(1) Approximately how old are you? Pushing 40 so hard I'm almost pulling it.

(2) Are you a man or woman? The former.

(3) What country and region of that country were you born in? Hollywood, USA.

(4) Where do you live now--you can be as general as you want. Brooklyn, New York.

(5) Tell us why you picked "Thrasymachus" as a posting name. To be provocative.

(6) What languages do you speak? English, plus a smattering of Italian and French

(7) What general area of business do you work in? I'm an attorney.

(8) What are you good at? What are you bad at? I'm good at writing, I think. . . although I feel like I've been slipping in that department lately. I'm also good at reasoning (and/or intuiting) my way through tough issues. I'm correspondingly bad at self-discipline.

(9) What are your hobbies? If money weren't a limiting factor what would they be? If there were no limit what would they be? I don't have hobbies, so much as projects and areas of interest. I'm interested in the history of science, cosmology, and cosmogony at the moment, so I'm kind of idly working on designing a pop-up book on the subject. I'm also interested in a constellation of topics associated with memetics. If money weren't a limiting factor, I'd be taking courses in everything from computer science to macroeconomics to graphic design.

(10) How do you feel about "spirituality"? What does it do for you, if anything? I'm not at all sure of how I feel about human spirituality as a social phenomenon . . .and I suspect the word itself can mean very different things to different people. In my own mind, "spirituality" describes the instinctive feeling of engagement and concern that I have had, since childhood, about matters relating to "the divine." That sense of engagement is what drove me away from organized religion, but it is also what made me study theology and cosmology and philosophy in the hope of finding a new understanding of God, one that I could believe in and respect. I've made some progress in that direction, I think. . . but I'm still not sure if I believe my own philosophy or not.

Do you think more and more North Americans and Europeans are circling back to a Greek view of spirituality? Are we all becoming Epicureans? If Greek spirituality is defined as Epicurean spirituality, then. . . yes, sort of. There's a reasonable case to be made that Europeans are increasingly motivated by an Epicurean vision of the "good life," given their increasing lack of belief in an afterlife, and their support for government policies (and tax structures) that place an Epicurean emphasis on limiting excess (especially excess wealth), promoting widespread "ease of living" and reducing, as much as possible, all forms of suffering and fear afflicting the general populace.

Americans, on the other hand, are coming around to the Epicurean point of view with glacial slowness. . . if they're coming at all. Point for point, there are strong cultural currents in American life that are diametrically opposed to every major tenet of the Epicurean philosophy. The stubborn, intense religiosity of many Americans directly opposes the Epicurean view that there is no afterlife; and indirectly opposes the Epicurean view that prioritizes, in various ways, peace and enjoyment in this world. The American love -nay, worship- of excess stands in opposition to the Epicurean ethic of moderation; and the American myth of "rugged individualism" cuts against policies designed to create safety nets against widespread social fear and suffering.