Mark R. Kelly
» Founder in 1997 and site-runner for 20 years of Locus Online (Hugo Award winner in 2002). Founder in 2012 and still site-runner of sfadb.com (Science Fiction Awards Database). Retired in 2012 after 30 years as a software engineer for a certain rocket engine factory.
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Meta
Search Results for: how the mind works
Consolidations and Resolutions
More discussion today of what I got done in 2024, and about my ongoing project that will extend into 2025. This is to start consolidating all my writing ideas from the past decade into some overall framework. I’ve been doing … Continue reading
Posted in Personal history, The Book
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End of Year Summaries
David Brooks’ favorite essays include one about how Trump’s people have no clue about how to fix complex problems, and one about why people believe *true* things; Two pieces from The Atlantic about 77 facts from 2024, and important breakthroughs … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Politics, Science, Social Progress, Technology
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Muddling Through Somehow
Since today is Christmas Eve, yesterday must have been Christmas Adam, right? (First I’ve heard about this.) NY Times, 22 Dec 2024: Behold! ‘Christmas Adam’ Is Born., subtitled “First there was Christmas Eve … and then a new celebration was … Continue reading
Posted in Human Nature, Religion, Social Progress
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The Certitude of the Religious
David French asks and tries to explain why Christians are so cruel; David Brooks writes about his experience of faith; And Kurt Gray about misunderstanding human nature. – – – Of course I’m sure they would deny this. Passing the … Continue reading
Posted in Human Nature, Religion
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Children, Adults Who Think Like Children, and Adults Who Don’t
Trump doesn’t need to keep his promises because he’ll just claim that he has, and blame his enemies when it’s obvious he has not; How the threat of government shutdown reveals the Republicans as the party of “no”, recalling William … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Politics, Psychology, Religion
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Fear, Outrage, and Paranoia
I’ve been curious, but have never been sufficiently tempted, to watch or listen to right-wing media for any period of time. These two pieces confirm my impression that most of its content is about fear and outrage. Fear of a … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, History, Lunacy, Politics
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Politics, Social Issues, History
Borowitz, Andy. 2022. Profiles in Ignorance: How America’s Politicians Got Dumb and Dumber. Avid Reader Press. ** 1/2 Comedian and political observer Borowitz wonder why conservatives prefer dimwit candidates, and goes over the record of the past 40 some years. … Continue reading
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Psychology and Narrative
Ahn, Woo-Kyoung. 2022. Thinking 101: How to Reason Better to Live Better. Flatiron. ** Yet another book about cognitive biases, mixing psychology and self-help. The one distinction between this and similar books is that the author supplies suggestions for overcoming … Continue reading
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General Science, Physics, Cosmology, Astronomy
Al-Khalili, Jim. 2022. The Joy of Science. Princeton. *** Short but substantive book about the benefits of thinking more scientifically. Science is a process, not a belief system; scientific theories need to be falsifiable and testable, and so science is … Continue reading
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Futurism
Bregman, Rutger. 2017. Utopia for Realists: How We Can Build the Ideal World. Little, Brown. *** This Dutch thinker outlines ways to make the future a better place, with evidence about why they would work: implement a universal income; abandon … Continue reading
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