Category Archives: Human Nature

Is the World Becoming Too Complex for Ordinary Human Cognition?

Posted on Monday 7 September 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Here’s more about the new book about the so-called “time tax.” The Atlantic, Adam Harris, today: How the Government Wastes Our Time, subtitled “What do we lose in the hours spent filling out paperwork?” Americans are bogged down in paperwork … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Human Nature | Leave a comment

Peter Singer: THE EXPANDING CIRCLE

Posted on Sunday 6 September 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: Ethics, Evolution, and Moral Progress. (First published 1981. This edition, with a new preface and afterword: Princeton University Press, 2011, xviii + 208pp, including 35pp of notes on sources, afterword, and index.) I had thought this book was about … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Nature, Philosophy, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Wonder is Appreciating the World as it Is

Posted on Friday 4 September 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Wonder is freely available, in the reality of the world we live in, for people who bother to look up from their holy books and political screeds and capitalist efficiency mandates. The Atlantic, Ian Bogost, today: The Missing Ingredient of … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Nature, reality | Leave a comment

Is America Literally Being Sabotaged? From Within?

Posted on Thursday 3 September 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Is America being sabotaged from within? Robert Reich asks his readers what gives them hope, with four options; Headlines about Haitians, Satan, a terror attack, the end of free meals for children, hiding statistics, how conservatives are realizing Dolly Parton … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Human Nature, Meaning, Politics | Leave a comment

We’re a Cooperative Species, Not an Isolationist Tribal One, Mostly

Posted on Wednesday 2 September 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Essay on how the future of independence is interdependence; Short items about JD Vance’s sense of spiritual darkness, and his apparent welcoming of the “end times”; a new Navy Secretary who believes in witchcraft; asking why psychics don’t help in … Continue reading →

Posted in conservatives, Human Nature, Human Progress | Leave a comment

A Cosmic Perspective, and MAGA Kibble

Posted on Tuesday 1 September 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

I have a bunch of Trump/MAGA kibble today, but I’ll start with two quotes from the enlightened fringe of humanity. Carl Sagan, from his book with Ann Druyan, SHADOWS OF FORGOTTEN ANCESTORS. (Which I reviewed here.) “We humans are like … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Cosmology, Human Nature, Lunacy | Leave a comment

Truth, Myths, and Levels of Reality

Posted on Friday 28 August 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Given inevitable pandemics and inevitable conspiracy mongering, could AI be the answer?; A new Sean Tan book, and how perhaps some truths can only be told through myth; Bruce Ledewitz at OnlySky recalls a time when the US government was … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Nature, Music, Personal history, Technology | Comments Off on Truth, Myths, and Levels of Reality

Self-Destruction and Magical Thinking

Posted on Wednesday 26 August 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Self-destruction: Of the US military, of the Kennedy Center; How MAGA’s religious freedom doesn’t apply to Muslims; Dimwits: Darline Graham, advocates for “conservative-based” science; a GOP nominee who thinks humans and dinosaurs lived at the same time; Liars, vanity projects … Continue reading →

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Cognitive Overload?

Posted on Tuesday 25 August 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Is humanity suffering information overload? Why people hate data centers; Why people hate the government; Is this all about the increasing complexity of the world, and the limits of human cognition? Comments about Trump and Canada from Robert Charles Wilson … Continue reading →

Posted in conservatives, Decline, Education, Evolution, Human Nature | Comments Off on Cognitive Overload?

The Proper Study

Posted on Monday 24 August 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

The proper study of mankind, if not in the way Alexander Pope meant; Powers of Ten, and the range of human intuition and understanding; If Pluto is a planet, so are dozens of other spherical bodies. A passionate performance of … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Human Nature, Music, Philosophy, Science | Comments Off on The Proper Study