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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Meta
Category Archives: Science
Psychology and Ostranenie
What psychology is good for, and its recent accomplishments; The idea of Ostranenie, a kind of defamiliarization, which of course is one of those things science fiction does at its best. Big Think, Elizabeth Gilbert and Nick Hobson, 1 Oct … Continue reading
Posted in Psychology, Science
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Science and Political Items
First, a couple science bits. Let’s start with an intriguing episode of Veritasium. Veritasium: Math Has A Fatal Flaw. Maybe not a “flaw” but an aspect beyond human intuitive understanding: how in any system of mathematics, there exist true statements … Continue reading
Posted in Mathematics, Politics, Science, science fiction
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Murdoch, Azarian, Reich, and Scientists
Items today: The retirement of Rupert Murdoch, who became wealthy by degrading American politics and appealing to many Americans’ worst instincts; Republican hypocrisy example: John Fetterman vs. Lauren Boebert; with a classic definition: “Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition, to … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Politics, Psychology, Science, Social Progress
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This Week’s Sciency Bits
False Memories and the Narrative Bias; Another piece with Lee McIntyre about misinformation vs. disinformation; And how the world’s population will likely peak by the end of this century, and then drop; And my thoughts on what the consequences would … Continue reading
Posted in Politics, Psychology, Science, Social Progress
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Conspiracy Theories from Apollo 11 to Today
Looking at today’s Phil Plait column at Scientific American, about his responses to a 2001 Fox TV program that claimed the Apollo 11 Moon landing was a hoax; The history since then about so many other conspiracy theories; And how … Continue reading
Posted in Psychology, Science
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Science Reporting in the Mass Media; Harari on the Discovery of Ignorance; The Republicans’ Need to Game the System
Two stories about how science stories are reported in the mass media: One about how humans nearly went extinct 900,000 years ago; another about that “crisis in cosmology”; Yuval Noah Harari about the discovery of ignorance; And three items that … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Science
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A Crisis in Cosmology?
NY Times, Adam Frank and Marcelo Gleiser, 2 Sep 2023: The Story of Our Universe May Be Starting to Unravel This is a piece about some of the fall-out of the photos from the James Webb Space Telescope, and the … Continue reading
Computer, Glasses, Theories
My new laptop; My new glasses; The populist vs. scientific ideas of “theory”. I ordered a new laptop from Costco, and it arrived today about 4pm, and I’ve spent an hour getting it up and running. My old laptop has … Continue reading
Posted in Personal history, Science
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A New Book About Humanity’s Future, and Meaning
Cautiously considering the new book by Marcelo Gleiser, which seeks meaning where I think none exists; Items about Mike Pence’s Biblical cherry-picking, how Tennessee is the “worst state for voting rights,” and two takes on Vivek Ramaswamy: “spouting nonsense” and … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Lunacy, Meaning, Politics, Science
Comments Off on A New Book About Humanity’s Future, and Meaning
Veritasium, Star Talk, Sapiens
There is so much nonsense on the web — and so much news about nonsensical, irrational people — it’s refreshing to find occasional pockets of knowledge and wisdom. I should try to pay more attention to these, and less attention … Continue reading
