Category Archives: Science

Ls&Qs: Rationality and Fear

Posted on Sunday 26 September 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Two long quotes today, from opposite ends of the spectrum from rationality to fear.

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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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Ls&Cs and Thoughts: Thinking and Science

Posted on Thursday 16 September 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Following up from yesterday, some more thoughts and links about the notion of thinking, and how that’s what science is all about, while so many people seem to have no understanding of what thinking, let alone science, actually is.

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Thoughts for the Day: About Thinking and Evidence

Posted on Wednesday 15 September 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

I am still formulating a thesis (or, provisional conclusion) that many, perhaps most, people don’t “think” in the way rationalists and scientists think that everyone does. Some people have never encountered the idea that the evidence of the real world … Continue reading →

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Michael Strevens: THE KNOWLEDGE MACHINE (2020)

Posted on Wednesday 11 August 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Here’s a book I read a few weeks ago while in the hospital (so my notes on it are sketchier than usual). It was published last October, though I didn’t buy it until February. When I picked it up to … Continue reading →

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Ls&Cs: Tribal Loyalties and Conservative Irrationality

Posted on Tuesday 10 August 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Several striking items recently that dovetail nicely, about covid and climate change denial.

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Ls&Cs: Two Mathematical Ideas

Posted on Thursday 5 August 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

First: Slate: What Does It Really Mean When a Headline Says “75 Percent of Cases Occurred in Vaccinated People”?, subtitled, “A simple math lesson to calm some of the panic around breakthrough cases.”

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Two Thoughts About Expertise

Posted on Thursday 5 August 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Is the US more susceptible to skepticism about expertise — and to science, and prone to conspiracy theories — than other ‘advanced’ nations? Certainly there are anti-vax zealots in other countries as well, but I’ve thought of two reasons why … Continue reading →

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Ls&Cs: Steven Weinberg

Posted on Thursday 29 July 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

The physicist Steven Weinberg died last week. He wasn’t as famous as Stephen Hawking, but he was arguably nearly as significant, succeeding several decades ago in unifying two of the four fundamental forces into one theoretical framework (the weak nuclear … Continue reading →

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L&C: The Cosmic Ruler

Posted on Wednesday 21 July 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Here’s a nice graphic summary of one of the great advances of science (in particular, astronomy) in the past century.

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