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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- This Much is Reality… and This Much is Fantasy
- The Anticipation of Unintended Consequences
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- The Overton Window of Deviance
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- Here’s a New One: Terrain Theory
- A Little Knowledge… Is a Dangerous Thing
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- There Is Always Long Term Progress and Short Term Retreat
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Meta
Category Archives: Politics
Monoculture and Tribalist Thinking
Travel perspectives; Is everything a cult now? If so, the word has lost all meaning; Is religion just a tribal marker? Then why do so many Christian zealots want to impose their beliefs on others, to the point of executions? … Continue reading
Posted in Politics, Psychology, Travel
Comments Off on Monoculture and Tribalist Thinking
How Rugged Individualists Cannot Solve Global Problems
A note about my trip tomorrow to Austin; How Mike Johnson characterizes Republicans as “rugged individualists,” yet who can still not get along to solve actual problems; How Trump’s policies would increase inflation, and his fans haven’t noticed; More about … Continue reading
Posted in Morality, Personal history, Politics, Psychology
Comments Off on How Rugged Individualists Cannot Solve Global Problems
Tribal Notes
Latest examples of tribal thinking, as many of my posts over the past months and years have compiled, clarified by my reading of Joshua Greene’s book and many others. Short items about indoctrination in Florida schools (“get them while they’re … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Morality, Politics
Comments Off on Tribal Notes
Believing Anything
A long opinion piece by Dana Milbank at WaPo shows *how* Trump supporters will believe anything, without explaining (despite the headline) *why* they do; My thoughts about what has brought about the loss in consensus reality; And short items about … Continue reading
Posted in Politics, Psychology
Comments Off on Believing Anything
The Dual-Process Theory of Morality, and Some Examples
Today I finished reading this month’s big book (i.e. a substantial nonfiction book), Joshua Greene’s Moral Tribes: Emotion, Reason, and the Gap Between Us and Them, an extremely interesting book for the way its central idea knits together many of … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Morality, Politics
Comments Off on The Dual-Process Theory of Morality, and Some Examples
Obsolete Laws, Morality, and Beliefs
The world is changing, and conservatives deny this by appealing to values of a simpler past. How Republicans are resorting to obsolete laws — the Comstock laws, the 1864 Alabama ruling — to enforce their morality upon everyone; How the … Continue reading
Posted in Politics, Religion, science fiction
Comments Off on Obsolete Laws, Morality, and Beliefs
Eclipse Aftermath, and Politics
First of all, our street had a scheduled power outage this morning, from 9-12, so I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to see any of the TV coverage of the total eclipse crossing the eastern US today. There were … Continue reading
How Humanity is Hobbled by Tribalism
I do have a general scheme in work, for which all of these items are supporting evidence. (And how this really does relate to science fiction.) A rogue GOP congressman who spouts unsupported conspiracy theories; How RFK Jr. supporters rationalize … Continue reading
Imagine Prioritizing Truth Over Being Right
Here’s an amazing notion: there are some people who would rather find the truth, than be right. These are the scientists — some of them, anyway. This concerns Daniel Kahneman, whose death I noted a week ago here. NY Times, … Continue reading
It’s Time for Another Round of… Stupid? Or Cynical?
Stupid or Cynical: Republican/Christian conservatives respond to the coincidence of Easter and Trans Recognition Day; Some MAGA claims are just delusional, example from Steve Bannon; Robert Reich on Trump’s 5-step fascist plan; And how conservatives reject the idea of lab-grown … Continue reading
