Category Archives: Culture

EO Wilson, CONSILIENCE, 7

Posted on Thursday 14 March 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Chapter 8, The Fitness of Human Nature This is perhaps the core chapter of the book, in that it brings together ideas about the mind, genes, and culture from the previous two chapters, and sets up a basis for the … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Culture, Human Progress, MInd, Science, science fiction | Comments Off on EO Wilson, CONSILIENCE, 7

More Dispatches from Alternative Realities

Posted on Wednesday 13 March 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

How Katie Britt, like other clueless Republicans, claims victimhood, and pleads for cash; Robert Wright on how the Trump-Biden choice won’t solve anything; Short items about Trump’s obsession with Hitler; how violent crime is down but you wouldn’t know it … Continue reading →

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Alternative Realities? Or The Twilight Zone?

Posted on Tuesday 12 March 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Political links as views into an alternative reality, or perhaps the Twilight Zone; Michelle Goldberg about Mark Robinson; Peter Wehner about how Christians support a morally depraved ex-president; hypocrisy in Alabama; two pieces about Christian nationalist Matt Schaefer; Short items … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Culture, Politics, Religion | Comments Off on Alternative Realities? Or The Twilight Zone?

Two Perspectives on the Current Situation

Posted on Sunday 3 March 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

The Atlantic‘s Peter Wehner on how evangelicals don’t actually follow Jesus’ teachings; With an aside about my own attempts to cross the political divide; Robert Reich on his history with the New Left and how Trump arose out of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Politics | Comments Off on Two Perspectives on the Current Situation

The Flaw of Math, or Perhaps Just the Limits of Human Cognition

Posted on Saturday 2 March 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Veritasium on math’s fatal flaw, or perhaps just a limitation on the extent humans can understand reality; Considering why cars are built to be able to break the law; A cartoon about religious folks who believe the Bible was written … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Culture, Mathematics, Religion, Technology | Comments Off on The Flaw of Math, or Perhaps Just the Limits of Human Cognition

Agents of Chaos

Posted on Saturday 24 February 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

A piece in The Atlantic about people who embrace chaos and nihilism — and spread conspiracy theories just to alleviate boredom, or burn it all down; And an example of this: Washington Post on Libs of Tik Tok; And recalling … Continue reading →

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Living Proper Lives, and More from the Fringe

Posted on Saturday 10 February 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

David Brooks on the value of humanist studies; Shorter pieces on the psychology behind Trump; how evangelicals respond to the rise of the “nones”; measle rates rising in Europe; a David Barton case study; Fox News praising a vigilante who … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Spirituality | Comments Off on Living Proper Lives, and More from the Fringe

Odds and Ends…

Posted on Saturday 27 January 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

How journalism may never again make money; Keeping lists of books you’re read; Decoding the Mandelbrot set. More links collected the past week or so, today non-political ones. Washington Post, Perry Bacon Jr., 27 Jan 2024: Opinion | Journalism may … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Economics, Mathematics | Comments Off on Odds and Ends…

40,000 Stars in the Evening

Posted on Thursday 18 January 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

An article about what “fandom” means today, and my brief reflections on science fiction fandom; Fringe items about blaming the devil, why only Christians should hold political offices, book banning, what Trump’s “best people” have said about him, and an … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Music, Politics | Comments Off on 40,000 Stars in the Evening

Philosophy of Government, and other matters

Posted on Monday 8 January 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

How that DeSantis/Newsom debate revealed “the space between red and blue states”; Short items about folding paper to reach the Moon (the answer is 42), and Christian ideas about good and evil, beating up gay children, and Trump as God’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Politics, Religion, Science | Comments Off on Philosophy of Government, and other matters