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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Category Archives: Human Progress
EO Wilson, CONSILIENCE, 9
Chapter 10, The Arts and Their Interpretation Here we have perhaps the area most resistant to the idea of biological or psychological interpretation. Because it doesn’t occur, especially to the artists themselves, why people tell certain kinds of stories and … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Human Progress, Psychology, Science
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EO Wilson, CONSILIENCE, 8
Chapter 9, The Social Sciences Now Wilson begins takes his conclusions about human nature and searches for ways to bring insight, if not explanation, to various aspects of human culture, in particular studies in the humanities that are supposedly resistant to … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Human Progress, MInd, Psychology, Science
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EO Wilson, CONSILIENCE, 7
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
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EO Wilson, CONSILIENCE, 6
Chapter 7, From Genes to Culture This chapter is about “gene-culture coevolution.” Also, this is the point in the book where Wilson mentions C.P. Snow’s “Two Cultures” (which I discussed here almost six years ago.) Key points in this chapter: … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Human Progress, MInd, Science
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EO Wilson, CONSILIENCE, 5
Chapter 6: The Mind Here’s the chapter in Wilson that corresponds to Pinker’s entire book. There are ideas here that reflect some of Nagel‘s topics, as well, and some of the thoughts I had while reading his book. Key points … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Human Progress, MInd, Science
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EO Wilson, CONSILIENCE, 4
Having finished reading that long Steven Pinker book, and blogging about it, I’m now returning to a contemporaneous book, published just a year after Pinker, E.O. Wilson’s CONSILIENCE, from 1998. After sampling it for years I read it through in … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Human Progress, Science
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Last Questions and Possible Answers, 4
This is my fourth and likely last post, following this one in March and this one in June, and this one eight days ago, in which I consider the John Brockman book The Last Unknowns, in which he gathers deep … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Culture, Human Progress, Philosophy, Religion, Science, science fiction
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Last Questions and Possible Answers, 3
This is my third post, following this one in March and this one in June, in which I consider the John Brockman book The Last Unknowns, in which he gathers deep unanswered questions about “the universe, the mind, the future … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Culture, Evolution, Human Progress, Mathematics, Philosophy, Physics, Religion, Science
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America’s Dominance and Decline
Just one substantial item today, compared to the several posted yesterday. If America is so great by some economic and military standards, why is our quality of life, compared to so many other countries around the world, so poor? Concluding … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Human Progress, Religion
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Sagan & Druyan: Propensities and Predispositions
A couple hours ago I finished that Carl Sagan/Ann Druyan book I mentioned a couple days ago, and it’s remarkable how its conclusions resemble my own recent observations about how certain forms of human morality align to conservative politics, and … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Conservative Resistance, Evolution, Human Progress, Quote at Length, Science
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