Category Archives: Narrative

Conspiracy Theories: Solar Eclipse Edition

Posted on 5 April 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Salon on how solar eclipses are a breeding ground for conspiracy theories; Rolling Stone on how the far right is subject to conspiracy theories; Free Inquiry on why solar eclipses are nowhere close to being evidence of a creator. While … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Lunacy, Narrative, Science | Comments Off on Conspiracy Theories: Solar Eclipse Edition

Necessary Stories, and Most of the Others

Posted on 26 March 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

About this morning’s Baltimore bridge collapse, and the right-wing conspiracy-theory accusations about it; Paul Krugman on how Republicans want to bring down Obamacare to support their notion that the government can never do good things; And a Doonesbury cartoon about … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Economics, Lunacy, Narrative | Comments Off on Necessary Stories, and Most of the Others

How Humans Live by Stories, and Myths

Posted on 25 March 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

A NYT essay that wonders if, given how political persuasions are aligned with community, we actually ever think for ourselves; An example from the fringe about a Republican who wants to outlaw “chemtrails”; A review of a book about the … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, History, Narrative, Psychology | Comments Off on How Humans Live by Stories, and Myths

How Humans Select Particular Stories Over Reality

Posted on 29 January 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

As I mentioned in Thursday’s post, I keep finding books in my library that could be considered straight-out philosophy (e.g. on ethics and morality) or at least philosophy-adjacent (some of the more abstruse physics and evolutionary texts, in the way … Continue reading →

Posted in Narrative, Psychology, Religion | Leave a comment

Humans Live By Telling Stories That Privilege Themselves

Posted on 28 January 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

About Holocaust deniers; About measles deniers; About denial of sociology; About the appeal of extinction panic. Salon, Gary M. Kramer, 25 Jan 2024: “There will always be Holocaust deniers”: How “Zone of Interest” reveals unsettling truths about us, subtitled “The … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Narrative | Leave a comment

Thinking About Narratives

Posted on 1 January 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

A way in which the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer story makes sense; Contemplating the range of all human activities, including playing games and telling stories; The Mojave Desert, and Apple Valley as a portal between two worlds. Posted on Facebook … Continue reading →

Posted in Narrative, Personal history | Leave a comment

A Rainy, Foggy Day in the Bay Area

Posted on 18 November 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

We got our walk in today during a break in the rain; when it started again, it turned to fog. (Meanwhile, making significant progress on the next expansion of sfadb.com today. Real soon now.) Various items for today; catching up … Continue reading →

Posted in Atheism, Conservative Resistance, Narrative, Politics, Religion, The Gays | Leave a comment

How “Meaning” is just another example of the Narrative Bias

Posted on 28 October 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Three pieces from Big Think. How history is told by story-tellers, and cannot be taken literally; How philosophy advances science by asking forbidden questions; How questions about the “meaning of life” reveal the narrative bias. —— Three sciency links, all … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Meaning, Narrative, Philosophy, Science | Leave a comment

The Broadest Possible Terms

Posted on 18 June 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Let’s return to yesterday’s item from OnlySky, which strikes me as a way to expand one of my key themes. In fact, perhaps we can build one of my hierarchies to begin with the most basic conception of what science … Continue reading →

Posted in Narrative, science fiction, The Book | Leave a comment

Narrative Bias and Control

Posted on 30 May 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Another take on why conspiracy theories have become so popular; How home-schoolers who decided to send their kids to public schools exposed the three lies about home-schooling that convinced them to do so; The Week on the state of book … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Music, Narrative, Religion | Leave a comment