Monthly Archives: November 2023

Last Questions and Possible Answers, 3

Posted on 20 November 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

This is my third post, following this one in March and this one in June, in which I consider the John Brockman book The Last Unknowns, in which he gathers deep unanswered questions about “the universe, the mind, the future … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Culture, Evolution, Human Progress, Mathematics, Philosophy, Physics, Religion, Science | Leave a comment

A Clear, Crisp Day in the Bay Area

Posted on 19 November 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Going through today’s links, and earlier backlogged links, and today focusing on political matters. Are there better things to do with an hour or two of my life, a couple times a week, than to pay attention to the crazies? … Continue reading →

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A Rainy, Foggy Day in the Bay Area

Posted on 18 November 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

We got our walk in today during a break in the rain; when it started again, it turned to fog. (Meanwhile, making significant progress on the next expansion of sfadb.com today. Real soon now.) Various items for today; catching up … Continue reading →

Posted in Atheism, Conservative Resistance, Narrative, Politics, Religion, The Gays | Leave a comment

Liberals vs. Progressives; What’s the Difference?

Posted on 17 November 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Pamela Paul in NYT distinguishes progressive from liberals; the answer is, the former are driving cancel culture from the left; How I’ve changed my mind about threats from the right, vs. those from the left; Jerry Coyne, who follows university … Continue reading →

Posted in conservatives, Politics, Psychology, Science | Tagged | Leave a comment

Decency, Bias, and Superstition

Posted on 16 November 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Over and over, Trump and his team, unable to win arguments on the facts, resort to ad hominem — character assassination; The contrast between conservative insistence on women taking a child to term, rather than abortion, with the mild inconvenience … Continue reading →

Posted in conservatives, Psychology, The Gays | Leave a comment

Real Conspiracy Theories and Fake Crises

Posted on 15 November 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Benjamin Bradford at CFI about how conspiracy theorists shrug about real conspiracy theories; Big Think on conspiracy theories about places claimed not to exist; Robert Reich on the fake crises Republicans use to distract from real problems. CFI, Benjamin Bradford, … Continue reading →

Posted in conservatives, Epistemology, Psychology | Leave a comment

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

Posted on 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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Lunacy, Politics | Leave a comment

Disconnects about the Economy

Posted on 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 … Continue reading →

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Things that are True about the World, despite Human Intuitions

Posted on 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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Mathematics, Science | Leave a comment

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

Posted on 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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, conservatives, Epistemology | Leave a comment