Author Archives: Mark R. Kelly

A History of Progress and Backlash

Posted on Friday 29 March 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Two items about Fareed Zakaria and his new book; Robert Reich on Roger Ailes; How “DEI” is now substituting for the N-word. * There’s a new book out this week by Fareed Zakaria, whose 2020 book, Ten Lessons for a … Continue reading →

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Case Study of the Psychology of Conspiracy Theorists?

Posted on Thursday 28 March 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

First, a quote about progressives and conservatives, the future and the past; Then more about the conspiracy thinking about the Baltimore bridge collapse, with examples from PolitiFact, CNN, and CFI (Center for Inquiry); And how the construction workers who fell … Continue reading →

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Perspectives from Reality and Fantasy

Posted on Wednesday 27 March 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

How the first scene in Netflix’s “3 Body Problem” is seen differently by conservatives and progressives; Daniel Kahneman, RIP, who realized that people are not rational; More right-wing conspiracy theories about the Baltimore bridge collapse; And items about an earthquake, … Continue reading →

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Necessary Stories, and Most of the Others

Posted on Tuesday 26 March 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

About this morning’s Baltimore bridge collapse, and the right-wing conspiracy-theory accusations about it; Paul Krugman on how Republicans want to bring down Obamacare to support their notion that the government can never do good things; And a Doonesbury cartoon about … Continue reading →

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Oliver Sacks, THE MAN WHO MISTOOK HIS WIFE FOR A HAT

Posted on Tuesday 26 March 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Like the Pinker and Wilson volumes I’ve covered here recently, this is another classic nonfiction book, one I first read years ago without taking notes (maybe before I began taking notes on my reading). So I skimmed through it again … Continue reading →

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How Humans Live by Stories, and Myths

Posted on Monday 25 March 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

A NYT essay that wonders if, given how political persuasions are aligned with community, we actually ever think for ourselves; An example from the fringe about a Republican who wants to outlaw “chemtrails”; A review of a book about the … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, History, Narrative, Psychology | Comments Off on How Humans Live by Stories, and Myths

An Anthropologist from Mars Considers the Evidence

Posted on Saturday 23 March 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

What would a hypothetical anthropologist from another planet conclude about humanity from these several items today? Charlie Kirk insists Christians must vote Republican; a former ESPN anchor thinks Satan knocked out her teeth; Charlie Kirk thinks Haiti is infested with … Continue reading →

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Putting Things Into Perspective: Science, Expertise, Liberalism

Posted on Friday 22 March 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Items today are follow-ups to items from the past couple days, it turns out. Ethan Siegel at Big Think puts that dark matter claim into the perspective of how science works; Tom Nichols’ update of The Death of Expertise aligns … Continue reading →

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Exceptionalism, and Science Fiction

Posted on Thursday 21 March 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

A screed by Brian Karem at Salon about how “America has lost its collective mind”; How ideas of American exceptionalism have been reflected in 20th century science fiction; Examples about “don’t say gay” laws; Trump’s fascist rhetoric; Trump’s dementia; how … Continue reading →

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That Potential Revolutionary Scientific Reinterpretation? Never Mind.

Posted on Wednesday 20 March 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

That Potential Revolutionary Scientific Reinterpretation I posted about four days ago does not seem to have played out (but that’s how science works); A nice summary of the top five astronomical discoveries of all time (so far); And a dicier … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Science | Comments Off on That Potential Revolutionary Scientific Reinterpretation? Never Mind.