Category Archives: Technology

Afternoon Drive: M440i

Posted on 10 October 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

Yesterday we took a three-hour drive, with a lunch stop part-way through, but since I didn’t take any photos along the way, it didn’t happen, by some internet standards.

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Ls&Cs: Computer world views; science fiction vs. fantasy

Posted on 24 September 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

A couple non-political posts today.

Posted in Links & Comments, Philosophy, science fiction, Technology | Leave a comment

Link and Comment: The Pace of Change

Posted on 13 October 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

Guardian: 25 years of His Dark Materials: Philip Pullman on the journey of a lifetime. Pullman reflects on the quarter decade since he began writing the sequence of novels about Lyra that began with Northern Lights, aka The Golden Compass. … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: America’s Reputation; Facebook; Cognitive Dissonance

Posted on 30 September 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

NY Times, 25 Sept.: I Feel Sorry for Americans’: A Baffled World Watches the U.S.. Subtitle: “From Myanmar to Canada, people are asking: How did a superpower allow itself to be felled by a virus? And why won’t the president … Continue reading →

Posted in Politics, Psychology, Technology | Comments Off on Links and Comments: America’s Reputation; Facebook; Cognitive Dissonance

Links and Comments: Sapiens; Leaving Religion; Conspiracy Theories; Weather Forecasting

Posted on 22 July 2019 by Mark R. Kelly

1. From yesterday’s NYT Book Review. Chuck Klosterman likes Harari: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/18/books/review/chuck-klosterman-likes-writers-who-arent-self-absorbed-sociopaths.html What’s the last great book you read? I picked up “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind,” by Yuval Noah Harari. I thought: “This will probably be O.K. I’ll probably … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Progress, Psychology, Religion, Technology | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Sapiens; Leaving Religion; Conspiracy Theories; Weather Forecasting

Keen: HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE

Posted on 10 February 2019 by Mark R. Kelly

Andrew Keen’s How to Fix the Future (Atlantic Monthly Press, 2018) is a breezy book in the Thomas L. Friedman mode, as the author travels the world speaking to various experts, and describing his trips and circumstances as he goes. … Continue reading →

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Perspectives: Dozois and Bryson

Posted on 24 November 2017 by Mark R. Kelly

Recently on Facebook, Gardner Dozois quotes from At Home, by Bill Bryson (author of A Short History of Nearly Everything), on the closing years of the 19th century: “From the perspective of domesticity, there has never been a more interesting … Continue reading →

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Two Interviews about Current Books, about Reproductive Technologies and Social Cohesion

Posted on 4 June 2016 by Mark R. Kelly

Two radio interviews this week worth noting, in part just for the pleasure of listening to smart people, in contrast to what we dutifully hear every day from our politicians. First, this KQED forum interview in which Bioethicist Hank Greely … Continue reading →

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