Category Archives: Science

Third Essay of the Weekend

Posted on 21 April 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

An Elizabeth Kolbert essay about the debate about the term “Anthropocene”; And Neil Finn’s beautiful lullaby “Faster than Light”. * This is Elizabeth Kolbert (author of The Sixth Extinction, one of the best nonfiction books of the 21st century; review … Continue reading →

Posted in Evolution, Music, Science | Comments Off on Third Essay of the Weekend

Joshua Greene, MORAL TRIBES, post 1

Posted on 17 April 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Here is a substantial book about human morality that offers ideas that, to me, help to knit together the ideas of others. For chronological context, this 2013 book follows, of course, the 1997 Pinker book that I recently read (review … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Morality, progress, Science | Comments Off on Joshua Greene, MORAL TRIBES, post 1

The poorly educated and the “cognishly umpired”

Posted on 15 April 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

A Tom Gauld cartoon illustrating tribalism — “Our Blessed Homeland” vs. “Their Barbarous Wastes”; Anti-woke teachers in public schools; Abrahm Lustgarten on the American climate migration (which applies to the wider world, of course); More from John Gartner about Trump’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Personal history, Science, Tribalism | Comments Off on The poorly educated and the “cognishly umpired”

Daniel Dennett, Exploring the Universe, the Eclipse, and How so Many People have no idea what an eclipse is about

Posted on 10 April 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Daniel Dennett’s four biggest ideas in philosophy; Why we spend money to explore the universe; Washington Post with images of the eclipse; And SF author CJ Cherryh on how so many ‘people on the street’ have no idea what makes … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Philosophy, Science | Comments Off on Daniel Dennett, Exploring the Universe, the Eclipse, and How so Many People have no idea what an eclipse is about

Jaime Green, THE POSSIBILITY OF LIFE

Posted on 9 April 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Here is a book published about a year ago now that turns out to be very similar, thematically, to the more recent book by Adam Frank, The Little Book of Aliens, that I reviewed here in January. That book was … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Cosmology, Science | Comments Off on Jaime Green, THE POSSIBILITY OF LIFE

Eclipse Aftermath, and Politics

Posted on 8 April 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

First of all, our street had a scheduled power outage this morning, from 9-12, so I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to see any of the TV coverage of the total eclipse crossing the eastern US today. There were … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Science | Comments Off on Eclipse Aftermath, and Politics

The Awe of the Solar Eclipse

Posted on 7 April 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Three items today. Addressing a piece that claims that the awe of the solar eclipse, tomorrow, will somehow unite humanity (I think not; it hasn’t before); Another appreciation of Daniel Kahneman, who explained how humans think, and established the idea … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Morality, Music, Science | Comments Off on The Awe of the Solar Eclipse

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

Imagine Prioritizing Truth Over Being Right

Posted on 3 April 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Here’s an amazing notion: there are some people who would rather find the truth, than be right. These are the scientists — some of them, anyway. This concerns Daniel Kahneman, whose death I noted a week ago here. NY Times, … Continue reading →

Posted in Morality, Politics, Religion, Science | Comments Off on Imagine Prioritizing Truth Over Being Right

Putting Things Into Perspective: Science, Expertise, Liberalism

Posted on 22 March 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Items today are follow-ups to items from the past couple days, it turns out. Ethan Siegel at Big Think puts that dark matter claim into the perspective of how science works; Tom Nichols’ update of The Death of Expertise aligns … Continue reading →

Posted in Astronomy, Science, science fiction | Comments Off on Putting Things Into Perspective: Science, Expertise, Liberalism