Category Archives: Science

Novella et al: THE SKEPTICS’ GUIDE TO THE UNIVERSE

Posted on Wednesday 8 December 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Novella, Dr. Steven, et al. The Skeptics’ Guide to the Universe: How to Know What’s Really Real in a World Increasingly Full of Fake. Grand Central, 2018. *** I read this shortly after publication, nearly three years ago now, and … Continue reading →

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Ls&Cs: Writers’ Blogs; The Secret in the Diary

Posted on Sunday 5 December 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

I should have established that the context for yesterday’s piece about Republicans and Democrats was not about partisanship, but as another example of a counter-intuitive notion, how things have changed over the decades and centuries, so that what might seem … Continue reading →

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L&Cs: Wars on Education

Posted on Tuesday 23 November 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Controversies like the current one over the teaching of “critical race theory” have, of course, happened before.

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Ls&Cs: Interviews and Excerpts: Pinker, Harari, Graeber & Wengrow

Posted on Thursday 11 November 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Michael Shermer interviews Steven Pinker about Rationality; NYT interviews Yuval Noah Harari about the simple story that can save the planet; and an excerpt from Graeber & Wengrow’s The Dawn of Everything.

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Ls&Cs: Religion vs Science; Freedom; Feudalism

Posted on Tuesday 9 November 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Plain speaking about the obvious conflict between science and religion; about the idea of freedom without responsibility; about the odd attraction of feudalism in fantasy and science fiction.

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Ls&Cs: Science, Detection, and Narrative

Posted on Tuesday 2 November 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Aspirin: Why do scientists keep changing their minds? How science is like detective work. How conspiracy theorists exploit the provisional nature of science. Can history be overturned, or just refined? And KSR, aliens, the new telescope, and existential crises.

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Ls&Cs: Cancel Culture; Leaf Blowers; a Smaller Population

Posted on Friday 29 October 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Today’s thought: It occurs to me that “cancel culture” exists on both the left and right. The left is more apt to target individuals (Jerry Coyne responds to an attempt by the Imperial College London to rename anything named after … Continue reading →

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Ls&Cs: Latest on Climate Change

Posted on Sunday 24 October 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Now 99% agree.

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Ls&Cs: Visiting Flooded Cities Simply Explained

Posted on Tuesday 19 October 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Water through the body; human inability to account for long-term threats; how sometimes the answers to conspiracy theories are simple.

Posted in Philosophy, Politics, Science | Comments Off on Ls&Cs: Visiting Flooded Cities Simply Explained

Ls&Cs: Two from Free Inquiry

Posted on Monday 18 October 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

From the October/November 2021 issue, articles about Christian Morality and about how understanding COVID does not depend on a Kuhnian paradigm shift.

Posted in Philosophy, Religion, Science | Comments Off on Ls&Cs: Two from Free Inquiry