Mark R. Kelly
» Founder in 1997 and site-runner for 20 years of Locus Online (Hugo Award winner in 2002). Founder in 2012 and still site-runner of sfadb.com (Science Fiction Awards Database). Retired in 2012 after 30 years as a software engineer for a certain rocket engine factory.
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» Previous Views from Medina Road (2010-2013)
» Blogspot Views from Medina Road (2003-2010)-
Recent Posts
- Frogs, Religion, the Ballroom, Bigotry, and Dictators
- Kindergarten Anthropology, and Ordering Things Into Existence
- Steven Pinker, ENLIGHTENMENT NOW, post 3
- Documenting My Reading; Holiday Shopping; and Tr*mp
- Do People Actually Believe the Things That They Say?
- Steven Pinker: ENLIGHTENMENT NOW, post 2
- Defending the Indefensible; and Reading
- Narcissists and Simpletons
- Moon Status; Dormant Bigotry
- Nominalism, and Some Cool Maps
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Meta
Category Archives: Human Nature
Four Years; and Primitive, Atavistic Tendencies
Four years since my heart transplant; David Brooks on loyalty to home vs loyalty to abstractions; human nature; and how Trumpism is an attempt “to reduce us to our most primitive, atavistic tendencies.”; Thus: Trump fired the historians whose job … Continue reading
Posted in Human Nature, Personal history
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Crime, Hypocrisy, Fraud & Abuse, Doing Your Own Research, Cafeteria Religion, and Christian Presumption
Crime rates are falling; crime is not a national emergency; Why do people think otherwise? Republicans criticize Democrats for what they are doing now; Why do Republicans think there is so much fraud and abuse everywhere? Why “doing your own … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Human Nature, Politics, Religion
Comments Off on Crime, Hypocrisy, Fraud & Abuse, Doing Your Own Research, Cafeteria Religion, and Christian Presumption
Taxes and Benefits, Empathy, Genocide
Republicans, predictably, cut taxes for the rich and benefits for the poor. Because the poor deserve their station, apparently (and the rich fund Republicans); Now among Christians empathy is a sin! (Do they actually read their Bibles?); Trump is obsessed … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Human Nature
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Substack as the new Royal Society, vs MAGA waging war on the future
Will Substack be the Royal Society of the 21st century? While Trump and MAGA wage war on the future; Robert Reich on *why* Trump and his regime want to destroy every institution in America; And my running theme about the … Continue reading
Posted in authoritarianism, Conservative Resistance, Evolution, Human Nature, Politics, science fiction
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Taker States and Desi Arnaz
Thomas Edsall on the destructiveness of the Trump presidency; As the US discounts investments in the future, China is taking the lead; How Trump World clings to conspiracy theories; And how Trump folks simply stop enforcing rules they don’t like, … Continue reading
Posted in Human Nature, Politics, TV Sci Fi
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The Daily News
The range of politics reflects the range of human nature; Posts without much comments about military tribunals, hacking the economy, Jeanine Pirro’s black and white worldview, how the Qatar jet deal is Biden’s fault, Paul Krugman on sadistic zombies, and … Continue reading
Posted in Human Nature, Politics
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Current Politics as Reflections of Human Nature
My daily routine; How Trump would be king and end the rule of law in America, and how this is understandable given base human nature; Paul Krugman on the existential threat of climate change, that conservatives deny or simply do … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Human Nature, Morality, Personal history, Politics
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We’re Living in an Age of Regression
In Trump’s America, it’s every parent and child out for themselves; Who decides who’s Christian? The government? Fox News says the Qatari bribe to Trump is fine because FDR gave three planes to the Saudis… 80 years ago; Robert Reich … Continue reading
Posted in authoritarianism, Conservative Resistance, Culture, Decline, Evolution, Human Nature, Human Progress, Music
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Tim Urban, WHAT’S OUR PROBLEM?, post 1
(Wait But Why, 2024, 584pp, including 112pp of characters, acknowledgements, notes, bibliography, and bio) I wrote about this book back in December, before deciding to buy it. Which I did despite some cautionary signs: it’s apparently self-published, it’s enormous, it’s … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, conservatives, Culture, Human Nature, Human Progress
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J. Bronowksi: THE ASCENT OF MAN
(Little, Brown, 1973, 448pp, including 9pp (in tiny print) of bibliography and index) This is a substantial book that was popular in its time but is probably not really recommendable now, simply because it’s 50 years out of date in … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Culture, History, Human Nature, Human Progress, Science
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