Search Results for: how the mind works

Links and Comments: Politics and Conspiracy Theories; Epistemology

Posted on Wednesday 2 December 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

Another batch of links and comments, again on topics of politics and conspiracy theories, not because I’m trying to dissuade anyone in particular of any such beliefs (let alone supernatural ones), but because all these examples (more and more of … Continue reading →

Posted in Lunacy, Politics, Psychology | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Politics and Conspiracy Theories; Epistemology

Links and Comments: Christian Nationalism; Covid and Climate Denial

Posted on Tuesday 17 November 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

NYT: Trump or No Trump, Religious Authoritarianism Is Here to Stay, subtitled “Their unlikely ally may have lost the White House, but Christian nationalists still plan to win the war,” by Katherine Stewart. The 2020 election is proof that religious … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Religion | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Christian Nationalism; Covid and Climate Denial

Rutger Bregman, UTOPIA FOR REALISTS: How We Can Build the Ideal World (2014/2017)

Posted on Wednesday 21 October 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

This is a breezy, fast-reading book that summarizes grand conclusions simply and directly, and then provides background references to support those conclusions in 40 pages of notes at the end. The Dutch author is “one of the continent’s most prominent … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Social Progress | Comments Off on Rutger Bregman, UTOPIA FOR REALISTS: How We Can Build the Ideal World (2014/2017)

Links and Comments: Make-Believe worlds and Donald Trump and his supporters

Posted on Wednesday 14 October 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

As evidence for my thoughts, in this post Notes for the Book: Magical Thinking, Cognitive Dissonance, Group-Thinking, about how many people live in a kind of make-believe world, for reasons of group solidarity, and despite the inevitable cognitive dissonance with … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Psychology | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Make-Believe worlds and Donald Trump and his supporters

Notes for the Book: Magical Thinking, Cognitive Dissonance, Group-Thinking

Posted on Wednesday 30 September 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

Extending thoughts from previous posts about the future of enlightenment and similar matters. About group-thinking and how people get along in their lives just fine without understanding how the world actually works (as well-established by physics, chemistry, biology including evolution, … Continue reading →

Posted in Evolution, Psychology, Religion, The Book | Comments Off on Notes for the Book: Magical Thinking, Cognitive Dissonance, Group-Thinking

Links and Comments: Speaking Fox; Ideology and Lies; Fear and Paranoia

Posted on Thursday 17 September 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

It’s difficult to get away from the current crisis, and threat. The Atlantic, Megan Garber: Do You Speak Fox?. Subtitle: How Donald Trump’s favorite news source became a language Political theorists, over the years, have looked for metaphors to describe … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Psychology | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Speaking Fox; Ideology and Lies; Fear and Paranoia

Links and Comments: A Proposition; Why So Many Still Support Trump

Posted on Tuesday 15 September 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

Decades ago, from reading reviews of books and movies I had read and seen, I formulated a proposition that runs something like this: There is no work of art (book, film, painting, song) so universally admired that someone, somewhere, will … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Science | Comments Off on Links and Comments: A Proposition; Why So Many Still Support Trump

Andrew Shtulman: SCIENCEBLIND: Why Our Intuitive Theories About the World Are So Often Wrong

Posted on Sunday 13 September 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

(Basic Books, 2017) Here’s a book I read earlier this year and am only just now boiling my notes down into a coherent summary. (Well actually I started boiling my notes down but ended up just cleaning up the remainder, … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Psychology, Science | Comments Off on Andrew Shtulman: SCIENCEBLIND: Why Our Intuitive Theories About the World Are So Often Wrong

Links and Comments: Tell Them What They Want to Hear

Posted on Friday 28 August 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

One more set, just a few, then we’ll try to think of other things and hope that Trump and his minions will just magically disappear, as Trumps said, months ago, the virus would do over the summer. (It didn’t; he … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Tell Them What They Want to Hear

Links and Comments: Benedictine Option; Pandemic Spread; Economic Stabilizers; Ed Yong; Evangelicals and Trump

Posted on Tuesday 18 August 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

The Atlantic: The Christian Withdrawal Experiment. Subtitle: Feeling out of step with the mores of contemporary life, members of a conservative-Catholic group have built a thriving community in rural Kansas. Could their flight from mainstream society be a harbinger for … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Lunacy, Religion | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Benedictine Option; Pandemic Spread; Economic Stabilizers; Ed Yong; Evangelicals and Trump