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: November 2023
Jonathan Rauch, THE CONSTITUTION OF KNOWLEDGE, part 2
Yesterday I gave a general overview of this book, and made a few specific comments. Today I’m going to read through my notes again, and highlight some more specific comments, and maybe quotes. Like this summary, at the end. The … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, conservatives, Epistemology
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Jonathan Rauch, THE CONSTITUTION OF KNOWLEDGE, part 1
Subtitled: “A Defense of Truth”. Brookings, 2021. 266pp of text, plus notes and index, total 305pp. This is one of two books I’ve read recently, following the Lee McIntyre book that I posted about two days ago, that dovetail in … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, conservatives, Epistemology
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Do These People Ever Go Outside and Look Around?
Paul Krugman asks why the Right hates America; Like Mike Johnson, Rick Santorum is skeptical of democracy (when results don’t go his way); Adam Lee on the allure of tribalism. Paul Krugman responds to the Damon Linker piece that I … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Epistemology, Morality, Politics, Psychology
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The Extent of the Universe, and Our History of Understanding It
NY Times with a photo spread of images from the James Webb telescope; Big Think with a timeline of our history of understanding our universe. —— NY Times, Kate LaRue, 5 Nov 2023: The James Webb telescope is a giant … Continue reading
Lee McIntyre, ON DISINFORMATION
Subtitled: “How to Fight For Truth and Protect Democracy.” The MIT Press, 2023. I’m behind on writing up my recent reading here on this blog, so let me resume with this very short little book, small in size and just … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Epistemology, Politics, Psychology
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Conservative Epistemology
The core belief that explains extremism on the right; Peter Wehner on how Republicans have chosen nihilism; My wondering what the deep explanation is for what’s happened on the right; Short items about GOP tax cheats, Trump’s latest outrageous lies, … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Epistemology, Philosophy
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More About Fake History
Let’s follow up on yesterday’s post here, with a couple more items on the same general topic. Mike Lofgren at Salon about the history of right-wing fake history; Texas Tribune about David Barton; And closing comments about theme parks and … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, History
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The “Intellectual” Christian Nationalists
(Finishing on Sunday a post I began yesterday, Saturday, and am posted in that slot.) Here’s a longish essay by Damon Linker about conservative “intellectuals” who are trying to justify the takeover of America by Christian Nationalism. On what grounds, … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Politics
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Media, Mystics, and Two Key Republican Obsessions
Two curious items from Facebook, about learning new media, and scientists as “mystics”; Three items, one by Paul Krugman, about the Republicans’ naked obsession with benefiting the ultra-wealthy; Three items, or maybe four, about Republican obsession with other people’s sex … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Politics, Psychology, Religion, Science
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How Psychology Trumps Everything
The hierarchy of sciences in which, in terms of human beliefs about the real world, psychology trumps everything; The New Yorker on the plausibility of impossible beings (from 2017); Recalling that Venn Diagram of Irrational Nonsense; How “more than half … Continue reading
Posted in Politics, Psychology, Science
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