Monthly Archives: January 2024

Tribal Psychology and Racism

Posted on 21 January 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

What evolutionary psychology reveals about American politics — nothing new here, except to note that these ideas have reached the mainstream press; A former Republican speechwriter summarizes Trump’s vile racist remarks; Short items about Trump’s confusion of Nikki Haley with … Continue reading →

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Killers and EvoPsych

Posted on 20 January 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Quick post. We spent all afternoon watching Killers of the Flower Moon — a very good film, worth the 3 1/2 hours — so I only have a moment to post something before dinner. \ Washington Post, Joel Achenbach, 20 … Continue reading →

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Math and Beauty

Posted on 19 January 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Big Think’s Ethan Siegel on the Fibonacci sequence; Big Think’s Adam Frank on biological and technological information flow; Shorter items on inflation and human irrationality; how calls for securing the border are political theater; how anti-science (vaccine “hesitancy”) is rising; … Continue reading →

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40,000 Stars in the Evening

Posted on 18 January 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

An article about what “fandom” means today, and my brief reflections on science fiction fandom; Fringe items about blaming the devil, why only Christians should hold political offices, book banning, what Trump’s “best people” have said about him, and an … Continue reading →

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Einstein’s Rules; Arranging Books; Who Owns the Moon

Posted on 17 January 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Today let’s do three substantial topics, and push items about politics and religion to the end. To the fringe. Einstein’s 7 rules for a better life; A peculiar Guardian article about arranging “curated” books; Adam Lee on religious taboos and … Continue reading →

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Orion, and Tribal Politics

Posted on 16 January 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

What Orion would look like if we had better eyes; The Iowa landslide for Trump reveals evangelicals for who they really are; The country needs a dictator; Sobbing woman begs Trump to save her; Conspiracy-monger set the fires himself; Nikki … Continue reading →

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After Science and Democracy, Perhaps the World is Regressing to a Mean

Posted on 15 January 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Latest examples of Republican values: letting migrants in Texas drown; and how Trump wants his followers in Iowa to vote even if it costs them their lives; How Trump voters prefer a strongman, never mind democracy and law and order; … Continue reading →

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Readings: Carl Sagan; Maggie Jackson

Posted on 14 January 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

A 1987 Carl Sagan lecture, just published in 2022, about the protocols of science and government and the need to acknowledge uncertainty; A NYT opinion piece by Maggie Jackson about uncertainty and how to manage it; R.E.M.’s “Leave” Quillette, Steven … Continue reading →

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At the Edge of the Continent

Posted on 13 January 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Today my partner and I finished setting up my chic new curved widescreen monitor (a Christmas present), replacing the two standard-sized monitors I was using before. This new monitor (technically a “gaming” monitor) shows roughly the equivalent of three of … Continue reading →

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Backing Into Philosophy: Stipulations

Posted on 12 January 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

I do have another batch of links about current events, but I’ll save them for this weekend and instead spend tonight’s blog post jotting down thoughts about philosophy. I mentioned back on Jan 6th that one of my resolutions for … Continue reading →

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