Category Archives: Psychology

Catching Up on Items from Facebook, about Conspiracy Theories and Religion

“If you don’t know how anything works, everything looks like a conspiracy.” The conspiracy theory about Taylor Swift and the Super Bowl, which seems not to have happened, today; Facebook posts about American accents, how the Bible and Quran contain … Continue reading

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Peculiar Trends

Why are Gen Z views splitting by gender? Complex answer; Why are Republicans more likely to suffer hearing loss? Simple answer; Shorter items: Trump doesn’t understand NATO; about that Super Bowl commercial fueled by the Christian right; whether there’s a … Continue reading

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Pushing Back Against Education

How nationalist and religious ideologists are against education, example 5,271,009; How Trump has invited Putin to attack American allies; About Biden’s memory, from a neuroscientist; Short items about Nextdoor.com, the Supreme Court, how the Republican problem is metastasizing; How Paul … Continue reading

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Another Orion Photo

Plus: The wackadoodle conspiracy theory about Taylor Swift and the Super Bowl; Items about why Trump is blocking the border deal; how Trump would destroy the American-led world order; why Republicans are killing the border deal; and a handy guide … Continue reading

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How Humans Select Particular Stories Over Reality

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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Late Afternoon and the House is Warm

Another storm blowing through the Bay Area today. Jets are flying into SFO from the north, a rare circumstance. (I can see them from our balcony.) Our three kitties lie near me in my living room office, to be near … Continue reading

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Tribal Psychology and Racism

What evolutionary psychology reveals about American politics — nothing new here, except to note that these ideas have reached the mainstream press; A former Republican speechwriter summarizes Trump’s vile racist remarks; Short items about Trump’s confusion of Nikki Haley with … Continue reading

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Killers and EvoPsych

Quick post. We spent all afternoon watching Killers of the Flower Moon — a very good film, worth the 3 1/2 hours — so I only have a moment to post something before dinner. \ Washington Post, Joel Achenbach, 20 … Continue reading

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Readings: Carl Sagan; Maggie Jackson

A 1987 Carl Sagan lecture, just published in 2022, about the protocols of science and government and the need to acknowledge uncertainty; A NYT opinion piece by Maggie Jackson about uncertainty and how to manage it; R.E.M.’s “Leave” Quillette, Steven … Continue reading

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Watching Movies in Theaters; UBI; Reality; Why Everyone Thinks They’re Losing; and Epistemology

Items today: How watching movies in certain theaters (AMC) is a bloated experience; Why UBI studies are not making traction into political policy; A New Yorker graphic essay about how reality might exist only because we’re observing it; E.J. Dionne … Continue reading

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