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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- Joshua Greene, MORAL TRIBES, post 2
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- The Dual-Process Theory of Morality, and Some Examples
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- Daniel Dennett, Exploring the Universe, the Eclipse, and How so Many People have no idea what an eclipse is about
- Jaime Green, THE POSSIBILITY OF LIFE
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Monthly Archives: March 2023
The Latest from Steven Pinker
Today, a long interview with Steven Pinker about ‘progress’ despite human nature; about the value of rationality; about looking at data and not headlines to understand the state of the world; about cancel culture; about the perils and inevitability of … Continue reading
Posted in Human Progress, Psychology, Science, Steven Pinker
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How Much News Is Too Much News?
Today: that debate, my own news consuming habits, and the negativity bias. Then: more about wokeness, and the relationship between conservatism, liberalism, wokeness, and equality; and between teaching values and indoctrination. The Atlantic, Shadi Hamid, 13 Mar 2023: You’re Better … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Politics
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Progress, Happiness, Economics, and Morality
Items about the reality of progress and hope that humanity overcomes the effects of climate change; the latest world happiness index in which the US ranks 15th; Robert Reich busting myths about how the wealthy right justify their wealth; and … Continue reading
Posted in Economics, Morality, Psychology, Science
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Liberty and Freedom vs. Conservatives
About the notion of liberalism; the panic among White Christian nationalists; a book about the John Birch society, which anticipated the modern MAGA movement; and examples of conservatives’ opposition to liberty and freedom. Let’s start with this short video by … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Politics
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Saturday Updates, and Progress
(These are photos from a late 1980s trip to Vandenberg to see a rocket launch.) First of all, I spent another hour polishing and expanding yesterday’s post, about 6 short literary novels I read in 5 days last week while … Continue reading
Posted in Personal history
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A Literary Break
Read last week: six short literary novels in five days. Three by Steinbeck; one each by Henry James and James Joyce and Leo Tolstoy. A break from my routine of reading science fiction and current nonfiction.
Posted in Book Notes, Culture
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To Conservatives, Woke Seems to Mean Whatever They Don’t Like
So my take on wokeness, a couple weeks ago, as a “perhaps exaggerated respect for the sensitivities of others,” is not what most others mean by “woke.” To some conservatives, it means anything they don’t like or want to acknowledge, … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Politics, Psychology, Social Progress
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Narratives, Vanity, and Empathy
A writer named Alissa Quart has a new book out, Bootstrapped: Liberating Ourselves from the American Dream, that challenges the American myth that one can “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” to succeed all on your own. It’s a fantasy … Continue reading
Posted in Politics, Psychology
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Oscars 2023, 2
My takes on the films released in 2022 that we saw, including 8 of the 10 Best Picture Oscar nominees.
Posted in Movies
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Oscars 2023, 1
Lots of items in the news media today about the Oscars, of course. Here’s a typical article about them, followed by some of my reactions, to the awards, and (tomorrow) to some of the individual films. Salon, Melanie McFarland, 13 … Continue reading
Posted in Movies
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