Witnessing History: When People Tell You Who They Are, Believe Them

Posted on Tuesday 14 November 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

It’s difficult to keep a perspective on the news, which may well be history happening in front of our eyes, or may simply consist of passing trends. There are always passing trends. In the long term, history shows that most people at the time don’t notice long-term historical shifts, like the rise of fascism, in this country or that. So are all the news articles and opinion pieces about the possible resurgence of Donald Trump a passing trend, or the foreboding of a dark future for American democracy? First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out…. Is it worth my spending an hour a day compiling stories like these? (The subtitle of this post paraphrases Maya Angelou.) Or if I did not, would future generations accuse me of being unaware of history growing around me? Similar questions could be raised about climate change. That too is a real problem, but I try not to overload my blog with the latest warning from scientists about that every-increasing danger. It’s obvious, to anyone paying attention, and not blinkered by right-wing propaganda.

CNN, 14 Nov 2023: Trump’s extreme rhetoric conjures the prospect of a presidency like no other

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Disconnects about the Economy

Posted on Monday 13 November 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

There have been several articles recently about how, and why, economists think the economy is doing just fine, while ordinary people (voters) don’t. Why would this be? Are these ordinary people simply poisoned by partisan propaganda? Or is it something deeper? A couple substantial ideas show up, among four pieces examined here.

Salon, Kirk Swearingen, 13 Nov 2023: Joe Biden’s economy is, honestly, pretty amazing: How come he doesn’t get credit?, subtitled “Many voters claim Biden’s economy is bad and Trump’s was better. What fantasy version of America do they live in?”

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Things that are True about the World, despite Human Intuitions

Posted on Sunday 12 November 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

After three posts about that Jonathan Rauch book, let’s post some items about conclusions made by the reality-based community.

  • Veritasium on Euclid’s Fifth Postulate, and how there is more to reality than human intuitive thinking;
  • Neil de Grasse Tyson on how scientific debate works;
  • Neil de Grasse Tyson on thinking exponentially;
  • Neil de Grasse Tyson on how people believe things known for centuries to be not true.

Veritasium, 9 Nov: How One Line in the Oldest Math Text Hinted at Hidden Universes…

Veritasium on the science of parallels. A good example of how intuitive thinking by humans is blinkered thinking, and how reality is bigger than human experience. Continue reading →

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The Deep State, or, Jonathan Rauch, THE CONSTITUTION OF KNOWLEDGE, part 3

Posted on Saturday 11 November 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

I’ve said the last two posts that I would quote the passages of Rauch’s book in which he describes what he considers to be the components of the “reality-based community.” And how it struck me that some of these components are likely what the simple-minded right thinks of as the “deep state” that is somehow conspiring to deprive them of their freedom, and which they would eliminate (DeSantis would “cut their throats”), without understanding them or why they are needed to preserve our complex society. So for now (never mind scanning and converting to text, as I suggested earlier) here are two photos showing pages 100-102 of the book. Click on images for expanded views.

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Jonathan Rauch, THE CONSTITUTION OF KNOWLEDGE, part 2

Posted on Friday 10 November 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Yesterday I gave a general overview of this book, and made a few specific comments. Today I’m going to read through my notes again, and highlight some more specific comments, and maybe quotes. Like this summary, at the end.

The Constitution of Knowledge is the most successful social design in human history, but also the most counter-intuitive. In exchange for knowledge, freedom, and peace, it asks us to mistrust our senses and our tribes, question our sacred beliefs, and relinquish the comforts of certitude. It insists that we embrace our fallibility, subject ourselves to criticism, tolerate the reprehensible, and outsource reality to a global network of strangers.

Some summary of the early chapters:

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Jonathan Rauch, THE CONSTITUTION OF KNOWLEDGE, part 1

Posted on Thursday 9 November 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: “A Defense of Truth”. Brookings, 2021. 266pp of text, plus notes and index, total 305pp.

This is one of two books I’ve read recently, following the Lee McIntyre book that I posted about two days ago, that dovetail in their concern for truth vs. disinformation. (Two others that also concern, in varying ways, how consensus reality has become corroded are by Lukianoff & Haidt, and Ariely.) Rauch is senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, perhaps the most influential and credible think tank in the nation, according to Wikipedia, which does not identify it as leaning either left or right. He also writes for The Atlantic.

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Do These People Ever Go Outside and Look Around?

Posted on Wednesday 8 November 2023 by Mark R. Kelly
  • Paul Krugman asks why the Right hates America;
  • Like Mike Johnson, Rick Santorum is skeptical of democracy (when results don’t go his way);
  • Adam Lee on the allure of tribalism.

Paul Krugman responds to the Damon Linker piece that I posted about four days ago.  Here we go again: is there anything new here, about how those on the right (conservatives, Republicans, whatever) have become anti-democratic religious-zealot conspiracy-mongers?

NY Times, Opinion, Paul Krugman, 6 Nov 23: Why Does the Right Hate America?

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The Extent of the Universe, and Our History of Understanding It

Posted on Tuesday 7 November 2023 by Mark R. Kelly
  • NY Times with a photo spread of images from the James Webb telescope;
  • Big Think with a timeline of our history of understanding our universe.
——

NY Times, Kate LaRue, 5 Nov 2023: The James Webb telescope is a giant leap in the history of stargazing. Our view of the universe will never be the same.

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Lee McIntyre, ON DISINFORMATION

Posted on Tuesday 7 November 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: “How to Fight For Truth and Protect Democracy.” The MIT Press, 2023.

I’m behind on writing up my recent reading here on this blog, so let me resume with this very short little book, small in size and just 133 pages of text long, published in August and read in September. (Click image for larger pic.)

This post recalls earlier comments and quotes I’ve posted here about the author and the book; my own summary and take on key points; and then 2000 words of notes and summary I wrote as I read the book.

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Conservative Epistemology

Posted on Monday 6 November 2023 by Mark R. Kelly
  • The core belief that explains extremism on the right;
  • Peter Wehner on how Republicans have chosen nihilism;
  • My wondering what the deep explanation is for what’s happened on the right;
  • Short items about GOP tax cheats, Trump’s latest outrageous lies, his gaffes and incoherent statements, how people willfully choose to be ignorant, beliefs about evolution, Hubble vs. Webb, a weird conspiracy theory about the history of architecture, and religious Americans’ taste for political violence.

Whenever I see an article that purports to explain or reveal the motivations behind the conservative movement, and/or its admiration for Donald Trump, I look closely to see if there’s anything new. There rarely is.

Salon, Chauncey DeVega, 6 Nov 2023: “Apocalypticism”: Polling expert reveals the root of “panic among conservative White Christians”, subtitled “‘That core belief explains so much of the extremism and the proclivity toward violence on the political right'”

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