Category Archives: Science

Suicide of American Greatness

Posted on Monday 8 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Stephen Greenblatt on how a scientific superpower is destroying itself; Scientists demolish Trump’s DOE report; Short items about the search for anti-Christian bias that’s turned up only petty grievances; Jim Wright wonders what Trump or MAGA actually *like* about America; … Continue reading →

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Jesse Bering, THE BELIEF INSTINCT

Posted on Saturday 6 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: “The Psychology of Souls, Destiny, and the Meaning of Life” (Norton, hardcover, 2011, 252pp, including 47pp notes, additional reading, and index.) (UK title The God Instinct: The Psychology of Souls, Destiny and the Meaning of Life, also 2011) I … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Psychology, Science | Comments Off on Jesse Bering, THE BELIEF INSTINCT

Secular Values, and Reality as Evil

Posted on Friday 22 August 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Two thematic follow-ups to yesterday’s post. OnlySky, Bruce Ledewitz, 20 Aug 2025: Can people thrive in a secular society?, subtitled “Are secular values the cause of our malaise?” Yesterday’s post extended a theme on this blog concerning a range or … Continue reading →

Posted in Cosmology, Meaning, Philosophy, Physics, Science | Comments Off on Secular Values, and Reality as Evil

The Real Government Plots Against Reality

Posted on Thursday 7 August 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Government plots to suppress vaccines, and the effects of climate change; With my speculation about conservative motivations; Heather Cox Richardson on how, despite concerns for the budget, conservatives are willing to spend millions and millions to deport people they don’t … Continue reading →

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All Things Pass, America Too, It Seems

Posted on Thursday 31 July 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

The Atlantic’s Ross Andersen on how every scientific empire comes to end, with historical precedents; E.J. Dionne Jr. about the drop in murder rate, speculating why; Quick bits about religion as a mental disorder, how praying for the intervention of … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Politics, Religion, Science | Comments Off on All Things Pass, America Too, It Seems

The Outright Denial of the Scientific Consensus About Climate Change

Posted on Wednesday 30 July 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Trump’s EPA now denies the worldwide scientific consensus about climate change; The history of Trump’s fake history; How Trump wins by suing institutions for absurd amounts and settling for relatively trivial amounts; How Europe took Trump for a ride; Robert … Continue reading →

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Sciency Things, and Presidential Pettiness

Posted on Monday 21 July 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Tom Nichols on presidential pettiness; How the Trump administration is using a strength of science to discredit it; Ethan Siegel on what we’ve learned for 35 years of the Hubble Space Telescope; A breakthrough in a grand unified theory of … Continue reading →

Posted in Lunacy, Politics, Psychology, Religion, Science | Comments Off on Sciency Things, and Presidential Pettiness

Stories, Traditions, and Science

Posted on Saturday 19 July 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Why does MAGA hate science? Why do right-wing folks think Democratic policies have failed? And Paul Krugman on the top 10 political websites on Substack. – – – A significant essay, for my concerns. Salon, Kirk Swearingen, 19 Jul 2025: … Continue reading →

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Incompetence, Greed, or Sabotage?

Posted on Thursday 17 July 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Elizabeth Kolbert on the Texas floods and the administration’s undermining of climate research; How the Trump administration wants to discourage wind and solar projects; Recalling the Scopes trial, 100 years ago this month, and America’s continued antipathy toward science and … Continue reading →

Posted in Music, Personal history, Politics, Religion, Science | Comments Off on Incompetence, Greed, or Sabotage?

Responsibility, Certainty, and Doubt

Posted on Sunday 13 July 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Defunding weather science and disaster response to save money is like cancelling all your insurance policies to manage your household budget; LAT: Robin Abcarian on the implausibilities of expecting Medicaid recipients to replace deported farmworkers; NYT: Peter Baker on how … Continue reading →

Posted in conservatives, Psychology, Science | Comments Off on Responsibility, Certainty, and Doubt