Category Archives: Human Progress

Extreme vs. Necessary Solutions

Posted on 28 November 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

To the imminent destruction of the planet. Allow the human race to go extinct? Cut back on capitalist consumption? (Which would be worse?)

Posted in Culture, Evolution, Human Progress | Leave a comment

Links and Comments: 19 Nov 2022

Posted on 19 November 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

About FTX and effective altruism; political examples in the spirit of the recent Borowitz book; examples of how the media covers events; and a perspective on the American economy under Republicans and Democrats. Image here: today’s sunset.

Posted in Human Progress, Politics | Leave a comment

Never Ending

Posted on 6 October 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Big Think, Nirit Weiss-Blatt, 4 Oct 2022: Bombastic eulogies: Let’s put an end to cynical “The End of” headlines. Subtitled: “We can never hope for a future with no problems. The solutions to problems create new problems, which in turn … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Progress, Technology | Leave a comment

Marin Vaxxers

Posted on 3 October 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

NYT, Soumya Karlamangla, posted 2 Oct 2022, in today’s paper: Once Known for Vaccine Skeptics, Marin Now Tells Them ‘You’re Not Welcome’ Subtitled: “The wealthy California county just north of San Francisco has one of the nation’s highest Covid-19 vaccination … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Human Progress, Lunacy, Science | Leave a comment

Recent Features and Headlines, 14 Sept 2022

Posted on 14 September 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Ockham’s Razor; Randall Munroe; The best time to be alive; nephew of longtermism; political headlines.

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Human Progress, Philosophy, Politics, Science | Leave a comment

Recent Headlines, 7 Sept 2022

Posted on 7 September 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Busy with things including the heat. For now headlines from the past few days, lightly commented. I’ve skimmed them at best; some I will revisit and comment further. About not following your gut; the past 150 years of human history; … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Education, Human Progress, Links & Comments, Narrative, Psychology, Social Progress | Leave a comment

Son of Longtermism

Posted on 22 August 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Some 14 days ago, in this post, I linked and quoted from a NYT guest essay by William MacAskill about valuing the future as much as we value the present. Which struck me as a reasonable position to take, a … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Human Progress, Humanism, Philosophy, Science, Social Progress | Leave a comment

Longtermism

Posted on 8 August 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

A key aspect of (good) science fiction is that it takes a long term view, of the species, of the universe, as so few individual people do.

Posted in Human Progress, science fiction | Leave a comment

LQCs: The Arc of Historical Progress vs. Religious Oppression in the US

Posted on 10 May 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

First, my favorite print magazine The Week, for May 13th, in its “Viewpoint” box on the “Best Columns US” page, quotes Francis Fukuyama in The Wall Street Journal (a newspaper I don’t read). But unlike the similarly found David French … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Progress, Morality, Politics, Religion | Leave a comment

LQCs: Back in Time, to a Perfect Past

Posted on 3 March 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

It’s been a couple days since President Biden’s State of the Union address — in which he spoke forcefully about many things, but avoided topics that would strain attention spans, e.g. climate change — and I’ve been fascinated since then … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Culture, Human Progress, Links & Comments, Politics | Comments Off on LQCs: Back in Time, to a Perfect Past