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 (2010-2013)
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Recent Posts
- Politics as Aspects of Human Nature
- Political Retributions, and Values
- People Would Rather Believe Than Know
- Politics, Tribalism, and the Retelling of History
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- A Couple Interesting Things About Reality
- False Realities
- Political Extremes and Instability
- This Much is Reality… and This Much is Fantasy
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Meta
Category Archives: Atheism
Kalam Cosmological Argument
The Kalam Cosmological Argument is one of the traditional, philosophical, arguments for the existence of God. The idea is that everything must have a beginning; therefore the universe must have a beginning, therefore God. (Which those who use this argument … Continue reading
Posted in Atheism, Cosmology, Psychology, Science, Thinking
Comments Off on Kalam Cosmological Argument
Gopnik on legitimate forms of knowledge and increasing prosperity
In another article in the same issue of The New Yorker, Alan Gopnik reviews several books that provide both histories of atheism and apologetics of religion. What’s notable about the essay is that Gopnik doesn’t seem to have a horse … Continue reading
Religion and Science, Natural or Not
Connor Wood summarizes the thesis of Robert McCauley’s book Why Religion is Natural and Science is Not. McCauley believes that maturationally natural systems get at the core difference between science and religion – religion relies on them, while science shuns … Continue reading
Sam Harris’ Forthcoming Waking Up
Looking forward to Sam Harris’ next book, especially since I’m skeptical of what it seems to be about. http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/the-path-between-pseudo-spirituality-and-pseudo-science I am often asked what will replace organized religion. The answer, I believe, is nothing and everything. Nothing need replace its … Continue reading
Posted in Atheism, Spirituality
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Sophisticated Theology, Proofs of God, Humanism, Religious Persecution, Morality
I got the book! You know, the one with the best arguments for God Jerry Coyne lists books to read before criticizing atheism (just as theists keep issuing books about the ‘best’ arguments for god which they insists atheists must … Continue reading
S. T. Joshi Work Habits; The Only Common-Sense Position
Thinking about this topic of work habits lately, and so keyed on this passage, from this New York Times profile of S.T. Joshi, H.P. Lovecraft scholar and atheist/agnostic writer. Mr. Joshi does not teach, and he rarely lectures. For money, … Continue reading
Posted in Atheism
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Political parties, religion, and individualism
Connor Wood at Science on Religion writes about current social and political trends and where libertarians fall in the republican-democratic spectrum, and how both of those parties may be splitting into factions. Big changes are coming to politics in America. … Continue reading
A Fellow Heir of Carl Sagan
Via Friendly Atheist, this post of a Tale of a lapsed Christian who grew up in a household that mocked Carl Sagan when the first Cosmos series was aired. In my childhood home, Carl Sagan was a fundamentalist caricature of … Continue reading
Hollywood, God, Stories, and Cosmos
Lawrence Krauss, physicist and cosmologist and author of The Physics of Star Trek and A Universe from Nothing, responds in The New Yorker about Matthew McConaughey’s reference to God in his Oscar award acceptance speech. Apparently there was a Twitter … Continue reading
Coyne on Bryan’s Myth, vs Reality
Jerry Coyne discusses the Bryan College issue. Bryan College forces its faculty to swear to historical existence of Adam and Eve Coyne is not only a *real scientist* but also a guy willing to address the arguments of those with … Continue reading