Category Archives: Mathematics

Credulity, Innumeracy, and Alarmism

Posted on Thursday 1 May 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

More about Pam Bondi’s nonsensical claim that Trump has saved 258 million lives by seizing fentanyl; Has it occurred to Red States to extend tariffs to Blue States, and only buy products from other Red States? How would that work … Continue reading →

Posted in conservatives, Mathematics | Comments Off on Credulity, Innumeracy, and Alarmism

Dispatches from Reality

Posted on Saturday 15 March 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Taking a day off from political posts, for posts about reality. Or at least, the exploration of reality. Mathematicians solve a 125-year-old problem, perhaps; OnlySky’s Dale McGowan about the evolutionary mismatch between the world we evolved in, and the modern … Continue reading →

Posted in Evolution, Mathematics, Music, Psychology, Science | Comments Off on Dispatches from Reality

A Couple Interesting Things About Reality

Posted on Tuesday 26 November 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

After which, items about toxic masculinity and Trump, Elon Musk stifling news, and others. Let’s begin by noting a couple interesting things about reality, one from a hundred years ago, one new. AlterNet, via The Conversation, 22 Nov 2024: It’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Mathematics, Science | Comments Off on A Couple Interesting Things About Reality

Cosmic and Psychological Lessons

Posted on Friday 8 March 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Phil Plait on the scale of the cosmos; Beware of pluralistic ignorance; How math education can be better taught with examples about money. – – –   Today’s cosmic lesson. Scientific American, Phil Plait, 8 Mar 2024: The Scale of … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Cosmology, Mathematics, Psychology, Science | Comments Off on Cosmic and Psychological Lessons

The Flaw of Math, or Perhaps Just the Limits of Human Cognition

Posted on Saturday 2 March 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Veritasium on math’s fatal flaw, or perhaps just a limitation on the extent humans can understand reality; Considering why cars are built to be able to break the law; A cartoon about religious folks who believe the Bible was written … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Culture, Mathematics, Religion, Technology | Comments Off on The Flaw of Math, or Perhaps Just the Limits of Human Cognition

The True and the Real

Posted on Sunday 11 February 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

About the difference between “true” and “real” and recalling Delany’s DHALGREN; An essay about the reality of mathematics, and whether math implies God. Years ago there was a novel — it was Samuel R. Delany’s 1975 novel DHALGREN — that … Continue reading →

Posted in Mathematics, Philosophy | Comments Off on The True and the Real

Items about Science, Math, and Philosophy

Posted on Thursday 8 February 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

There are always looking glass items, as I described topics in yesterday’s post, but for today let’s look at more substantial items. It’s been 100 years since Hubble discovered that our own galaxy wasn’t the entirety of the universe; Steven … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Mathematics, Philosophy, Science | Comments Off on Items about Science, Math, and Philosophy

Odds and Ends…

Posted on Saturday 27 January 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

How journalism may never again make money; Keeping lists of books you’re read; Decoding the Mandelbrot set. More links collected the past week or so, today non-political ones. Washington Post, Perry Bacon Jr., 27 Jan 2024: Opinion | Journalism may … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Economics, Mathematics | Comments Off on Odds and Ends…

Math and Beauty

Posted on Friday 19 January 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Big Think’s Ethan Siegel on the Fibonacci sequence; Big Think’s Adam Frank on biological and technological information flow; Shorter items on inflation and human irrationality; how calls for securing the border are political theater; how anti-science (vaccine “hesitancy”) is rising; … Continue reading →

Posted in Mathematics, Politics, Science | Comments Off on Math and Beauty

Christmas Presents and Consumerism; Beauty in the Universe

Posted on Monday 11 December 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Christmas presents, consumerism, and Adam Lee’s take on minimalism; The idea of ‘beauty’ in the universe, as another component of science fiction’s “consilience”; First take on the new Peter Gabriel album. Like many people as we get older, when Christmas … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Mathematics, Physics, Religion | Comments Off on Christmas Presents and Consumerism; Beauty in the Universe