Category Archives: Culture

The Need to Feel Special

Posted on Wednesday 9 April 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

The scientific kerfuffle of the past couple days has been about a documentary supporting geocentrism (as if the creationists are not crazy enough), the idea that the Earth is the center of the universe, immovable, and that the sun and … Continue reading →

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Creation Myths

Posted on Thursday 3 April 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

The TV series Cosmos has gotten some flack from Christian conservatives who think their creationist ideas are being dissed. In a science show! This article at AlterNet details the many creation myths that Cosmos is not covering. The critics complaining … Continue reading →

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A Telescope Is a Time Machine

Posted on Thursday 3 April 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

I like to think that the vast mysteries of the cosmos flabbergast (or offend) so many people just because they have never thought about anything outside the parameters of their own experience, or at best, beyond the scope of the … Continue reading →

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Gopnik on legitimate forms of knowledge and increasing prosperity

Posted on Wednesday 2 April 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

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 →

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deGrasse Tyson on new ideas vs old, and battles against ignorance

Posted on Wednesday 2 April 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Catching up on back issues of magazines, I came across this long profile of Neil deGrasse Tyson in the The New Yorker, by Rebecca Mead. A couple passages struck me. First, he’s chatting with a makeup artist who brings up … Continue reading →

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Noah and the Advance of Civilization

Posted on Tuesday 1 April 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

I haven’t seen Noah and am not particularly inclined to, but I was struck by an essay by David Plotz in Slate, Noah’s Environmental Views Are a Disaster. In the film’s worldview, according to Plotz, the corruption mankind brings across … Continue reading →

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The Greatest Generation

Posted on Saturday 29 March 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

In contrast to the standard cynicism about life “these days” or the future of America, there are a few with perspective on history (cf. Steven Pinker’s latest book) who take a more informed view. Here’s an unusually optimistic commentary by … Continue reading →

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Sophisticated Theology, Proofs of God, Humanism, Religious Persecution, Morality

Posted on Thursday 20 March 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

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 →

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Same-sex marriage, Context, and the Pursuit of Happiness

Posted on Tuesday 18 March 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Some comments tonight about gay marriage, prompted, as most of my posts are, by online articles and debates. For the past couple of weeks there have been back and forth articles on Slate, The Atlantic, and the New York Times, … Continue reading →

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Evolutionary Politics

Posted on Monday 17 March 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Fascinating. Via Andrew Sullivan’s summary at Political Biology Chris Mooney looks at a book by Avi Tuschman about evolutionary accounts of politics— Conservatives, he suggests in one of three interrelated evolutionary accounts of the origins of politics, are a modern … Continue reading →

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