Category Archives: Psychology

Settling Back Into the Middle Ages

Posted on Sunday 17 May 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

This is about the religious rally in Washington DC this weekend. And the limitations of human nature. NY Times, guest essay by Katya Underman, today: We Are Sliding Back Into the Middle Ages My comments before reading the essay: One … Continue reading →

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Haidt’s Graduation Speech, and More

Posted on Friday 15 May 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Jonathan Haidt’s graduation speech: choose your attention, do hard things, make personal connections; Like billionaires, what Christian nationalists have is never enough: now they want to inscribe “In God We Trust” on every Federal Building in the US; Amanda Marcotte … Continue reading →

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Messier objects; Rebecca Solnit; Jonathan Haidt

Posted on Thursday 14 May 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

A chart showing the actual relative sizes of the Messier objects; Rebecca Solnit on the potential for imminent revolutionary change; Jonathan Haidt’s graduation speech, today. – – – Now this is cool. The Messier objects, fuzzy objects in the sky … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Psychology, Social Progress | Leave a comment

Categories, Scales, a Public Health Triumph, and How the So-Called Experts Have Been Right

Posted on Wednesday 13 May 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Conservatives like categories, especially binary ones: two examples. Including the claim that what makes a man gay is liberalism; NYT updates its Autocracy Index, 12 markers of democratic erosion; Conservative panic over falling reproduction rates seen instead as a public … Continue reading →

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Dan Barker, CONTRADUCTION

Posted on Wednesday 13 May 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

(UK: Hypathia Press, 2024, 111pp, including References but no index) Dan Barker (Wikipedia) is an atheist writer who was once an evangelical Christian pastor. I read one of his earlier books, LIFE DRIVEN PURPOSE (review here), which challenged Rick Warren’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Philosophy, Psychology, Science | Leave a comment

AI, UFOs, Tradwives

Posted on Friday 8 May 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Two pieces on Richard Dawkins, AI, and Clarke’s first law; Items on the new UFO files being released by the government; Two items about tradwives; Items debunking the so-called religious revival, Trump claiming hantavirus is “very much under control,” and … Continue reading →

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Anthropology as another perspective on the world

Posted on Saturday 2 May 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

How anthropology informs an understanding of the world; Short items on Trump’s latest science purge, defenses of white supremacy, Trump’s lie about the some YMCA, and Trump’s sons getting rich off government contracts – – – Well, to the degree … Continue reading →

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Changing Minds

Posted on Saturday 18 April 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

The World Bank thinks better of free-market absolutism; For some, every thing the least bit unusual is *meaningful*. – – – A couple non-political items today. The Atlantic, Rogé Karma, 16 Apr 2026: A Pillar of the Economics Establishment Admits … Continue reading →

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Steven Pinker, WHEN EVERYONE KNOWS THAT EVERYONE KNOWS…

Posted on Tuesday 14 April 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: Common Knowledge and the Mysteries of Money, Power, and Everyday Life (Scribner, 2025, xv + 364pp, including 64pp of notes, references, and index.) This latest Pinker book, which follows ENLIGHTENMENT NOW and RATIONALITY, seems at first glance a bit … Continue reading →

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TACO and Cognitive Surrender

Posted on Tuesday 7 April 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

The world worries about presidential insanity and nuclear war until Trump backs down, yet again; AI and “cognitive surrender”; With some perspective about electronic calculators and other forms of new technology over the millennia; And how the surrender of critical … Continue reading →

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