Category Archives: Evolution

The Meaning of Human Existence

Posted on Wednesday 5 November 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

(Earlier posted on Facebook) Quick plug for Edward O. Wilson’s new book, THE MEANING OF HUMAN EXISTENCE, which is as expected a grand if concise philosophical summary of this important scientist’s views on the big issues of science and philosophy … Continue reading →

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Conservatives, Liberals, Disgust, and Social Progress

Posted on Wednesday 5 November 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Why are some people innately ‘conservative’, and others innately ‘liberal’? — I put these terms in quotes because I’m not sure they apply in these terms to any cultures outside the American political system, though I suppose they must in … Continue reading →

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Apophenia, Religious Apologists, No True Scotsman

Posted on Tuesday 4 November 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

I maintain a Word document where I compile links and quotes from online articles I intend to comment on in this blog, and as I post each one, I gray out the text of that section of the Word doc. … Continue reading →

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Journey to the Beginning of Time

Posted on Monday 27 October 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

I got two responses to my query late last week on Facebook about a film I’d seen in the mid-1960s and only vaguely remembered, a film about boys in a rowboat going back in time — responses from Alan P … Continue reading →

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Education, Inculcation, Smart Kids, Evolution and Religion, Value Voter Summit

Posted on Monday 29 September 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Two fine essays from this past Sunday’s New York Times. Frank Bruni: The Wilds of Education When it comes to bullying, to sexual assault, to gun violence, we want and need our schools to be as safe as possible. But … Continue reading →

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E.O. Wilson on Human Existence

Posted on Thursday 18 September 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Via Andrew Sullivan, a passage from E.O. Wilson’s new book The Meaning of Human Existence, to be published October 6th, yet already on the long-list for this year’s National Book Award for Nonfiction [scroll down]. Sullivan quotes, “In a nutshell,” … Continue reading →

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Recent Links and Comments: Do You Believe in Blue?

Posted on Friday 15 August 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Catching up on three weeks of content, having been preoccupied by personal projects and various life changes. Divided into groups. Science Fascinating speculation by Steve Pinker on the evolutionary significance of music Pinker argues that in fact that music is not an … Continue reading →

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Today’s Odds and Ends: Conservative rejection of science; Christians’ perceived persecution; Dinesh D’Souza’s paranoia

Posted on Wednesday 9 July 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

There have been several articles in recent days about how people [conservatives] who don’t accept evolution or climate science don’t necessarily know less about those subjects than others… they do so because their “community” rejects such conclusions, by instinct. New … Continue reading →

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Links, Quotes, Comments: 20 June

Posted on Friday 20 June 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

A post today by Amanda Marcotte, on both Salon and Alternet– Salon: Reason vs. the right: Have conservatives abandoned science and rationality? Alternet: Have Conservatives Abandoned Rationality, Skepticism and Truth? The possibility that rationality itself has become a partisan issue … Continue reading →

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Unafraid of the Dark: Highlights from the last episode of Cosmos

Posted on Monday 9 June 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Passages from the last episode of Neil deGrasse Tyson’s “Cosmos”. Early in the episode, he describes a thought experiment: Pick a star, any one of the hundreds of billions of stars in our Milky Way galaxy, which is just one … Continue reading →

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