Mailbag:

One listener writes “Military conscription has been shown to build a shared national identity, boost loyalty to the polity, and instill patriotism… But here’s the tradeoff: Men from conscripted generations show less trust in democratic institutions than those exempted from the draft…[and] weakens the relationship between the citizen and the state. Hard to say really - I think with the poor state of patriotism and shared national identity we experience in the US today it could be beneficial.”

Another listener says “I think Shawn's feelings of mistrust for professors are becoming more common in America. The Chinese Cultural Revolution also involved persecution of formally educated people. In what ways are our modern anti-academic attitudes the same as and different from the anti-academic ideas of early Chinese communist revolutionaries? Why do you think anti-academic feelings are on the rise?”

The Thought Provoker:

Shawn is first this week.

| Archaeologists using LIDAR have discovered a constellation of ancient Amazonian structures in what is now modern-day Ecuador, according to new research published yesterday. Flourishing for roughly 1,000 years about two millennia ago, the settlements are believed to have been populated by 30,000 residents at their peak—roughly equal to London under the Roman Empire at the same time. The find follows a number of similar discoveries in recent years, including a sprawling urban network in the Bolivian Amazon two years ago.

Also, growing in popularity are social media accounts like scripture plus for example that focus on promoting scripture through evidential and defensible means such as proof of cities in South America to build faith in the Book of Mormon.  Do these discoveries and approaches grow peoples faith in God or distract from what is supposed to be a personal and spiritual process?

Next up Matt, “A recent study looks at how rapid demographic change is expected to transform the supply of kin worldwide. They project that project that great-grandparents will be more common in the future, but they may be too old and frail to provide support. Individuals in the future will face increasing demands for informal care from kin worldwide. Our findings support the calls for more investment in childcare and old-age care to alleviate the burden of individuals aging with fewer kinship resources to rely on. In the church we talk about how people who need help should first turn to their family, then to the church, then to government. As the makeup of families changes in the future, should we re-think societal obligations to support people in need? As people have fewer family members who are able to help take care of them, should the community play a larger role?”

Finally, Sam. Why does Matt hate Big Pharma?