Category Archives: Culture

Narrative as Reality; or, Reality as Narrative

Posted on Wednesday 21 January 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

For tonight, Paul Krugman’s NYT column from a couple days ago: Hating Good Government Evidence doesn’t matter for the “debate” over climate policy, where I put scare quotes around “debate” because, given the obvious irrelevance of logic and evidence, it’s … Continue reading →

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Links and Quotes: Michael Shermer, Ian McEwan

Posted on Monday 19 January 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Salon has an excerpt from Michael Shermer’s forthcoming book, The Moral Arc: How Science and Reason Lead Humanity toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom (Henry Holt, January 20th). Today, of course, most Jews, Christians, and Muslims believe that moral principles are … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Bruni on ‘religious liberty’; love vs hate; godless kids do just fine; Biblical law; anti-science senators; Pinker on Shakespeare; io9 resources

Posted on Monday 19 January 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Catching up: From a week ago Sunday’s New York Times, Frank Bruni, Your God and My Dignity. He captures better than I can the response to Jeb Bush’s demand to (as Michelangelo Signorile put it) ‘Respect’ My Opposition to Your … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Lunacy, Religion, The Gays | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Bruni on ‘religious liberty’; love vs hate; godless kids do just fine; Biblical law; anti-science senators; Pinker on Shakespeare; io9 resources

Links and Comments: Space Suite; Nice Guys Finish First; Debunking Myths; Is the US Crazy?

Posted on Wednesday 14 January 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

More links and comments from the past week or so, leading with the positive. — First, a ‘Space Suite’ video animation of the planets in our solar system. Very cool. — The AsapSCIENCE guys have this video about how “Nice … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Philosophy, Science | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Space Suite; Nice Guys Finish First; Debunking Myths; Is the US Crazy?

Ray Bradbury’s House Has Been Torn Down, and I Understand Why

Posted on Sunday 11 January 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Ray Bradbury was, of course, the popular and influential science fiction writer of such works as The Martian Chronicles and Fahrenheit 451, the latter book still a staple on high school reading lists. He was only loosely a science fiction … Continue reading →

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Religious Evolution and Obsolescence

Posted on Friday 9 January 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

I’ve mentioned before that there is an evolution of policy stances by conservative and Republican politicians, because the environment — the American public — has shifted its majority opinion on issues such as gay rights and even same-sex marriage. Thus, … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Mostly about the Evils of Religion, Not to Put Too Fine a Point on It

Posted on Wednesday 7 January 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Tonight, many links and comments about religion, especially on this day when thin-skinned Muslim terrorists murdered French journalists who had dared to insult their omniscient, omnipotent god by drawing mocking cartoons about Muhammad. Some of the reaction has been to … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Good News about the state of the world; cultural concepts; science; religion and fantasy

Posted on Monday 5 January 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Catching up on links and comments from the past three weeks or so, given the holiday lapse. * First some Good News: Slate: Steven Pinker and Andrew Mack: The World Is Not Falling Apart In the world is getting more … Continue reading →

Posted in Atheism, Cosmology, Culture, Evolution, Lunacy, Religion | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Good News about the state of the world; cultural concepts; science; religion and fantasy

It’s a Wonderful Life

Posted on Sunday 4 January 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

We watched the film “It’s a Wonderful Life” this past week, as a holiday event, for the umpteenth time, as everyone does, and what I was most struck by this time is one of the most obvious points: how long … Continue reading →

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Phil Zuckerman, Living the Secular Life

Posted on Monday 22 December 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: New Answers to Old Questions. This is a book that addresses the growing trend of non-religious people especially in the US, and how they live their lives without the assumptions that the faithful think are necessary for living a … Continue reading →

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