Category Archives: Human Progress

Never Ending

Posted on Thursday 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 | Comments Off on Never Ending

Marin Vaxxers

Posted on Monday 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 | Comments Off on Marin Vaxxers

Recent Features and Headlines, 14 Sept 2022

Posted on Wednesday 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 | Comments Off on Recent Features and Headlines, 14 Sept 2022

Recent Headlines, 7 Sept 2022

Posted on Wednesday 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 | Comments Off on Recent Headlines, 7 Sept 2022

Son of Longtermism

Posted on Monday 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 | Comments Off on Son of Longtermism

Longtermism

Posted on Monday 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 | Comments Off on Longtermism

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

Posted on Tuesday 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 | Comments Off on LQCs: The Arc of Historical Progress vs. Religious Oppression in the US

LQCs: Back in Time, to a Perfect Past

Posted on Thursday 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

Yuval Noah Harari, 21 LESSONS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY (post #1)

Posted on Thursday 3 February 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

This 2018 book is Harari’s third, of the three he’s published so far. It follows in ways from his second, HOMO DEUS (see here), in exploring some of its themes, but differs in being not a narrative, but a set … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Culture, Human Progress | Comments Off on Yuval Noah Harari, 21 LESSONS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY (post #1)

SF as Luddite Literature?

Posted on Thursday 13 January 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Today’s counter-intuitive notion is from novelist and long-time Locus columnist Cory Doctorow. This essay is in the January 2022 issue, and posted (for free) online, here: Locus, Cory Doctorow, posted 3 Jan 2022: Science Fiction is a Luddite Literature

Posted in Human Progress, science fiction, Technology | Comments Off on SF as Luddite Literature?