Monthly Archives: March 2017

Links and Comments: Political bubbles; Group knowledge; Randall reviews Rovelli

Posted on Monday 6 March 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

Interesting pieces from Sunday’s New York Times Front page article: How to Escape Your Political Bubble for a Clearer View. About how to overcome the built-in biases in Facebook and other social media to feed you only what you want … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, MInd, Physics | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Political bubbles; Group knowledge; Randall reviews Rovelli

More on the Enlightenment and Its Critics

Posted on Saturday 4 March 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

An essay by Damon Linker at The Week. (I’ve seen Linker’s work on various website for years; he’s an interesting commentator, though one perhaps without any consistent philosophy; he seems to enjoy playing the contrarian role.) The Enlightenment’s legacy is … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy, Science, science fiction | Comments Off on More on the Enlightenment and Its Critics

Fake News, Alternative Facts, and Fundamentalist Christianity

Posted on Friday 3 March 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

Some ten weeks ago, and about a month after the election, I made the observation (in this post) that many, perhaps most people live in a kind of “post-fact” or “alternative fact” (that term came later) reality, by virtue of … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Politics | Comments Off on Fake News, Alternative Facts, and Fundamentalist Christianity

Big History

Posted on Friday 3 March 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

I’ve just recently become aware of the concept, and term, “Big History”. It happened when I saw a coffee table book, shown here, at Barnes & Noble a couple weeks ago, and glanced through it, noticing two names I recognized: … Continue reading →

Posted in Cosmology, Evolution, Human Progress | Comments Off on Big History

Elizabeth Kolbert on books about the limitations of human reason

Posted on Thursday 2 March 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

In last week’s New Yorker, Elizabeth Kolbert (author of foundational, Pulitzer Prize-winning nonfiction The Sixth Extinction; my review) reviews three books about the limitations of human reason. Why Facts Don’t Change Our Minds The review/essay describes various psychological experiments — … Continue reading →

Posted in MInd | Comments Off on Elizabeth Kolbert on books about the limitations of human reason

The Enlightenment and This Moment in American Culture

Posted on Wednesday 1 March 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

From Washington Post, a week or so ago: Harvard scientist worries we’re ‘reverting to a pre-Enlightenment form of thinking’ Prompted by how some presidents — Bush 43, and now Trump — are actively pushing back against scientific findings and research. … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Culture, Human Progress | Comments Off on The Enlightenment and This Moment in American Culture