Category Archives: Philosophy

Facebook Memes 19Sep21

Posted on Sunday 19 September 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

From this past week, about philosophy, billionaires and Fox News, the flawed Ten Commandments, what expertise is about, fear the Covid plan will work, conspiracy theories defined, and a protestor’s spelling.

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Thoughts for the Day: About Thinking and Evidence

Posted on Wednesday 15 September 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

I am still formulating a thesis (or, provisional conclusion) that many, perhaps most, people don’t “think” in the way rationalists and scientists think that everyone does. Some people have never encountered the idea that the evidence of the real world … Continue reading →

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Link and Comments: Ted Chiang interview

Posted on Thursday 1 April 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Ted Chiang is a science fiction writer who since 1990 has published a couple dozen works of short fiction (and no novel), gathered in just two books: Stories of Your Life and Others (2002), and Exhalation (2019). I’m certain he … Continue reading →

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Nonfiction Notes: Alan Lightman’s PROBABLE IMPOSSIBILITIES

Posted on Friday 19 March 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Alan Lightman: PROBABLE IMPOSSIBILITIES (2021) This is a new book of essays by a professor at MIT, author of earlier books including the well-regarded novel Einstein’s Dreams (Wikipedia, way back in 1993) and most recently of essay collection Searching for … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Science Matters, 18 Mar 2021

Posted on Thursday 18 March 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Catching up on things that have caught me eye the past week or two. How humans have remade the Earth; about Daylight Saving Time; Dark Matter; How time might flow in two directions; the Nature of mathematics.

Posted in Mathematics, Philosophy | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Science Matters, 18 Mar 2021

Thinking On Blog: Wise Men

Posted on Wednesday 17 March 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

(This is a blog post version of the process of “thinking out loud.”) In a book I read recently – it was Michael Shermer’s first book, WHY PEOPLE BELIEVE WEIRD THINGS, my comments posted here) — the author made the … Continue reading →

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A Hierarchy of Human Needs

Posted on Saturday 6 March 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Like the hierarchy of morality (discussed here), this one is not mine. It’s an idea first proposed by psychologist Abraham Maslow in 1943. Wikipedia has this entry about it. It runs like this, from the most basic:

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Link and Comments: Dawkins, via Coyne, on Science and Truth

Posted on Saturday 19 December 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

Today Jerry Coyne’s site (even though it’s a blog, with chronological posts every day, sometimes several a day, he’s obstinate about not calling it a blog, but a site) links an article by Richard Dawkins at the UK magazine The … Continue reading →

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Principles and Moral Guidelines, Update

Posted on Saturday 7 November 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

I polished my Principles page today, tightening a bit, and adding a section at the end listing my favorite alternatives to the Biblical Ten Commandments.

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Notes for the Book: Simplex, Complex, Multiplex

Posted on Thursday 21 May 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

Several themes are starting to gel, so perhaps I’ll record some of my current thoughts as they now stand. Just the act of writing a blog post helps me organize and clarify them. I still find myself learning: almost every … Continue reading →

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