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
Conservative Ideology Over Evidence: The Abortion Pills
Several links today to articles on the same topic.
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Culture, Science
Comments Off on Conservative Ideology Over Evidence: The Abortion Pills
Jerry Coyne on Deepak Chopra, Alex Ross on Max Richter, and others
Jerry Coyne on Deepak Chopra And on the latest argument for the compatibility of science and faith A misleading article on the recent “paradigm” shift in the understanding of human evolution Reviews of new books by Sarah Bakewell and Sarah … Continue reading
Theory of Mind, UFOs, and Music
Three items today. Do Chatbots have a “theory of mind”? Probably not. Why fascination about UFOs has lingered; my own brief fascination with them when I was 13; and David Brin’s current take on them; How music does not “mean” … Continue reading
Posted in Music, Science, Technology
Comments Off on Theory of Mind, UFOs, and Music
Progressions
Topics in this post: The success of wokeness. How the least religious nations are among the healthiest along many measures. Partha Dasgupta on how the GDP should account for the cost of what we use. Julian Baggini on philosophy and … Continue reading
Posted in Philosophy, Reviews, Science, Social Progress
Comments Off on Progressions
Five Planets Visible in the Sky
I missed seeing that greenish comet that was visible in the sky a few weeks ago. The latest sky event being discussed in the media — at least on TV and on websites — is a fairly rare conjunction of … Continue reading
Last Questions and Possible Answers, 1
When I was browsing through several John Brockman books a few weeks ago, I decided to buy the last one he published in that series, from 2019. It’s called The Last Unknowns, and instead of gathering answers from many contributors … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Philosophy, Science
Comments Off on Last Questions and Possible Answers, 1
The Latest from Steven Pinker
Today, a long interview with Steven Pinker about ‘progress’ despite human nature; about the value of rationality; about looking at data and not headlines to understand the state of the world; about cancel culture; about the perils and inevitability of … Continue reading
Posted in Human Progress, Psychology, Science, Steven Pinker
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Progress, Happiness, Economics, and Morality
Items about the reality of progress and hope that humanity overcomes the effects of climate change; the latest world happiness index in which the US ranks 15th; Robert Reich busting myths about how the wealthy right justify their wealth; and … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Morality, Psychology, Science
Comments Off on Progress, Happiness, Economics, and Morality
The Poetry of Reality
Items about Daylight Saving Time, Tucker Carlson, Biblical Errancy, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and Richard Dawkins Salon, Nicole Karlis, 12 Mar 2023: Why sleep scientists think Standard Time is best, subtitled “People love the extra hour of sunlight at night, but … Continue reading
Modern Science and Literary Wisdom
and Human Nature and Its Biases and Rationality and The Two Cultures and Consilience. Gregory Feeley, in a friends-only post on Facebook three days ago, linked the two items below and and made some generalizing comments about them.
