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: July 2024
Doing Your Own Research; Body Doubles; Intellectual Laziness
How “doing your own research” results in absurd conspiracies about Biden body doubles; Hemant Mehta tries to parse Candace Owens’ vast conspiracy theories; And how objections to the Olympics opening ceremony are all about intellectual laziness. The problem is, on … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Lunacy
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Steven Pinker: THE BLANK SLATE, post 8
This time: Gender. Are there innate differences between the sexes, or not? What does denial of the Blank Slate say about gender policies? And about rape. Earlier posts about this book: post 1, post 2, post 3, post 4, post … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, MInd, Steven Pinker
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Nostalgia, Weird Ideas, Joy vs Grimness, Prayers
Tom Nichols on how nostalgia for the past tells us lies; More on JD Vance’s tribal morality and short-term thinking; Robert Reich on Kamala’s joy and Donald’s grimness; And the meaning of why Trump rallies open with Christian prayers. —— … Continue reading
Posted in Personal history, Politics, Psychology, Religion
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Steven Pinker: THE BLANK SLATE, post 7
Today: Violence. Are humans inherently violent? Is war inevitable? Or is violence learned behavior? This chapter, of course, anticipates Pinker’s later book, THE BETTER ANGELS OF OUR NATURE, which documents how violence has *declined* throughout human history, though that’s a … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, MInd, Steven Pinker
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Today’s Post About How Politics Illustrates Human Nature, For Better or Worse, Mostly Worse
How Republicans cheer mass deportation; How JD Vance’s comments reflect conservative values that prioritize children over adults; Two pieces about how Republican values have been abandoned their traditional core values, in the service of a tyrant; Items about the deliberate … Continue reading
Posted in Human Nature, MInd, Politics
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Steven Pinker: THE BLANK SLATE, post 6
The final section of the book is about various “Hot Button” topics: politics, violence, gender, children, and the arts. These chapters show how the doctrines of the blank slate, the noble savage, and the ghost in the machine have been … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, MInd, Morality, Steven Pinker
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The Need for a Fantasy Past
There are two problems with MAGA. First, it’s regressive in that it’s trying to reimpose primitive tribal values onto a complex, global world. Second, more practically, it’s simply not possible to return to conditions of the past. Today’s items: Why … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Economics, Human Nature
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The Resurgence of Tribal Human Nature
Again, one theme of this blog is the resurgence of tribal human nature and morality, at the expense of the achievements of the Enlightenment: Science and Democracy; With examples today beginning with “childless cat ladies” from the right; How Trump … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Human Nature, Morality
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Tribal Human Nature Fights Back
Thomas L. Friedman asks Trump and Vance: What is wrong with you people? Republican attacks against Kamala Harris as being childless reveal base tribal motivations for how society ought to be run; And who’s brainwashing whom? Do children ‘belong’ to … Continue reading
Posted in Human Nature, Politics, Religion
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Steven Pinker: THE BLANK SLATE, post 5
After being distracted by Texas affairs, politics, Riven, and reading Brian Greene and others, let’s get back to this book and try to finish summarizing it and capturing key points. This and one more post. Earlier posts about this book: … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, MInd, Morality, Science, Steven Pinker
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