Search Results for: how the mind works

Passages by Benford

Posted on Friday 16 January 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

I’ve been belatedly catching up on 2014 short fiction in the past two or three weeks, moreso than I’ve done in the past two or three years; not enough to in time contribute substantially to the Locus Recommended Reading List, … Continue reading →

Posted in Science, science fiction, Short Fiction | Comments Off on Passages by Benford

Links and Comments: Space Suite; Nice Guys Finish First; Debunking Myths; Is the US Crazy?

Posted on Wednesday 14 January 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

More links and comments from the past week or so, leading with the positive. — First, a ‘Space Suite’ video animation of the planets in our solar system. Very cool. — The AsapSCIENCE guys have this video about how “Nice … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Philosophy, Science | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Space Suite; Nice Guys Finish First; Debunking Myths; Is the US Crazy?

Ray Bradbury’s House Has Been Torn Down, and I Understand Why

Posted on Sunday 11 January 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Ray Bradbury was, of course, the popular and influential science fiction writer of such works as The Martian Chronicles and Fahrenheit 451, the latter book still a staple on high school reading lists. He was only loosely a science fiction … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Economics, Ray Bradbury | Comments Off on Ray Bradbury’s House Has Been Torn Down, and I Understand Why

Links and Comments: Good News about the state of the world; cultural concepts; science; religion and fantasy

Posted on Monday 5 January 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Catching up on links and comments from the past three weeks or so, given the holiday lapse. * First some Good News: Slate: Steven Pinker and Andrew Mack: The World Is Not Falling Apart In the world is getting more … Continue reading →

Posted in Atheism, Cosmology, Culture, Evolution, Lunacy, Religion | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Good News about the state of the world; cultural concepts; science; religion and fantasy

EO Wilson, The Meaning of Human Existence, Part 5 and last

Posted on Wednesday 3 December 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Fifth and final of several posts about Edward O. Wilson’s book THE MEANING OF HUMAN EXISTENCE, which as I described earlier both here on my blog and on Facebook, is a concise summary of this important scientist’s views on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Culture, Evolution, Science | Comments Off on EO Wilson, The Meaning of Human Existence, Part 5 and last

Fundamentalist Beliefs, the Real World, and Science Fiction

Posted on Thursday 6 November 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

“Those of us in the U.S. think we’re amazing at everything… mostly because we’re blissfully ignorant about how the rest of the world operates.” Here’s a fun video of a fundamentalist pastor from an Atlanta suburb whose mind is boggled … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Religion, Thinking | Comments Off on Fundamentalist Beliefs, the Real World, and Science Fiction

Recent Links and Comments: Do You Believe in Blue?

Posted on Friday 15 August 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Catching up on three weeks of content, having been preoccupied by personal projects and various life changes. Divided into groups. Science Fascinating speculation by Steve Pinker on the evolutionary significance of music Pinker argues that in fact that music is not an … Continue reading →

Posted in Atheism, Book Notes, Culture, Evolution, MInd, Psychology, Religion, Science, The Gays, Thinking | Comments Off on Recent Links and Comments: Do You Believe in Blue?

Prothero on The Unpersuadables

Posted on Sunday 6 July 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Another review of a review: Donald Prothero (a geology professor at Occidental College in LA, and a lecturer at Caltech), has a review of a new book by Will Storr, The Unpersuadables: Adventures with the Enemies of Science, that develops … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Lunacy, Religion, Science | Comments Off on Prothero on The Unpersuadables

Sean Carroll: The Meaning of Life

Posted on Saturday 31 May 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

I was checking out Sean Carroll’s blog today, and saw this post with a YouTube excerpt of comments he made during a debate with Michael Shermer, Dinesh D’Souza, and Ian Hutchinson. Can’t resist quoting extensively, since he summarizes much of … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Psychology, Quote at Length, Religion, Science | Comments Off on Sean Carroll: The Meaning of Life

Kalam, Infinities, and Intellectual Honesty

Posted on Friday 30 May 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

I was glancing around Adam Lee’s website and noticed his archive of foundational essays (some of which have been partially incorporated into his book). One is a very long, detailed response to the traditional arguments for the existence of God. … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal history, Philosophy, Religion, Science | Comments Off on Kalam, Infinities, and Intellectual Honesty