overeating

Posted on October 31, 2010 by Toban Wiebe

One of the many invaluable lessons in Taubes’s Good Calories, Bad Calories is that overeating is a myth. This makes a lot of sense. Suppose you “overeat”. Then, you won’t be as hungry at the next meal, so you’ll “undereat”, … Continue reading →

Posted in Health | 6 Comments

Why has religion been so successful?

Posted on September 4, 2010 by Toban Wiebe

Effectively all large societies have been religious. But religions haven’t been successful because they’re true: practically all religions are mutually contradictory, so there must be another reason to explain their success. One very good reason—probably the most fundamental one—is that … Continue reading →

Posted in Atheism | 5 Comments

Evolutionary Health vs State-Sponsored Science

Posted on June 12, 2010 by Toban Wiebe

Proponents of evolutionary health are in a frustrating position. On one hand, our position follows directly from evolutionary theory (one of the most well established scientific facts around). On the other hand, our position stands in direct contradiction to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Health | 2 Comments

The Paleo-Libertarian Connection on LRC

Posted on June 9, 2010 by Toban Wiebe

My article, The Paleo-Libertarian Connection, was published today on LewRockwell.com. Here’s a quick overview: I show that the paleo community is strongly libertarian, and why it is. Then I discuss the parallels between the ideologies. I end by making the … Continue reading →

Posted in Health, Libertarian | 6 Comments

Religion: a virus of the mind

Posted on May 20, 2010 by Toban Wiebe

There is a striking parallel between belief in a personal god and belief in Santa. As Richard Dawkins argues, these beliefs (or memes) are viruses of the mind. The two beliefs are of the same type, differing only in particulars: … Continue reading →

Posted in Atheism | 19 Comments

Evolutionary Psychology vs The Blank Slate

Posted on May 6, 2010 by Toban Wiebe

I just finished reading Steven Pinker’s book, The Blank Slate. I must say that I underestimated it, despite having high expectations. Pinker draws from an impressive range of disciplines, drawing many important insights. Pinker invokes evolutionary psychology and the other … Continue reading →

Posted in Other Mass Delusions, Philosophy, Psychology | Leave a comment

Stand up desk and other ergonomics hacks

Posted on April 25, 2010 by Toban Wiebe

I bought a stand up desk a half year ago for ergonomics. I was fed up with sitting (for many of the reasons that Mark Sisson recently wrote about) so I hired a handyman (through the online classifieds) to build me … Continue reading →

Posted in Health, Lifehacks | 4 Comments

Cognitive Dissonance: Why Mass Delusions Persist

Posted on February 8, 2010 by Toban Wiebe

Cognitive dissonance theory explains how people come to justify foolish beliefs, and offers insight into how we can overcome our biases. Continue reading →

Posted in Psychology | 33 Comments