Mark R. Kelly
» Founder in 1997 and site-runner for 20 years of Locus Online (Hugo Award winner in 2002). Founder in 2012 and still site-runner of sfadb.com (Science Fiction Awards Database). Retired in 2012 after 30 years as a software engineer for a certain rocket engine factory.
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» Previous Views from Medina Road (2010-2013)
» Blogspot Views from Medina Road (2003-2010)-
Recent Posts
- The Absence of Empathy
- Jonathan Haidt, THE HAPPINESS HYPOTHESIS, post 4
- Cave Man Morality and the Normalizing of Racism
- Jonathan Haidt, THE HAPPINESS HYPOTHESIS, post 3
- Bill Gates and Climate Change
- Jonathan Haidt, THE HAPPINESS HYPOTHESIS, post 2
- Survival, Revelations, Falling Standards
- Jonathan Haidt, THE HAPPINESS HYPOTHESIS, post 1
- Troubled Children, Cognitive Collapse, Cave Man Morality
- Politics is more about tribal human nature than about solving problems
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Meta
Category Archives: Science
Most Beliefs Aren’t About What’s Real, They’re About Conforming to Tribal Mythology
Three more core principles today, illustrated by an essay by a “former creationist” and how she found “following the science” clashed with her culture — and how this conflict is born of ancient biology; How universities would like to teach … Continue reading
Posted in Evolution, Psychology, Religion, Science
Comments Off on Most Beliefs Aren’t About What’s Real, They’re About Conforming to Tribal Mythology
Jerry A. Coyne: FAITH VS. FACT, post 5 and last
Subtitled “Why Science and Religion are Incompatible” (Viking, May 2015, xxii + 311pp, including 46pp of acknowledgements, notes, references,and index) (Earlier: post 1; post 2; post 3; post 4) Comments first this time: The final chapter of this book asks, … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Religion, Science
Comments Off on Jerry A. Coyne: FAITH VS. FACT, post 5 and last
Jerry A. Coyne: FAITH VS. FACT, post 4
Subtitled “Why Science and Religion are Incompatible” (Viking, May 2015, xxii + 311pp, including 46pp of acknowledgements, notes, references,and index) (Earlier: post 1; post 2; post 3) Summary: Chapter 4: Faith Strikes Back Faith sometimes claims that it can deduce … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Religion, Science
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Jerry A. Coyne: FAITH VS. FACT, post 3
Subtitled “Why Science and Religion are Incompatible” (Viking, May 2015, xxii + 311pp, including 46pp of acknowledgements, notes, references,and index) (Earlier: post 1; post 2) Summary: Chapter 3: Why Accommodationism Fails This chapter explains why you can’t have your religion … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Religion, Science
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Jerry A. Coyne: FAITH VS. FACT, post 2
Subtitled “Why Science and Religion are Incompatible” (Viking, May 2015, xxii + 311pp, including 46pp of acknowledgements, notes, references,and index) (Earlier: post 1) Summary: Chapter 2: What’s Incompatible? This chapter considers science, religion, their incompatibility, and their conflicts of method, … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Religion, Science
Comments Off on Jerry A. Coyne: FAITH VS. FACT, post 2
Jerry A. Coyne: FAITH VS. FACT, post 1
Subtitled “Why Science and Religion are Incompatible” (Viking, May 2015, xxii + 311pp, including 46pp of acknowledgements, notes, references,and index) For this next book, I’m going to split summary and notes up into multiple posts. And include some general comments … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Religion, Science
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Suicide of American Greatness
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
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Human Nature, Science
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Jesse Bering, THE BELIEF INSTINCT
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
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Secular Values, and Reality as Evil
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
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
Posted in Conservative Resistance, conservatives, Politics, Science
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