Mark R. Kelly
» Founder in 1997 and site-runner for 20 years of Locus Online (Hugo Award winner in 2002). Founder in 2012 and still site-runner of sfadb.com (Science Fiction Awards Database). Retired in 2012 after 30 years as a software engineer for a certain rocket engine factory.
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Monthly Archives: September 2020
Notes for the Book: Magical Thinking, Cognitive Dissonance, Group-Thinking
Extending thoughts from previous posts about the future of enlightenment and similar matters. About group-thinking and how people get along in their lives just fine without understanding how the world actually works (as well-established by physics, chemistry, biology including evolution, … Continue reading
Posted in Evolution, Psychology, Religion, The Book
Comments Off on Notes for the Book: Magical Thinking, Cognitive Dissonance, Group-Thinking
Links and Comments: America’s Reputation; Facebook; Cognitive Dissonance
NY Times, 25 Sept.: I Feel Sorry for Americans’: A Baffled World Watches the U.S.. Subtitle: “From Myanmar to Canada, people are asking: How did a superpower allow itself to be felled by a virus? And why won’t the president … Continue reading
Posted in Politics, Psychology, Technology
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Links and Comments: Trump’s would-be theocratic regime; the perfidy of Fox News
How is it Republicans and Christians see no problem with this? Patheos.com: Leading SCOTUS Candidate Amy Coney Barrett Claims Bible Precedes Constitution. [Later edit: well of course the Bible literally precedes the Constitution in the sense that it came first, … Continue reading
Lots of Links, Two Lists, and a Few Comments: Republican Delusion and Denial
Sean McElwee at Rolling Stone, Six Studies That Show Everything Republicans Believe is Wrong Subtitle: “It’s time for the right wing to stop lying about the minimum wage, taxes, global warming and more” The great 20th-century economist John Maynard Keynes … Continue reading
Posted in Politics
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Links and Comments: Speaking Fox; Ideology and Lies; Fear and Paranoia
It’s difficult to get away from the current crisis, and threat. The Atlantic, Megan Garber: Do You Speak Fox?. Subtitle: How Donald Trump’s favorite news source became a language Political theorists, over the years, have looked for metaphors to describe … Continue reading
Posted in Politics, Psychology
Comments Off on Links and Comments: Speaking Fox; Ideology and Lies; Fear and Paranoia
How These Projects Are Proceeding; Status; Word Counts
Projects. I’ve just edited this to change two targets end-dates from 2019 to 2020. It would be fair to imagine that I’ve gotten more done this year on my various projects than I otherwise would due to the pandemic and … Continue reading
Posted in Personal history
Comments Off on How These Projects Are Proceeding; Status; Word Counts
Notes for the Book: Deutsch on Reality
I’m still, intermittently, reading my way through David Deutsch’s The Fabric of Reality, and today came across these passages, that echo and underscore my thoughts in Notes for the Book: Hierarchy of Knowledge and Human Affairs. I said in that … Continue reading
Links and Comments: A Proposition; Why So Many Still Support Trump
Decades ago, from reading reviews of books and movies I had read and seen, I formulated a proposition that runs something like this: There is no work of art (book, film, painting, song) so universally admired that someone, somewhere, will … Continue reading
Link and Comment: Profile of an Anti-Vaxxer
This one deserves a post of its own. Today in Salon, a profile of a hypothetical anti-vaxxer couple, Jim and Jenny. Inside the mind of an anti-vax parent. Subtitle: A researcher who studies the anti-vaccination movement digs into the psychological … Continue reading
Links and Comments: US rank in social progress; How to debate a flat earther
Are there any recent links that aren’t about Trump, or the Republicans? Well here’s one about American society in general. USA is Number One? NYT, Nicholas Kristoff: ‘We’re No. 28! And Dropping!’. Subtitle: A measure of social progress finds that … Continue reading
