Monthly Archives: June 2020

About Motivated Reasoning

Posted on Saturday 27 June 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

(rev. 8jul20) This isn’t so much a Notes for the Book post, as a refinement of a portion of my Principles page, which compiles what I think are crucial guidelines for understanding the world, in particular how to evaluate claims … Continue reading →

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Frederik Pohl, THE GOLD AT THE STARBOW’S END (1972)

Posted on Saturday 27 June 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

This is a nice companion book to Pohl’s novel GATEWAY, because one of the five stories here is a prelude that novel. That story and three of the others were all published in various magazines in 1972; the fifth was … Continue reading →

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Notes for the Book: Hierarchy of Morality

Posted on Friday 26 June 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

This one isn’t mine; this is Lawrence Kohlberg’s stages of moral development, which I first became aware of in Steven Pinker’s The Better Angels of Our Nature (2011), page 624, and later recalled when I reread E.O. Wilson’s foundational On … Continue reading →

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Frederik Pohl: GATEWAY (1977)

Posted on Tuesday 23 June 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

[expanded 24jun20 5pm] I need to catch up on book notes. I’m not a fast reader, and am busy with other things throughout the week, reading perhaps 3 hours a day at best, but still get through about 2 books … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Visual Illusions and Perception of Reality; Trumpian Gnostic Madness

Posted on Tuesday 23 June 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

Vox: Brian Resnick: “Reality” is constructed by your brain. Here’s what that means, and why it matters. Subtitled, What the science of visual illusions can teach us about our polarized world. A long, thorough survey of various topics on one … Continue reading →

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Comments and Quotes: Good People vs. Mob-Hysteria

Posted on Tuesday 23 June 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

Here’s a curious convergence of ideas — a coincidence. A few days ago I made the comment that individuals don’t think clearly in crowds; crowds can be become mobs, and even peaceful gatherings can lead to group-think in which individuals … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Nature and Human Brains; Science Fiction and Mental Resiliency

Posted on Friday 19 June 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

Scientific American, Caleb A. Scharf: A Failure of Imagination, subtitled, “Nature does not have to play fair with our puny human brains.” A favorite theme of mine: how there’s more to the universe than humans are aware of; how there … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Jonathan Haidt; Religious presumption; Hanlon’s razor; H.L. Mencken; Mark Lilla on prophecy

Posted on Wednesday 17 June 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

The Atlantic: Jonathan Haidt Is Trying to Heal America’s Divisions: The psychologist shares his thoughts on the pandemic, polarization, and politics. Great profile, though long, of Jonathan Haidt, author of one of the best books I’ve ever read, The Righteous … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Religion | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Jonathan Haidt; Religious presumption; Hanlon’s razor; H.L. Mencken; Mark Lilla on prophecy

Rutger Bregman’s Ten Rules to Live By

Posted on Monday 15 June 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

I do love lists, especially of principles, and a new one comes with a book called HUMANKIND: A HOPEFUL HISTORY, by Rutger Bregman, whose previous book was the provocative UTOPIA FOR REALISTS (which discussed, among other things, the idea of … Continue reading →

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Notes for the Book: Hierarchy of Attitudes about Gender and Sex

Posted on Thursday 4 June 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

I’m rethinking a lot of matters, about epistemology, about culture and politics, as ranges of attitudes, from the intuitive and simplistic, to the informed and complex. Are some of these spectra, rather than hierarchies? A hierarchy implies that the top … Continue reading →

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