Search Results for: how the mind works

Varieties of Fantasy, and Book Notes

Posted on Saturday 4 February 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Today’s three topics: A conservative’s take on a fantasy novel; A Le Guin fantasy novel; And insights into books by Heinlein and Brockman.

Posted in Book Notes, Culture, Religion | Leave a comment

Recent Book Lists

Posted on Wednesday 1 February 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Three items for today: a list of “influential” science fiction works, a list of nonfiction books that changed minds, and Elon Musk’s books he thinks everyone should read.

Posted in Book Notes | Leave a comment

Things That Are Not True, and Immorality

Posted on Tuesday 24 January 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Catching up on interesting items from the past few days, about the Christian right’s embrace of a “lying libertine,” how faith healers who kill their children get away with it in some states, how Republicans who lose elections react to … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Morality, Science | Leave a comment

Michael Shermer: THE MORAL ARC

Posted on Monday 23 January 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: How Science and Reason Lead Humanity toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom (Henry Holt, January 2015, 541pp, including 55pp of notes, 30pp of bibliography, and 15pp of acknowledgments and index) This is Michael Shermer’s magnus opus, perhaps, culminating a running … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Morality, Science | Leave a comment

More About Stories v. Reality

Posted on Monday 9 January 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Yet another item about that anthology of historical essays. Plus items about pandemics, bestseller lists, wokeness in the military, the attraction of conspiracy theories, and violence on TV.

Posted in Book Notes, Conservative Resistance, Narrative | Leave a comment

Good News of 2022; What Success at College Means

Posted on Tuesday 3 January 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

NY Times, Nicholas Kristof, 31 Dec 2022: Cheer Up! The World Is Better Off Than You Think.

Posted in Culture, Education | Leave a comment

Another Science in 2022 list; A Reading about the Medea Hypothesis

Posted on Thursday 29 December 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Smithsonian Magazine, Carlyn Kranking and Joe Spring, 28 Dec 2022: The Ten Most Significant Science Stories of 2022, subtitled “From Omicron’s spread to a revelation made using ancient DNA, these were the biggest moments of the past year”

Posted in Cosmology, Science | Leave a comment

Mysteries, Stories, and Science

Posted on Monday 26 December 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

I like mysteries, once in a while, but I don’t trust them. They are too often contrived, “too clever by half” as the saying goes. Their narratives double back and re-interpret, like lawyers who revisit a set of testimony and … Continue reading →

Posted in Movies, Narrative | Leave a comment

Christmas Stories

Posted on Sunday 25 December 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Over Friday and Saturday evenings we watched Miracle on 34th Street for the first time in a couple decades. (I’m not sure if Y had ever seen it.) After such time goes by, you see things in a film or … Continue reading →

Posted in Narrative, Personal history | Leave a comment

Longtermism (and Science Fiction), part 2

Posted on Wednesday 14 December 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

More about “longermism,” Effective Altruism, how they relate to science fiction, and whether or not books can be reduced to six-paragraph summaries.

Posted in longtermism, Philosophy, science fiction | Leave a comment