Category Archives: Thinking

Links and Comments from Sunday’s New York Times

Posted on Tuesday 15 December 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

I’m finishing up a book by Chris Mooney that explores motivated reasoning and how we are all subject to seeking out evidence that confirms our pre-existing views, and disputing evidence that challenges those views. And that nevertheless claims that conservatives/Republicans … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Religion, Social Progress, Thinking | Comments Off on Links and Comments from Sunday’s New York Times

Ben Carson follow-up

Posted on Monday 28 September 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

I wrapped up my previous post about Ben Carson a bit too hastily, because I do have a fairly solid provisional conclusion about why some people don’t “believe” in science and ascribe instead to faith or various subjectively attractive supernatural … Continue reading →

Posted in Provisional Conclusions, Religion, Science, Thinking | Comments Off on Ben Carson follow-up

Links and Comments: Conservative Resistance and Fears; Narratives; Reality Checks

Posted on Saturday 12 September 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Salon: Kim Davis is the new face of the religious right: Angry, marginalized and increasingly desperate No doubt Davis is a comical figure whose self-righteousness is only equaled by her ignorance both of the text of the Bible she clings … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Powers of Ten; Nineteen Eighty-Four doublespeak; Climate change; Failed conservative predictions of doom

Posted on Tuesday 10 March 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Today’s persusing of websites. (I have more links and comments from newspapers and magazines, but not the time at this moment to post…) First, to complement yesterday’s link to Vox’s 40 maps that explain outer space, here is the earliest, … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Culture, Thinking | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Powers of Ten; Nineteen Eighty-Four doublespeak; Climate change; Failed conservative predictions of doom

More about SF/F/H

Posted on Wednesday 4 March 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

The distinctions I suggested yesterday aren’t prescriptions; they’re characterizations or descriptions. In the broad field of SF and fantasy literature, there are deep-seated conventions about whether a given story is SF or fantasy (or horror), depending on its topic. Many … Continue reading →

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Musings about Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror

Posted on Tuesday 3 March 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

I keep thinking about my Provisional Conclusions, how they might be streamlined or crystallized, and how they relate (as I’ve alluded more than once in this blog) to the insights provided by the fields of fantastic fiction — science fiction, … Continue reading →

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Jordan Ellenberg, How Not to Be Wrong, Post 2

Posted on Wednesday 11 February 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: The Power of Mathematical Thinking. Second post (first post here) about this fascinating book, an examination of several basic principles (linearity, inference, expectation, regression, and existence) and how they apply to every-day, real world situations, situations that are often … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Culture, Economics, Mathematics, Science, Thinking | Comments Off on Jordan Ellenberg, How Not to Be Wrong, Post 2

Jordan Ellenberg, How Not to Be Wrong

Posted on Sunday 8 February 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: The Power of Mathematical Thinking. This is the first of what may turn out to be several posts about this book, an examination of several basic principles (linearity, inference, expectation, regression, and existence) and how they apply to every-day, … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: The Secular Life; Anti-Vax conspiracy theories; demonizing political opponents; the hell of heaven

Posted on Thursday 5 February 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

A couple days ago NYT op-ed columnist David Brooks wrote Building Better Secularists, in which he presumes to instruct those who do not share his religious beliefs how they are obliged to construct the social infrastructure that religion would otherwise … Continue reading →

Posted in Atheism, Culture, Thinking | Comments Off on Links and Comments: The Secular Life; Anti-Vax conspiracy theories; demonizing political opponents; the hell of heaven

Narrative as Reality; or, Reality as Narrative

Posted on Wednesday 21 January 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

For tonight, Paul Krugman’s NYT column from a couple days ago: Hating Good Government Evidence doesn’t matter for the “debate” over climate policy, where I put scare quotes around “debate” because, given the obvious irrelevance of logic and evidence, it’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Cosmology, Culture, Evolution, Philosophy, Religion, Thinking | Comments Off on Narrative as Reality; or, Reality as Narrative