Category Archives: Philosophy

Links and Comments: Star Trek and Humanism; John Cleese

Posted on Wednesday 25 February 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

A couple more links noticed in recent days, before I lose or forget them; my daily routine, as we settle and unpack in our new home in Oakland, will be a while getting back to have time for more considered … Continue reading →

Posted in Humanism, Personal history, Philosophy, Religion | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Star Trek and Humanism; John Cleese

Provisional Conclusions

Posted on Tuesday 10 February 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

(Update 9 March 2015: After removing most of the post when I created a separate ‘page’ for this list, I’m restoring the original post here, to capture the original version. The page version will revised ongoingly…) Inspired by various alternative … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal history, Philosophy | Comments Off on Provisional Conclusions

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

A Secular Ten Non-Commandments

Posted on Saturday 24 January 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

I started this book before the holidays, but what with the holidays and since then attention to the buying of one house and the selling of another, only just finished it a couple days ago, though it’s rather short. This … Continue reading →

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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

Links and Comments: Space Suite; Nice Guys Finish First; Debunking Myths; Is the US Crazy?

Posted on Wednesday 14 January 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

More links and comments from the past week or so, leading with the positive. — First, a ‘Space Suite’ video animation of the planets in our solar system. Very cool. — The AsapSCIENCE guys have this video about how “Nice … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Philosophy, Science | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Space Suite; Nice Guys Finish First; Debunking Myths; Is the US Crazy?

Links and Comments: Mostly about the Evils of Religion, Not to Put Too Fine a Point on It

Posted on Wednesday 7 January 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Tonight, many links and comments about religion, especially on this day when thin-skinned Muslim terrorists murdered French journalists who had dared to insult their omniscient, omnipotent god by drawing mocking cartoons about Muhammad. Some of the reaction has been to … Continue reading →

Posted in Atheism, Culture, Links, Lunacy, Philosophy, Religion | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Mostly about the Evils of Religion, Not to Put Too Fine a Point on It

It’s a Wonderful Life

Posted on Sunday 4 January 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

We watched the film “It’s a Wonderful Life” this past week, as a holiday event, for the umpteenth time, as everyone does, and what I was most struck by this time is one of the most obvious points: how long … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Films, Philosophy | Comments Off on It’s a Wonderful Life

Hawking’s Theory of Everything

Posted on Wednesday 17 December 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Stephen Hawking & Leonard Mlodinow, THE GRAND DESIGN (2010) This is the most recent book authored (or co-authored) by Stephen Hawking, the well-known brilliant physicist, subject of the recent film The Theory of Everything. The film depicts (in addition to … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Cosmology, Philosophy, Physics, Science | Comments Off on Hawking’s Theory of Everything