Monthly Archives: July 2023

Scientific Reality and Ideological Imagination

Posted on 21 July 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Reality check about warp drives; Reality perspective about the Kardashev ladder; My evolving ideas about traditional vs. honest science fiction; How the latest conservative panic appears in the new film Sound of Freedom; How House Republicans are openly discriminating against … Continue reading →

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Debates, the Political Divide, and Savannah Morality

Posted on 20 July 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Again, why debating is performance art and not about arriving at truth; How the political divide is mostly about hatred on the right toward the left; How all of this makes sense given understanding of basic human nature, the “Savannah” … Continue reading →

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Conservative Politics and the Flaws of Human Nature

Posted on 19 July 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

How linguistic anthropology and narrative psychology explain the appeal of Trump and other right-wing authoritarians; Why that everyone, not just conservatives, is pessimistic about the world, despite the evidence, is more evidence of how human nature, shaped in humanity’s ancestral … Continue reading →

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Dictatorship and the Rejection of Democracy

Posted on 18 July 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Reactions to yesterday’s NYT piece about Republican plans to make Trump a dictator, abandoning the Founding Father’s idea of a democracy with a balance of powers; Climate change as precisely a subject that *should* be politicized, if politics is anything … Continue reading →

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They’re Telling Us Who They Are, and What They Will Do

Posted on 17 July 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Maya Angelou: “When people show you who they are, believe them the first time.” (source and source) How Trump and his acolytes are openly planning to set up an authoritarian government, should he rewin the Presidency; Similarly, Republicans in Ohio … Continue reading →

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The Current State of the World

Posted on 16 July 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Two items about the current state of the world: the economy is good; climate change is getting worse, and how conservatives won’t believe either; How Big Oil is more concerned with profits than with long-term consequences; How the Mission: Impossible … Continue reading →

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About Immigration

Posted on 15 July 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

My own ancestors were immigrants, of course, in the 1800s, just like most of the US population; and recalling “Irish Need Not Apply”; NYT’s David Leonhardt about the global immigration backlash, without wondering why these migrations are happening; Paul Krugman … Continue reading →

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Truth or Consequences

Posted on 14 July 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Why Republicans would want to defund the IRS, the DOJ, and the FBI; Cory Doctorow’s quick take on this theme in his latest novel; A new book about fearmongering; How conspiracy theories are driven by profit, not truth or honesty … Continue reading →

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Consciousness and Choices

Posted on 13 July 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

The problem of consciousness, and the resolution to a 25-year-old debate, via Vox and NYT’s Carl Zimmer; The paradox of choice, in supermarkets and everywhere else, in our abundant, materialistic world. Vox, Oshan Jarow, 30 Jun 2023: Why scientists haven’t … Continue reading →

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Tenth Anniversary

Posted on 12 July 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Today is the tenth anniversary of this blog. It was originally called “Views from Medina Road,” from where we lived in Woodland Hills (a suburb of Los Angeles) at the time, with the view of the San Fernando Valley, and … Continue reading →

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