Monthly Archives: October 2023

Beliefs and Reality

Posted on 31 October 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

On this Halloween there are Christian forces out there warning against demons, since they apparently believe demons are real. For their definitions of “believe” and “real.” Which are not the same definitions that reality-based people use. My understanding of this … Continue reading →

Posted in Lunacy, reality, Religion, Science | Leave a comment

The Corporate Enemy of Truth

Posted on 30 October 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Just finished Jonathan Rauch’s 2021 book The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth, which argues that the government and science have evolved analogous mechanisms to steadily close in on objective truth, with self-correcting mechanisms, and that modern political forces … Continue reading →

Posted in Psychology, Science | Leave a comment

My Essay Accepted for Publication

Posted on 29 October 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

The news this late October is that I’ve had an 11,000 word essay, the one I’ve been working on since June, accepted by Gary Westfahl for publication in a volume of essays to be published in a year or so … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal history, science fiction | Leave a comment

How “Meaning” is just another example of the Narrative Bias

Posted on 28 October 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Three pieces from Big Think. How history is told by story-tellers, and cannot be taken literally; How philosophy advances science by asking forbidden questions; How questions about the “meaning of life” reveal the narrative bias. —— Three sciency links, all … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Meaning, Narrative, Philosophy, Science | Leave a comment

Disconnects from Reality

Posted on 27 October 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

The economy is doing great and yet conservatives deny it; Heather Cox Richardson contrasts worldviews, one leading to our economy, the other to mass shootings; More about House Speaker Mike Johnson: hate for LGBTQ+ people; allegiance with “debunked faux-historian” David … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Epistemology, Politics, Religion | Leave a comment

The New Speaker of the House and Delusional Reality

Posted on 26 October 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Items about newly elected Speaker of the House Mike Johnson from the NYT editorial board, Paul Krugman, and the LAT editorial board; Specific items about Johnson’s claims that fossil fuels don’t cause climate change, that the US is not a … Continue reading →

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Misapprehensions of Reality

Posted on 25 October 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

The new House Speaker is an election denier who would criminalize homosexuality; How Christian conservatives are flatly wrong about homosexuality being “unnatural” or that “creed” is part of “what you are”; and the evolutionary reason why they resist homosexuality, cross-dressing, … Continue reading →

Posted in Evolution, Politics, Psychology, Religion | Leave a comment

The Twilight Zone of Religion and Conservative Politics

Posted on 24 October 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Adam Lee counters Christian claims that “new atheism” has collapsed; it hasn’t Greta Christina patiently explains the vacuousness of “Pascal’s Wager” Religious presumption and “our religion” Republicans look to Jesus Republicans can break promises if God tells them to Short … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Psychology, Religion | Leave a comment

Science and Art and Predictions and Immortality

Posted on 23 October 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Carlo Rovelli on science and art; Big Think on failed predictions; Immortality as a philosophical paradox; Michio Kaku on the four types of planetary civilizations. —— NY Times, guest essay by Carlo Rovelli, 16 Oct 2023: The Secret to Unlocking … Continue reading →

Posted in Cosmology, Evolution, Science | Leave a comment

Dysfunctional American Politics and Speculation About Root Causes

Posted on 22 October 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Paul Krugman on the decline of Pax Americana; New Republic on why the Republicans are dysfunctional: they have no policy ideas or purpose; NYT’s Jamelle Bouie on how the Republican Party got Southernized; And a note about Jonathan Rauch’s The … Continue reading →

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