Monthly Archives: December 2025

Steven Pinker, THE BETTER ANGELS OF OUR NATURE, post 6

Posted on Thursday 4 December 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled “Why Violence Has Declined” (Viking, Oct. 2011, xxvii + 802pp, including 106pp of notes, references, and index.)   Summary: Chapter 8 concerns five forces that drive violence: Predation, Dominance, Revenge, Sadism, and Ideology. Humans are not innately aggressive, except … Continue reading →

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The Fog of War, Hurricanes, and Cave Man Mentality

Posted on Wednesday 3 December 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

JD Vance’s caveman rage against a lesbian stepmom; Heather Cox Richardson about Trump’s decline in mental acuity, and Sen. Mark Kelly on Pete Hegseth; Zack Beauchamp on how Trump is advancing the white nationalist worldview; Hegseth’s misunderstanding of the metaphor … Continue reading →

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Steven Pinker, THE BETTER ANGELS OF OUR NATURE, post 5

Posted on Wednesday 3 December 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled “Why Violence Has Declined” (Viking, Oct. 2011, xxvii + 802pp, including 106pp of notes, references, and index.) Summaries: Chapter 6, “The New Peace,” consider three types of organized violence: among groups citing “ancient hatreds,” ethnic cleansing, and terrorism. These … Continue reading →

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The Human Struggle to Overcome Tribalism and Superstition

Posted on Tuesday 2 December 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Revisiting Steven Pinker, and how the human race has struggled to escape tribalism and superstition (and violence) by way of progressive policies that conservatives to this day still resist; Adam Lee on the continued secularization of American society; How Christianity … Continue reading →

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Steven Pinker, THE BETTER ANGELS OF OUR NATURE, post 4

Posted on Tuesday 2 December 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled “Why Violence Has Declined” (Viking, Oct. 2011, xxvii + 802pp, including 106pp of notes, references, and index.) Here, a full eight years after I began, I’ll finish posting my outline and notes on Steven Pinker’s 2011 book. This is … Continue reading →

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The Limitations of Human Cognition

Posted on Monday 1 December 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Anti-Vaxxers and how it’s not about evidence; Paul Krugman on Trump’s incoherent war on drugs; Short takes on how Trump is elevating Sen. Mark Kelly; how Maga’s idea of Christianity implies a “cold-hearted Jesus”; and why a Bible-based essay on … Continue reading →

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