Search Results for: how the mind works

Planets, Scientific Certainty and Placebos, and Peter Gabriel

Posted on Wednesday 11 October 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Phil Plait on the history of planetary discovery, since 1992; Flossing and the quest for scientific certainty; How placebos sometimes work; Peter Gabriel’s “Mercy Street”. – – – Good summary of the past thirty years’ discoveries of new planets. Phil … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Music, Science | Leave a comment

Numerous Items From Recent Weeks

Posted on Monday 9 October 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

How the worldwide migration crisis is about civil wars and climate change, but also about the internet and smartphones; How the Luddites were not what we think, and why it might be appropriate to be one now; About the new … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Culture, Psychology, Religion | Leave a comment

Psychology and Ostranenie

Posted on Monday 2 October 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

What psychology is good for, and its recent accomplishments; The idea of Ostranenie, a kind of defamiliarization, which of course is one of those things science fiction does at its best. Big Think, Elizabeth Gilbert and Nick Hobson, 1 Oct … Continue reading →

Posted in Psychology, Science | Leave a comment

How Politics and Religion Are All About Human Psychology, Chapter 5,271,009

Posted on Sunday 1 October 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

How dumb fascists can be dangerous, re: the Biden impeachment hearing; About The Shepherd of Hermas, an obscure Christian text, once popular, now forgotten; Why Trump wants Gen. Milley to be killed, and Trump’s belief in his superior genes; David … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Politics, Psychology, Religion | Leave a comment

Rapture, Autism, Economics, Authoritarianism

Posted on Tuesday 26 September 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

The predicted Rapture that did not (of course) come true; How some Christians believe autism is demonic, and (of course) why they’re wrong; Paul Krugman on why Republicans cling to “right-wing economics”; Heather Cox Richardson, excerpting her new book, on … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Politics, Psychology | Leave a comment

A Crisis in Cosmology?

Posted on Saturday 2 September 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

NY Times, Adam Frank and Marcelo Gleiser, 2 Sep 2023: The Story of Our Universe May Be Starting to Unravel This is a piece about some of the fall-out of the photos from the James Webb Space Telescope, and the … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Culture, Physics, Science | Leave a comment

Morality and Projection

Posted on Friday 1 September 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Where does morality come from? And who’s moral, and why? David Barton thinks Democrats cheat because they’re not “God-fearing” (despite the evidence of its being the Republicans who cheat); In contrast to Phil Zuckerman’s evidence about how people without religious … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Politics, Religion | Leave a comment

A New Book About Humanity’s Future, and Meaning

Posted on Monday 28 August 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Cautiously considering the new book by Marcelo Gleiser, which seeks meaning where I think none exists; Items about Mike Pence’s Biblical cherry-picking, how Tennessee is the “worst state for voting rights,” and two takes on Vivek Ramaswamy: “spouting nonsense” and … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Lunacy, Meaning, Politics, Science | Leave a comment

The Outsized Perception of the Danger of Minority Cults

Posted on Saturday 26 August 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Two pieces for today. A Salon essay that suggests that the “mainstream media” has a far wider effect on the US population than the fringe, Trump/Fox-supporting media, than most of us realize (and how that’s a good thing); and how … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Culture, Politics, Psychology | Leave a comment

Freedom, Liberty, and Religion

Posted on Wednesday 23 August 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Liberty and freedom, vs. conformity to religion; More on how some Christians now think Jesus was too “woke”; How Republicans politicians lie, because it works: their “distorted reality insulates right-wing media consumers from contradictions and challenges to their beliefs”; And … Continue reading →

Posted in Morality, Religion | Leave a comment