Category Archives: reality

Growing Pains

Posted on Wednesday 22 July 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Perspective on humanity’s growth into a global civilization; Perhaps religion is a kind of story-telling crucial to human evolution; How Christian support of Trump is making GenZers less like to attend church; Bernstein: Mahler 5. – – – Big picture. … Continue reading →

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Uni-context and Flattening

Posted on Tuesday 21 July 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Derek Thompson on philospher Agnes Callard’s idea of “uni-context,” which matches my notion that human thinking “flattens” different levels of understanding into a single, human-centric context; How conservatives hate “The Odyssey,” quoting Al Franken; Briefly noted: To get a Trump … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Nature, Music, reality | Comments Off on Uni-context and Flattening

Human Limitations and Potential

Posted on Friday 10 July 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Rethinking categories and provisional conclusions; XKCD on holes; A new Atlantic column on The Wonder of Everyday Life; A Star Talk video about the limits of human intelligence. – – – Rethinking again the categories of posts I do here, … Continue reading →

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Michael Shermer: TRUTH

Posted on Sunday 3 May 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled “What It Is, How to Find It, and Why It Still Matters” (John Hopkins University Press, Jan. 2026, 370pp, including 50pp of acknowledgments, notes, and index) The title of this latest book by Michael Shermer, following CONSPIRACY (2022) (reviewed … Continue reading →

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Dead Scientists, Fine-Tuning, and the Vacuum of Space

Posted on Wednesday 29 April 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

PolitiFact on the mystery of the missing scientists; AMV on the fine-tuning argument and the limitations of academic credentials; Idiotic arguments from Facebook folks who think the Artemis mission was faked. – – – A couple follow-up items today. This … Continue reading →

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Ziya Tong; THE REALITY BUBBLE

Posted on Saturday 21 March 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: Blind Spots, Hidden Truths, and the Dangerous Illusions that Shape Our World (Penguin Canada: Allen Lane, 2019, 366pp, including 15pp of acknowledgements and index.) This is a pleasant enough book by a Canadian journalist. Her broad point is that … Continue reading →

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Donald Hoffman: THE CASE AGAINST REALITY

Posted on Friday 20 March 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitle: Why evolution hid the truth from our eyes (Norton, 2019, 250pp, plus color plates, including 45pp acknowledgements, notes, and index.) This is the first of three books I read in January, all with ostensibly similar themes, but actually quite … Continue reading →

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Renouncing Reality, Yet Again, to Make Money

Posted on Thursday 12 February 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

The Trump administration denies climate change, in favor of big business; Trump is best on cashing in; Paul Krugman explains why deportation don’t create jobs and will lead to more deaths of native-born Americans; Brief items about conservatives and small … Continue reading →

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Which Part of Science Do Science Deniers Dispute?

Posted on Sunday 1 February 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Trump closes the Kennedy Center to deflect from all the artists cancelling there; A great SNL sketch about a woman who changes her mind about Donald Trump; Steven Novella asks which parts of science do skeptics actually disagree with; Andy … Continue reading →

Posted in Changing One's Mind, Politics, Psychology, reality, Religion, Science | Comments Off on Which Part of Science Do Science Deniers Dispute?

Shades of Autism

Posted on Sunday 5 October 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Andrew O’Hehir at Salon describes Trump’s war on reality, concerning Venezuela; Bits from JMG about Democrats, the Pope, a debate trophy named for Charlie Kirk; how Trump lies about Portland burning to the ground; and how the GOP doesn’t want … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Politics, Psychology, reality, Thinking | Comments Off on Shades of Autism