Category Archives: Human Nature

Tribalists, Bribes, 9/11 and Tyranny, Fear, and Cheating

Posted on Friday 11 September 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Reading David Pakman, and considering Republican history since Reagan; Trumps is now trying to bribe voters; How the Patriot Act, passed after 9/11 and never repealed, have given Trump the tools to become a tyrant; How Republicans use fear to … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Human Nature, Morality, Politics | Comments Off on Tribalists, Bribes, 9/11 and Tyranny, Fear, and Cheating

The Battle

Posted on Wednesday 9 September 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

How the erosion of the 20th century’s “liberal consensus” began to crumble under Ronald Reagan; Conservatives lying with fake photos, photoshops, bogus census reports, and more. – – – Heather Cox Richardson has told this story. (See my review.) NY … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Nature, Politics | Comments Off on The Battle

Adam Kirsch: THE REVOLT AGAINST HUMANITY

Posted on Wednesday 9 September 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: Imagining a Future Without Us (Columbia Global Reports, 2023, 100pp, including 2pp of further reading.) Here’s a small book with some provocative ideas I didn’t anticipate from the title. It’s from a publishing imprint of Columbia University called Columbia … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Human Nature, Human Progress, Meaning | Comments Off on Adam Kirsch: THE REVOLT AGAINST HUMANITY

Is the World Becoming Too Complex for Ordinary Human Cognition?

Posted on Monday 7 September 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

The “time tax” and the unavoidable complexity of society; The value of liberal education; – – – 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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Human Nature | Comments Off on Is the World Becoming Too Complex for Ordinary Human Cognition?

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 | Comments Off on Peter Singer: THE EXPANDING CIRCLE

Wonder is Appreciating the World as it Is

Posted on Friday 4 September 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

An essay on wonder in everyday life; The UN’s new world map and US opposition to it; Brief links. – – – Wonder is freely available, in the reality of the world we live in, for people who bother to … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Nature, reality | Comments Off on Wonder is Appreciating the World as it Is

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 | Comments Off on Is America Literally Being Sabotaged? From Within?

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 | Comments Off on We’re a Cooperative Species, Not an Isolationist Tribal One, Mostly

A Cosmic Perspective, and MAGA Kibble

Posted on Tuesday 1 September 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Recalling some of Carl Sagan’s cosmic perspective; Trump thinks bike paths are DEI; pretend Christians; Christians who raise people from the dead; renaming Lake Ontario; Robert Reich on Trump; shutting down research; how Trump is revolting against the Constitution. – … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Cosmology, Human Nature, Lunacy | Comments Off on A Cosmic Perspective, and MAGA Kibble

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