Category Archives: Science

Odds and Ends, 23Sep13

Posted on Monday 23 September 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

Scientific American has this Michael Shermer essay about struggling with motivated reasoning– http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=why-we-should-choose-science-over-beliefs Give him credit — he struggles with ideological convictions in the light of evidence, and changes his mind. But finds that others at a Libertarian conference are … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy, Science, Thinking | Comments Off on Odds and Ends, 23Sep13

Law v. Science

Posted on Monday 16 September 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

Nice essay by Jesse Bering — an excerpt from his forthcoming book — about ‘age of consent’ laws and their variation over time and across different countries, whose cutoffs range from 12 to 21. (And in olden times, some US … Continue reading →

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Sunday Links and Commentary

Posted on Sunday 8 September 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

PZ Myers compares the atheist movement to the plight of World SF Conventions — in terms of their resistance to being open to interests of younger members. http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2013/09/06/the-future-will-not-be-the-past/ Alternet: http://www.alternet.org/former-christian-fundamentalist-how-science-made-me-lose-my-religion?paging=off When an engineer raised in a fundamentalist Christian community sees … Continue reading →

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Does anyone ever change their minds about anything?

Posted on Tuesday 3 September 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

Via Andrew Sullivan Why Even Your Best Arguments Never Work The arguments people make are those that appear the strongest to themselves and the people who already agree with them. But such arguments tend to be meaningless to people who … Continue reading →

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Respectful Insolence on the anti-vaxers; the healthcare crisis

Posted on Wednesday 28 August 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

Orac’s Respectful Insolence blog explores the motivations of anti-vaxers, via the recent news of the Texas church whose anti-vaccination advice resulted in an outbreak of measles (widely reported in the past few days). Measles outbreaks, religion, and the reality of … Continue reading →

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Plinks: Coyne responds to Frank; Religion becoming obsolete?; Dawkins’ response

Posted on Tuesday 27 August 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

Jerry Coyne responds to Adam Frank’s op-ed piece in NYT last week about science illiteracy. Coyne doesn’t dispute Frank’s points, so much as his recommendations. But after reading it, I was disappointed, for although Frank’s piece is pro-science, it’s merely … Continue reading →

Posted in Religion, Science | Comments Off on Plinks: Coyne responds to Frank; Religion becoming obsolete?; Dawkins’ response

Plinks: Adam Frank, PZ Myers, Hendrik Hertzberg

Posted on Thursday 22 August 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

Just after yesterday’s post about Donald Prothero, on “The Serious Consequences of Science Illiteracy”, comes this op-ed by scientist Adam Frank in the New York Times, which says pretty much the same thing…. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/22/opinion/welcome-to-the-age-of-denial.html The triumph of Western science led … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy, Quote at Length, Religion, Science | Comments Off on Plinks: Adam Frank, PZ Myers, Hendrik Hertzberg

Donald Prothero on science illiteracy, the Dunning-Kruger effect

Posted on Wednesday 21 August 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

Another interesting blogger I’ve run across is Donald Prothero, author of a recent book called Reality Check: How Science Deniers Threaten Our Future, and a contributor to Skepticblog. This post reads like an introduction to the theme of that book. … Continue reading →

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Plinks: Steven Pinker, Carl Zimmer, Anti-Intellect, History Chart, Weigel on Card

Posted on Monday 19 August 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

A collection of quotes from what I thought were interesting articles and posts and tweets, over the past week or more (I should post more often). (And actually, I’m saving a few for later posts.) Perhaps I will call posts … Continue reading →

Posted in Commonplace Book, Quote at Length, Science, Thinking | Comments Off on Plinks: Steven Pinker, Carl Zimmer, Anti-Intellect, History Chart, Weigel on Card

Stories, Narratives, Facts

Posted on Friday 9 August 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

Salon has an excerpt from a new book by David McRaney, You Are Now Less Dumb. I think I’ll quote from the excerpt, just because (at the moment) I can. The people who came before you invented science because your … Continue reading →

Posted in Quote at Length, Science | Comments Off on Stories, Narratives, Facts