Category Archives: Evolution

10 Provisional Conclusions about Life, the Universe, and Everything, subject, of course, to revision based on evidence

Posted on Sunday 25 January 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Inspired by my post last night about A Secular Ten Non-Commandments, and the book’s invitation to generate one’s own set of beliefs, I sat down today to write out my own response… not of *commandments* (who am I, or anyone, … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Evolution, Humanism, Morality, Philosophy, Religion, Science, Ten Commandments | Comments Off on 10 Provisional Conclusions about Life, the Universe, and Everything, subject, of course, to revision based on evidence

Narrative as Reality; or, Reality as Narrative

Posted on Wednesday 21 January 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

For tonight, Paul Krugman’s NYT column from a couple days ago: Hating Good Government Evidence doesn’t matter for the “debate” over climate policy, where I put scare quotes around “debate” because, given the obvious irrelevance of logic and evidence, it’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Cosmology, Culture, Evolution, Philosophy, Religion, Thinking | Comments Off on Narrative as Reality; or, Reality as Narrative

Sean Carroll on the afterlife, life, death, happiness, and our place in the universe

Posted on Thursday 15 January 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Today chanced upon this video speech by physicist Sean Carroll, on his blog, upon his winning an Emperor Has No Clothes Award, from the Freedom From Religion Foundation — won previously by everyone from Ursula K. Le Guin to Dan … Continue reading →

Posted in Cosmology, Evolution, Philosophy, Physics, Religion | Comments Off on Sean Carroll on the afterlife, life, death, happiness, and our place in the universe

Religious Evolution and Obsolescence

Posted on Friday 9 January 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

I’ve mentioned before that there is an evolution of policy stances by conservative and Republican politicians, because the environment — the American public — has shifted its majority opinion on issues such as gay rights and even same-sex marriage. Thus, … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Evolution, Lunacy, Religion | Comments Off on Religious Evolution and Obsolescence

Links and Comments: Good News about the state of the world; cultural concepts; science; religion and fantasy

Posted on Monday 5 January 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Catching up on links and comments from the past three weeks or so, given the holiday lapse. * First some Good News: Slate: Steven Pinker and Andrew Mack: The World Is Not Falling Apart In the world is getting more … Continue reading →

Posted in Atheism, Cosmology, Culture, Evolution, Lunacy, Religion | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Good News about the state of the world; cultural concepts; science; religion and fantasy

Links and Comments: Gay Marriage; Evangelical Doomsday; Natural Selection is not a guide to life; Jibbers Crabst; the power of faith, and science, and physics

Posted on Wednesday 10 December 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Slate’s William Saletan: A Conservative Case for Gay Marriage, subtitled, “How to talk to your antigay religious relatives about same-sex unions”. Key points: homosexuality is not a sin, because it’s not a choice; it’s not harmful, but is in fact … Continue reading →

Posted in Evolution, Humanism, Links, Philosophy, Physics, Religion, The Gays | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Gay Marriage; Evangelical Doomsday; Natural Selection is not a guide to life; Jibbers Crabst; the power of faith, and science, and physics

EO Wilson, The Meaning of Human Existence, Part 5 and last

Posted on Wednesday 3 December 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Fifth and final of several posts about Edward O. Wilson’s book THE MEANING OF HUMAN EXISTENCE, which as I described earlier both here on my blog and on Facebook, is a concise summary of this important scientist’s views on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Culture, Evolution, Science | Comments Off on EO Wilson, The Meaning of Human Existence, Part 5 and last

EO Wilson, The Meaning of Human Existence, Part 4

Posted on Tuesday 2 December 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Fourth of several posts about Edward O. Wilson’s book THE MEANING OF HUMAN EXISTENCE, which as I described earlier both here on my blog and on Facebook, is a concise summary of this important scientist’s views on the big issues … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Culture, Evolution, Science | Comments Off on EO Wilson, The Meaning of Human Existence, Part 4

EO Wilson, The Meaning of Human Existence, part 3

Posted on Monday 1 December 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Third of several posts about Edward O. Wilson’s book THE MEANING OF HUMAN EXISTENCE, which as I described earlier both here on my blog and on Facebook, is a concise summary of this important scientist’s views on the big issues … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Culture, Evolution, Religion, Science | Comments Off on EO Wilson, The Meaning of Human Existence, part 3

Inherit the Wind

Posted on Sunday 23 November 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Saw the movie INHERIT THE WIND today for the first time in many years. This is the 1960 film version of the 1955 play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, as directed by Stanley Kramer, about the famous 1925 … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Evolution, Films, Personal history, Reviews | Comments Off on Inherit the Wind