Category Archives: Narrative

How Humans Live by Stories, and Myths

Posted on Monday 25 March 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

A NYT essay that wonders if, given how political persuasions are aligned with community, we actually ever think for ourselves; An example from the fringe about a Republican who wants to outlaw “chemtrails”; A review of a book about the … Continue reading →

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How Humans Select Particular Stories Over Reality

Posted on Monday 29 January 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

As I mentioned in Thursday’s post, I keep finding books in my library that could be considered straight-out philosophy (e.g. on ethics and morality) or at least philosophy-adjacent (some of the more abstruse physics and evolutionary texts, in the way … Continue reading →

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Humans Live By Telling Stories That Privilege Themselves

Posted on Sunday 28 January 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

About Holocaust deniers; About measles deniers; About denial of sociology; About the appeal of extinction panic. Salon, Gary M. Kramer, 25 Jan 2024: “There will always be Holocaust deniers”: How “Zone of Interest” reveals unsettling truths about us, subtitled “The … Continue reading →

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Thinking About Narratives

Posted on Monday 1 January 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

A way in which the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer story makes sense; Contemplating the range of all human activities, including playing games and telling stories; The Mojave Desert, and Apple Valley as a portal between two worlds. Posted on Facebook … Continue reading →

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A Rainy, Foggy Day in the Bay Area

Posted on Saturday 18 November 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

We got our walk in today during a break in the rain; when it started again, it turned to fog. (Meanwhile, making significant progress on the next expansion of sfadb.com today. Real soon now.) Various items for today; catching up … Continue reading →

Posted in Atheism, Conservative Resistance, Narrative, Politics, Religion, The Gays | Comments Off on A Rainy, Foggy Day in the Bay Area

How “Meaning” is just another example of the Narrative Bias

Posted on Saturday 28 October 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Three pieces from Big Think. How history is told by story-tellers, and cannot be taken literally; How philosophy advances science by asking forbidden questions; How questions about the “meaning of life” reveal the narrative bias. —— Three sciency links, all … Continue reading →

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The Broadest Possible Terms

Posted on Sunday 18 June 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Let’s return to yesterday’s item from OnlySky, which strikes me as a way to expand one of my key themes. In fact, perhaps we can build one of my hierarchies to begin with the most basic conception of what science … Continue reading →

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Narrative Bias and Control

Posted on Tuesday 30 May 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Another take on why conspiracy theories have become so popular; How home-schoolers who decided to send their kids to public schools exposed the three lies about home-schooling that convinced them to do so; The Week on the state of book … Continue reading →

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Fox News Admits They Were Wrong; Reviews by Michael Dirda

Posted on Tuesday 23 May 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

First, a follow up to my Media Literacy post three days ago. Stop the Presses! Something amazing has happened! Salon, Amanda Marcotte, 23 May 2023: Fox News falls for another hoax, as the Dominion defamation settlement pays off, subtitled “The … Continue reading →

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Math, Literature, and Maps

Posted on Friday 7 April 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Today’s topics: A curious new geometric shape; The connections between math and literature; A new perhaps better map projection of the world NY Times, Siobhan Roberts, 28 Mar 2023: Elusive ‘Einstein’ Solves a Longstanding Math Problem, subtitled “And it all … Continue reading →

Posted in Mathematics, Narrative | Comments Off on Math, Literature, and Maps