Category Archives: Science

My Uninterest in UFOs

Posted on Saturday 29 July 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

No, I don’t mean disinterest. I’ve mentioned before that people who are unfamiliar with science fiction, or with science fiction writers and fans, tend to assume that SF folks are credulous along the lines of “believing” in UFOs, where “believing” … Continue reading →

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Horror and Exasperation

Posted on Wednesday 26 July 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

How young people are progressive, a problem for the GOP; Thomas Edsall on Republican and Democratic attitudes about masculinity; Climate experts express “horror and exasperation as global predictions play out”. Sometimes you have to wonder what conservatives are conserving. On … Continue reading →

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Gays, Small Towns, Climate Change Backlash

Posted on Monday 24 July 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

The increased visibility of L.G.B.T.Q. people as a sign of progress in a multicultural global society; Versus the sentiments of a country song called “Try That in a Small Town”; And global backlash against climate change policies as an indictment … Continue reading →

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Three Philosophical/Scientific Matters

Posted on Sunday 23 July 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

I’m spending most of today’s blog hour doing some housekeeping on the blog itself. For today’s post, just one item, sorta deep, sorta light. Big Think, Scotty Hendricks, 18 Jul 2023: 3 advances in philosophy that made science better, subtitled … Continue reading →

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Scientific Reality and Ideological Imagination

Posted on Friday 21 July 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Reality check about warp drives; Reality perspective about the Kardashev ladder; My evolving ideas about traditional vs. honest science fiction; How the latest conservative panic appears in the new film Sound of Freedom; How House Republicans are openly discriminating against … Continue reading →

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Conservative Politics and the Flaws of Human Nature

Posted on Wednesday 19 July 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

How linguistic anthropology and narrative psychology explain the appeal of Trump and other right-wing authoritarians; Why that everyone, not just conservatives, is pessimistic about the world, despite the evidence, is more evidence of how human nature, shaped in humanity’s ancestral … Continue reading →

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They’re Telling Us Who They Are, and What They Will Do

Posted on Monday 17 July 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Maya Angelou: “When people show you who they are, believe them the first time.” (source and source) How Trump and his acolytes are openly planning to set up an authoritarian government, should he rewin the Presidency; Similarly, Republicans in Ohio … Continue reading →

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The Current State of the World

Posted on Sunday 16 July 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Two items about the current state of the world: the economy is good; climate change is getting worse, and how conservatives won’t believe either; How Big Oil is more concerned with profits than with long-term consequences; How the Mission: Impossible … Continue reading →

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Consciousness and Choices

Posted on Thursday 13 July 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

The problem of consciousness, and the resolution to a 25-year-old debate, via Vox and NYT’s Carl Zimmer; The paradox of choice, in supermarkets and everywhere else, in our abundant, materialistic world. Vox, Oshan Jarow, 30 Jun 2023: Why scientists haven’t … Continue reading →

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Some Sciency Bits

Posted on Tuesday 11 July 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Richard Dawkins on the ancestral language of DNA; How humans have interpreted fossils throughout history; Recalling the scientifically inaccurate and intellectually hostile movie Armageddon, from 1998; How an article about a refinement to our understanding of human evolution overstates its … Continue reading →

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