Monthly Archives: November 2021

Links & Comments: More on Foundation and Dune

Posted on Friday 12 November 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

I still have not seen the Dune movie, nor any Foundation episode past the 2nd. Still, articles and reviews about them illustrate some basic principles about science fiction, and about dramatic adaptations of science fiction, and I’ll post a few … Continue reading →

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Ls&Cs: Interviews and Excerpts: Pinker, Harari, Graeber & Wengrow

Posted on Thursday 11 November 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Michael Shermer interviews Steven Pinker about Rationality; NYT interviews Yuval Noah Harari about the simple story that can save the planet; and an excerpt from Graeber & Wengrow’s The Dawn of Everything.

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Ls&Cs: Infrastructure; Insurrection; Safety; Radicals; Birthdays

Posted on Wednesday 10 November 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

When voting for infrastructure means betraying your country; how dying from Covid is sacrifice in the war against Joe Biden; when safety measures give false confidence; how QAnon and Pakistani radicals are similar; when birthdays were not a thing.

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Ls&Cs: Religion vs Science; Freedom; Feudalism

Posted on Tuesday 9 November 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Plain speaking about the obvious conflict between science and religion; about the idea of freedom without responsibility; about the odd attraction of feudalism in fantasy and science fiction.

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Ls&Cs: Hillary; Money; Rural America; the Economy; Populism

Posted on Monday 8 November 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Today I had a dentist appointment; I compiled Weekly Bestsellers for Locus Online; I updated sfadb.com with the World Fantasy Award winners. After lunch: my thrice-weekly cardiac therapy. Then: read another chapter of Pinker; and now compiling links collected this … Continue reading →

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L&Cs: Jill Lepore on Muskism and Science Fiction

Posted on Sunday 7 November 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Just one item today, after a long afternoon with a screaming baby.

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H.G. Wells, THE WAR OF THE WORLDS (1897)

Posted on Saturday 6 November 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by intelligences greater than man’s and yet as mortal as his own; that as men busied themselves about … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, science fiction | Comments Off on H.G. Wells, THE WAR OF THE WORLDS (1897)

Sam Harris, LYING (2013)

Posted on Friday 5 November 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Summary and comments about this 2011 essay and 2013 book. With an aside about my belief in Santa Claus.

Posted in Book Notes, Evolution, Philosophy | Comments Off on Sam Harris, LYING (2013)

Ls&Cs: Imaginary Crises, Race-Baiting, Anti-Civility, CNN’s crisis reporting; and ‘When do we get to use those guns?’

Posted on Thursday 4 November 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

One more round of Links and Comments for today, then promise will do some different kinds of posts for a while.

Posted in Politics, Psychology | Comments Off on Ls&Cs: Imaginary Crises, Race-Baiting, Anti-Civility, CNN’s crisis reporting; and ‘When do we get to use those guns?’

Ls&Cs: The Irrationality of Politics

Posted on Wednesday 3 November 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

The results of yesterday’s elections demonstrate several truisms about politics. My favorite take about the current elections is this: Slate, Ben Mathis-Lilley, 3 Nov 21: American Politics Are Controlled by Voters With the Memory of a Golden Retriever

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