Category Archives: Human Nature

David Brin, THE TRANSPARENT SOCIETY

Posted on Saturday 28 March 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: Will Technology Force Us to Choose Between Privacy and Freedom? (Addison Wesley, April 1998, 378pp, including 42pp of notes, follow-up, acknowledgements, index, and about the author.) Here is a book that has sat my shelves for over a quarter … Continue reading →

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Again, No Kings

Posted on Saturday 28 March 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Noting the rallies held today, bigger than those last time; Pieces today about how MAGA is entering the ‘acceptance’ stage of death, and how there’s no way to redeem Trump’s dismal second presidency; Who are the 100 million people Bovino … Continue reading →

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Reading and Introspection

Posted on Friday 27 March 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Assessing American literacy, and the claim that being able to read a New York Times article puts you into the “hyper-literate educated elite”; How Trump doesn’t read, at all. How powerful tech oligarchs think introspection is dumb; The new homophobia … Continue reading →

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Again, Living in History

Posted on Tuesday 24 March 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

This isn’t about Trump or MAGA per se. I suspect most people don’t realize how we’re all witnessing historic shifts in American and world politics in the past few years. What many of us are not noticing will be written … Continue reading →

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Morality Wars

Posted on Monday 23 March 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Widely reported today. Mediaite, 22 Mar 2026: Trump Declares ‘The Death of Iran’ — Then Brands Democratic Party America’s ‘Greatest Enemy’ in Stunning Post “Now with the death of Iran, the greatest enemy America has is the Radical Left, Highly … Continue reading →

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Carl Sagan & Ann Druyan: SHADOWS OF FORGOTTEN ANCESTORS

Posted on Monday 16 March 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: A Search for Who We Are (Random House, Oct 1992, xvi + 505pp, including 85pp of notes, permissions acknowledgements, and index.) This is perhaps Carl Sagan’s most substantial book, on the grounds that it’s through-written as a single composition; … Continue reading →

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Movie relevance, conservative intuition, unbothered people, Paul and Heather

Posted on Friday 13 March 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

How A House of Dynamite, not nominated for any Oscars, is more important and relevant than any of the pictures nominated, and a great movie; Trump needs to “feel it in my bones” to make a decision, which is precisely … Continue reading →

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Stupid vs. Evil

Posted on Thursday 12 March 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Robert Reich’s take on what the two US political parties think of each other, and my interpretation of conservative thinking; About Pete Hegseth and how he sees moral purpose in war as a weakness; Another item about parental rights, concerning … Continue reading →

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Gullicism and Literacy

Posted on Monday 9 March 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Adam Serwer on our “gullible, cynical” America, a condition he dubs “gullicism”; And how this is an absence of “literacy” about how the world actually works; Why everyone thinking “God is on our side” is a problem; John Pavlovitz answers … Continue reading →

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Johan Norberg, PROGRESS

Posted on Tuesday 3 March 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: Ten Reasons to Look Forward to the Future (UK: Oneworld, Oct 2016, 246pp, including 28pp notes, acknowledgements, and index) Rather as I did with Rutger Bregman a few days, here’s an author who has a new book out recently, … Continue reading →

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