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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Recent Posts
- How the American Experiment May Not Be Working
- Caro Claire Burke, YESTERYEAR
- Fantasy Lands
- David Brin’s Phases of the American Civil War
- The Expansion of Human Morality, the Relativity of Good and Evil
- The Deep History Key to the American Political Divide
- MAGA Art Slop; Ignoring the Data
- Yuval Noah Harari: UNSTOPPABLE US, Vol. 3
- The Mathematics of Beauty
- Faith Excuses Everything; Process Models Accomplish Things
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Meta
Category Archives: Meaning
Arthur Brooks and Gary Snyder: Meaning and Wilderness
Arthur Brooks on meaning and happiness (with my aside about the Ship of Theseus); Adam Frank on the poet Gary Snyder and the value of wilderness. – – – All right, let’s read Arthur Brooks again. Big Think, interview with … Continue reading
Posted in Meaning, Philosophy
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Meaning, Purpose, Science, Science Fiction
Kevin Kelly’s take on a meaning of life: be the most improbable person you can be; And my provisional ideas about meaning and purpose; Hans Zimmer’s Interstellar. I mentioned Kevin Kelly yesterday, and so I checked out his blog, his … Continue reading
Posted in Meaning, Music, Science, science fiction
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Current Events; Nihilism and the Meaning of Life
Pete Hegseth delights in violence; How Scott Adams was mislead by innumeracy into conspiracy theories; How conservatives resent a politician telling them to act more like Jesus; Examples of lunacy from JMG; Nihilism and the meaning of life. – – … Continue reading
Posted in conservatives, Lunacy, Mathematics, Meaning
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Return from Holiday Trip
We were in SoCal the past few days, beginning Christmas Day, visiting Sue and Steve, Michael and Honey, Gary and Lynne, Funyun and family, Alan and Ian, Suzanne and extended family; chatting with Vivien and Barry, Alex and Francis, many … Continue reading
What Meaning Means, and if AI Gods Provide That
What the search for meaning actually means; How AI apps fulfill religious needs; Reasons why math scores are falling; Short items about Nick Fuentes, people fired for criticizing Charlie Kirk, Trump and the Saudi crown prince, and RFK Jr.’s miasma … Continue reading
Posted in authoritarianism, Meaning, Politics
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Jonathan Haidt, THE HAPPINESS HYPOTHESIS, post 5 (conclusion)
Subtitled “Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom” With second subtitle “Why the Meaningful Life is Closer than You Think” (Basic Books, 2006, xiii + 297pp, including 54pp acknowledgements, notes, references, and index. Hardcover with no dust jacket.) (Post 1, Post … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Human Nature, Meaning, Morality, Philosophy, Psychology
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Jonathan Haidt, THE HAPPINESS HYPOTHESIS, post 4
Subtitled “Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom” With second subtitle “Why the Meaningful Life is Closer than You Think” (Basic Books, 2006, xiii + 297pp, including 54pp acknowledgements, notes, references, and index. Hardcover with no dust jacket.) (Post 1, Post … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Human Nature, Meaning, Morality, Psychology
Comments Off on Jonathan Haidt, THE HAPPINESS HYPOTHESIS, post 4
Jonathan Haidt, THE HAPPINESS HYPOTHESIS, post 3
Subtitled “Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom” With second subtitle “Why the Meaningful Life is Closer than You Think” (Basic Books, 2006, xiii + 297pp, including 54pp acknowledgements, notes, references, and index. Hardcover with no dust jacket.) (Post 1, Post … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Human Nature, Meaning, Morality
Comments Off on Jonathan Haidt, THE HAPPINESS HYPOTHESIS, post 3
Jonathan Haidt, THE HAPPINESS HYPOTHESIS, post 1
Subtitled “Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom” With second subtitle “Why the Meaningful Life is Closer than You Think” (Basic Books, 2006, xiii + 297pp, including 54pp acknowledgements, notes, references, and index. Hardcover with no dust jacket.) Here is a … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Meaning, Morality, Psychology
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Secular Values, and Reality as Evil
Two thematic follow-ups to yesterday’s post. OnlySky, Bruce Ledewitz, 20 Aug 2025: Can people thrive in a secular society?, subtitled “Are secular values the cause of our malaise?” Yesterday’s post extended a theme on this blog concerning a range or … Continue reading
Posted in Cosmology, Meaning, Philosophy, Physics, Science
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