Category Archives: Science

Link and Comments: SF and Science

Posted on Monday 11 September 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

Slate has an interesting essay by Lawrence Krauss that covers basic points about how science fiction doesn’t/can’t truly predict the future, with an interesting point how the internet arose as a tool to coordinate very complex scientific experiments: Indeed, perhaps … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Science and Science Fiction

Posted on Wednesday 26 July 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

Harvard Business Review: Why Business Leaders Need to Read More Science Fiction. Science fiction can help. Maybe you associate it with spaceships and aliens, but science fiction offers more than escapism. By presenting plausible alternative realities, science fiction stories empower … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Tribal Loyalty and Values v. Reality

Posted on Friday 23 June 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

NY Times: The 15 Best-Educated Congressional Districts in the U.S.. All but two of which, including the just contested Georgia district north of Atlanta, are solidly Democratic. Hmm. \\ Also: Trump’s Lies, a comprehensive, up-to-date list. It’s not surprising that … Continue reading →

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Carl Sagan’s “Baloney Detection Kit”

Posted on Friday 16 June 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

Carl Sagan, one of the great scientist-communicators to the general public of the past century, author of the 1980 book Cosmos and host of the 1980 TV series of that name, has a list of ideas for how to evaluate … Continue reading →

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Linkdump: Science, society, conspiracy theories, the fear of NRA conventioneers

Posted on Monday 12 June 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

Science: The Atlantic: Are We Living in a Giant Cosmic Void?. Maybe. Scientific American: How the Science of “Blue Lies” May Explain Trump’s Support. Subtitle: “They are a very particular form of deception that can build solidarity within groups” Guardian: … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Tyson v. Douthat

Posted on Wednesday 24 May 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

I started writing up a few notes about the new (small) Neil deGrasse Tyson book, ASTROPHYSICS FOR PEOPLE IN A HURRY, and got sidetracked by a passage that reminded me of a Ross Douthat column from a few weeks ago. … Continue reading →

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How science can explain why you don’t believe in science

Posted on Monday 8 May 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

Here’s another recent commentary from the San Francisco Chronicle, this by Caille Millner: Free speech is a joke when laughing is a crime It’s nominally about the 61-year-old woman who was just *convicted* of “disorderly and disruptive conduct” for laughing … Continue reading →

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Neil deGrasse Tyson on Science

Posted on Monday 24 April 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

Dear Facebook Universe, I offer this four-minute video on “Science in America” containing what may be the most important words I have ever spoken. As always, but especially these days, keep looking up. — Neil deGrasse Tyson Science In America … Continue reading →

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That Dress, and How to Do Science

Posted on Monday 17 April 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

Slate: Two Years Later, We Finally Know Why People Saw “The Dress” Differently Two points here. First, the controversy over the color of the dress — blue and black or white and gold — is certainly the most widely-known example … Continue reading →

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Stuart Brand Quote: The Only News

Posted on Saturday 11 March 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

A thought against the daily onslaught of political news (never mind the weather, local crime, and traffic accidents that comprise the everyday local TV news) — in the big picture of human history (and progress), almost none of that matters; … Continue reading →

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