Category Archives: Culture

Ted Chiang, Carl Sagan, Peter Singer

Posted on Monday 5 June 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Ten Chiang characterizes the current examples of “artificial intelligence” as “applied statistics”; How Carl Sagan was wrong about the “reptilian brain”, in The Dragons of Eden; And an interview with Peter Singer, the controversial philosopher, author of The Expanding Circle … Continue reading →

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The Holocene and Other Calendars

Posted on Sunday 4 June 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Here’s a concept I’ve heard of, fascinating and beneficial in ways, problematic in others. Wikipedia: Holocene Calendar

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Lessons in Media Literacy

Posted on Saturday 20 May 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

How stories about the border are designed to scare you, one way or the other; How right-wing sites promoted a false story about immigrants displacing veterans from New York City hotels; Heather Cox Richardson on the debt crisis and how … Continue reading →

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Skepticism, Beliefs, and Cognitive Biases

Posted on Tuesday 16 May 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Familiar topics, but worth another look, especially since if they were broadly understood it would make so many of America’s partisan controversies go away. (But conservatives will never allow concepts like skeptical thinking to be taught in schools, for precisely … Continue reading →

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Fear and Guns, Fear of Diversity, and Conservative Misogyny

Posted on Monday 15 May 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

For today, current events items about How gun buyers are motivated by fear How Republican politicians are motivated by fear of change, and fear of the other How Trump and his fans expose conservative misogyny For later, I need to … Continue reading →

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The Upside-Down World of Conservative Values

Posted on Saturday 13 May 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

They’re for discrimination against some (gays and lesbians) against discrimination against others (religious conscientious objectors) Their ideas of freedom involve the freedom to discriminate against people they don’t like (even if that infringes on *their* freedom) Their belief in capitalism … Continue reading →

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False Ideas of Human Nature

Posted on Friday 12 May 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Just one topic for today. Salon, Chauncey DeVega, 12 May 2023: It’s bigger than guns: Why the right does little to stop violence, subtitled “Conservatives have cultivated a negative and hyper-individualistic view of human nature”

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The Town Hall, and the Core Issue

Posted on Thursday 11 May 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

The political news today is about the “Town Hall” on CNN last night that gave Donald Trump a full hour to spew his usual shtick of lies and insults, before an audience of his fans, and the commentary in the … Continue reading →

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A Slow American Civil War?

Posted on Tuesday 9 May 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Items today about The debt ceiling crisis and the deficit scolds This Modern World on teacher bots and the debt ceiling, among other things How the latest mass shooting suggests an American ‘slow civil war’

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This Week’s Political and Cultural Items

Posted on Friday 5 May 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Why Republicans can no longer be called the party of “family values” How Republicans are obsessed by the woke mind virus More reasons why the US needs more immigrants, not fewer Benjamin Wallace-Wells on Tucker Carlson Jerry Coyne on another … Continue reading →