Category Archives: Psychology

Science Ls&Cs: Time for Critical Blue Ozone Fitness

Posted on Sunday 3 October 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

The unfittedness of the universe for life; languages that do or don’t have a word for the color blue; telescopes as time machines; how scientists solved the ozone layer; critical thinking.

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Shankar Vedantam: USEFUL DELUSIONS (2021)

Posted on Thursday 23 September 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Here’s a book I read recently, just a week or so after returning from the hospital in late June, and which I’ve skimmed again in the past week to take notes and write up this summary. It’s one of two … Continue reading →

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Ls&Cs: Training, Education, Belief

Posted on Friday 17 September 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Two items today. The first is a post by Jerry Coyne about an article from Inside Higher Ed about the difference between training and education. Here’s his post: Training versus education.

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ICU Delusions

Posted on Saturday 14 August 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

When I was in the hospital for several weeks following my second heart attack, in April and May 2021, I retained no memories of the first week because I was on sedation while the doctors figured out what to do … Continue reading →

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Ls&Cs: Changing Minds; Religions and Cults; Abortion; Wishful Thinking

Posted on Wednesday 14 July 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Catching up on some links from a few weeks ago.

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Ls&Cs: Other Ways of Knowing…What?

Posted on Monday 12 July 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

There have been debates for decades among scientists on the one hand and those with no interest in, or who are even hostile to, science, on the other. The latter insist that “other ways of knowing” are as valid as … Continue reading →

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L&C: The New Yorker on Cults and Narratives

Posted on Saturday 10 July 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

As if I had cued it with yesterday’s post about Why People Believe, particularly the final item by David Brooks, as well as the last of my four new provisional conclusions, the new issue of The New Yorker has a … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Science, Religion, and Biases

Posted on Tuesday 20 April 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Neil deGrasse Tyson, creationists, religion and the intelligentsia, risk assessment. And tarantulas.

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Passages: How the World Works

Posted on Monday 12 April 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

My favorite news magazine, The Week, is celebrating 20 years of publication with its current April 16th issue, which has retrospectives of cover images, editorial essays, and so on. Here’s one of the latter, by editor-in-chief William Falk.

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Links and Comments: About Gun Violence

Posted on Monday 29 March 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

I’m narrowing in on a Provisional Conclusion that most people live their daily lives without any perspective or context about what happens in the outer world. (And, for many issues, that’s just fine. But not for all issues.) Thus, Americans … Continue reading →

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