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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» Previous Views from Medina Road (2003-2013)
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Recent Posts
- This Much is Reality… and This Much is Fantasy
- The Anticipation of Unintended Consequences
- Dispatches from the Real World
- The Overton Window of Deviance
- Shocked, Just Shocked
- Continuing Our Studies of Human Nature…
- Here’s a New One: Terrain Theory
- A Little Knowledge… Is a Dangerous Thing
- Politics and Psychology
- There Is Always Long Term Progress and Short Term Retreat
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Author Archives: Mark R. Kelly
The Real Trump Mystery, and My Explanation
Thomas B. Edsall on The Real Trump Mystery, and how base human nature explains this; Fareed Zakaria on how Trump’s economic ideas would stunt growth and spur inflation; Because Trump doesn’t understand money; Short items about Roseanne Barr accusing Democrats … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Economics, Human Nature, Politics, Psychology, Religion
Comments Off on The Real Trump Mystery, and My Explanation
Reality v Tribal Solidarity
How Fox News denies reality, because that’s what their fans want to hear; NYT on Trump and the condemnations by those who’ve known him; How Trump’s promise to round up immigrants echoes what Putin is doing; Adam Lee on historical … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Tribalism
Comments Off on Reality v Tribal Solidarity
Reality v Fear
If there’s a core lesson to take away from the studies of psychological biases over the past two or three decades, it is this: our minds evolved for survival, not for accurate perception of the real world. We are primed … Continue reading
Posted in Human Nature, Human Progress, Politics, Psychology
Comments Off on Reality v Fear
Francis Collins on Facts (!)
Francis Collins on how facts don’t care how you feel; Short pieces on Trump and golf; how brain damage is linked to religious fundamentalism; how Carlson and Vance are smart guys who play dumb; about Trump’s Truth Social posts; how … Continue reading
Posted in Politics, Psychology, Religion
Comments Off on Francis Collins on Facts (!)
Utopias, Dystopias, and Tribalism
Follow-up to yesterday’s topic about utopias and dystopias, and Star Trek; How Trump and Vance have no idea about the reasons for Obamacare; Robert Reich on how Trump appeals to base hatefulness; Charles M. Blow on Trump’s bigger agenda; And … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Economics, Star Trek
Comments Off on Utopias, Dystopias, and Tribalism
Today’s New Insight
What ‘woke’ means, to different people; How the ancients overcame biases in understanding the world, in order to discover and navigate the world; How moderns have tried to overcome cognitive biases through constitutions and “political correctness” and being “woke,” and … Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy, Science, Social Progress
Comments Off on Today’s New Insight
Admitted Liars; Presumptions of the Ancients
Republicans repeatedly are admitting they lie; How Republicans voters trust Trump as a source of election information; Reading Timothy Ferris, revisiting the ancient astronomers and their presumptions about the universe — not unlike the modern discovery of psychology biases. Increasingly, … Continue reading
Posted in Astronomy, conservatives, Lunacy, Psychology, Science
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Alarmism About Culture
A disgruntled French intellectual on “deculturation” sounds a lot like MAGA; Shorter items about how a mother died due to Georgia’s abortion ban; how conservatives see everything they don’t like is a judgement from their God; how Trump supporters are … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Culture, Economics, Politics
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Stories Are Not Evidence
How the right “creates stories” to support their worldview (i.e. they’re all about motivated reasoning); Paul Krugman on Trump, tariffs, Stalin, and Lysenko; Items about DeSantis cheating and which party is the party of violence; Items about a brain fever … Continue reading
Passages from Brian Greene and Richard Dawkins
How unusual is this? An esteemed scientist, Brian Greene, with an Opinion piece in a major paper. (I just reviewed his book UNTIL THE END OF TIME ending here.) Washington Post, Brian Greene, 16 Sep 2024: Opinion | Decades later, … Continue reading
