Category Archives: Psychology

Narrative Closure in A House of Dynamite

Posted on Saturday 1 November 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

And David Brin on the persistent idiocies of the UFO cultists – – – We watched the new film about a potential nuclear war, A House of Dynamite, last Sunday on Netflix, and then I watched it again on Netflix … Continue reading →

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Notes from the Reality-Based Community

Posted on Friday 31 October 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Hemant Mehta on a new wave of atheist content creators; Scientific “groupthink” is a myth, an effect of how our fundamental theories are extremely successful; Richard Dawkins can’t understand how Tom Holland and his readers believe ancient legends and myths … Continue reading →

Posted in Psychology, Religion, Science | Comments Off on Notes from the Reality-Based Community

They’re Already Here

Posted on Friday 24 October 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

About transcendence, and alien intelligence. More about “transcendence,” and quibbling with that essay I linked yesterday. It said this: Transcendence—basically, the human experience of a higher and deeper reality somehow hidden in our everyday existences, but giving hints of itself … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Nature, Psychology, Science | Comments Off on They’re Already Here

So Again, How’d those No Kings Protests Go?

Posted on Sunday 19 October 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Photos, why the fanciful costumes, why Republicans should be afraid of who’s protesting; Heather Cox Richardson; Robert Reich; And Republicans, who are either in denial, are obtuse, or are cynically playing to their base; And arrests? A couple three, of … Continue reading →

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No Kings vs. Reality

Posted on Saturday 18 October 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Trump pardons George Santos, of course; The “No Kings” rhetoric from the Republicans, and the results today; With some thoughts about conservative thinking; Jamelle Bouie; Lunatic: MTG still obsessed about weather control; Science: how humans perceive only a tiny bit … Continue reading →

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Art and Conservatives

Posted on Wednesday 15 October 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

How a Christian Right talk show failed, and how MAGA’s fake Super Bowl halftime show is “pitifully out-of-touch with pop culture”; Thoughts about how conservatives have no sense of humor, and how conservatives dominate talk radio; Personal thoughts about resistance … Continue reading →

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And How Science Fiction Is Both a Symptom and a Solution

Posted on Monday 13 October 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Further thoughts on how science fiction informs current social ills; Republican doublethink about “No Kings” rallies; Columbus Day, and Trump’s veneration of Columbus vs the realities of history; Heather Cox Richardson’s perspective on Columbus, and the origin of Columbus Day. … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Human Nature, Human Progress, Philosophy, Psychology, Science, science fiction | Comments Off on And How Science Fiction Is Both a Symptom and a Solution

How All This Is Reflected in Science Fiction

Posted on Sunday 12 October 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

The three themes of my essay; Items about the Pope, Trump firing black officials, MAGA’s presumption of carrying out the “Lord’s work,” how the Trump administration has quietly reinstated many of the CDC staffers it recently fire, how Trump thinks … Continue reading →

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How This Is All About Science Fiction

Posted on Friday 10 October 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

This blog isn’t about conservatives and the religious; it’s about people believing things that aren’t true, about tribalism and hypocrisy, and how human nature reduces everything into binaries. With numerous examples; And about how Trump didn’t win the Nobel Peace … Continue reading →

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How Tribal Loyalty Overrides Evidence of Incompetence

Posted on Tuesday 7 October 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

How MAGA will never accept “I told you so”: Robert Reich on why Trump keeps dismantling agencies; Short items about overthrowing the government, primitive morality, yet another prediction of the rapture, Biblical morality to justify the killing of black men, … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Politics, Psychology | Comments Off on How Tribal Loyalty Overrides Evidence of Incompetence