Carl Sagan & Ann Druyan: SHADOWS OF FORGOTTEN ANCESTORS

Posted on Monday 16 March 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: A Search for Who We Are
(Random House, Oct 1992, xvi + 505pp, including 85pp of notes, permissions acknowledgements, and index.)


This is perhaps Carl Sagan’s most substantial book, on the grounds that it’s through-written as a single composition; it’s not a compilation or fix-up of previously written magazine pieces, as THE DEMON-HAUNTED WORLD was, or an edited series of lectures, as THE VARIETIES OF SCIENTIFIC EXPERIENCE WAS, or aligned by chapter to episodes of a TV show, like COSMOS was, or a book aligned to an earlier book, like THE PALE BLUE DOT was.

And on the grounds that it takes a wide perspective, a sort of 10,000 foot view of a period of history not examined by most books about evolution, or the cosmos, or human history. It’s about the history of life up until humanity’s ancestors came on the stage, and so it outlines how and why life on Earth came to be, and how things like competition and violence necessarily came to characterize life on Earth.

Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, History, Human Nature, Human Progress | Comments Off on Carl Sagan & Ann Druyan: SHADOWS OF FORGOTTEN ANCESTORS

The Most Dangerous Vision

Posted on Sunday 15 March 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

A brief post today, after a long afternoon/evening watching the Oscars. (On the West Coast, what with pre-shows, it ran from mid-afternoon to nearly 8pm.)

So instead of linking news or opinion items today, let me note a nascent thought of mine that’s emerged in recent weeks. I’ll begin with a reminder that every post like this, every post other than objective linking and quoting, is a first draft of sorts, a record of today’s thoughts that might undergo rethinking tomorrow, or next week, or next month. Just as what I opined yesterday, or last month, or five years ago isn’t necessarily what I’d say today. (Usually, when I look back at old posts, I’m bothered only by inexact wording, not ideas I’ve completely abandoned. For some of these ideas it’s important to state things precisely, lest people read into them things I didn’t mean. You know the examples.)

Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy, science fiction | Comments Off on The Most Dangerous Vision

What Western Civilization is Actually About

Posted on Saturday 14 March 2026 by Mark R. Kelly
  • Francis Fukuyama, responding to Marco Rubio, on how Western Civilization is more about the Enlightenment than religious faith;
  • And Boston Globe via Steven Pinker on that Tennessee congressman’s anti-Muslim screed;
  • Briefly noted items about Trump’s shoe tests and their Soviet odor, Trump’s disconnect with reality, video games, non-Protestant events, forcing student-led prayer, destroying DC architecture, more about the Beha book, dismantling a renowned science lab, Trump’s sons cashing in on drones, weakening limits on a cancer-causing gas, and the eternal sea of misinformation about vaccines.
– – –

Persuasion, Francis Fukuyama, 3 Mar 2026: What “Western Civilization” Really Means, subtitled “It has less to do with faith — and more to do with the Enlightenment — than Marco Rubio thinks.”

Continue reading →

Posted in conservatives, Culture, History, Religion | Comments Off on What Western Civilization is Actually About

Movie relevance, conservative intuition, unbothered people, Paul and Heather

Posted on Friday 13 March 2026 by Mark R. Kelly
  • How A House of Dynamite, not nominated for any Oscars, is more important and relevant than any of the pictures nominated, and a great movie;
  • Trump needs to “feel it in my bones” to make a decision, which is precisely the conservative limitation to learning;
  • John Pavlovitz has had it with unbothered people;
  • Paul Krugman chats with Heather Cox Richardson.
– – –

I appreciate this nod. This is a movie I watched twice in two nights, late last year, as discussed here. It’s important and relevant in a way none of the actual Best Picture nominees are. (Well, One Battle After Another might be just as close, in a different way. But not Sinners, as effective as that film is.) And it’s well-made and suspenseful.

And especially considering the current political situation.

Slate, Ian Prasad Philbrick, 13 Mar 2026: The Oscars Are This Weekend. The Movie We Should All Be Talking About Isn’t Even Nominated.

Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Human Nature, Movies | Comments Off on Movie relevance, conservative intuition, unbothered people, Paul and Heather

Stupid vs. Evil

Posted on Thursday 12 March 2026 by Mark R. Kelly
  • Robert Reich’s take on what the two US political parties think of each other, and my interpretation of conservative thinking;
  • About Pete Hegseth and how he sees moral purpose in war as a weakness;
  • Another item about parental rights, concerning social media; and my thoughts about this complex subject.
– – –

Another take on the spectrum of human nature.

Robert Reich, 10 Mar 2026: Why do Americans hate each other while Canadians love each other?, subtitled “Could it have something to do with our politics? With the sociopath in the Oval?”

Continue reading →

Posted in Human Nature, Morality, Politics | Comments Off on Stupid vs. Evil

Whiteson & Warner, DO ALIENS SPEAK PHYSICS?

Posted on Thursday 12 March 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitle: “And other questions about science and the nature of reality”
(Norton, 2025, 254pp, including 12pp of bibliography and index)

Here’s a book that’s remarkable in an unusual way: I didn’t hear about it from anywhere, not in a review, not referenced from somebody else’s book. And I had never heard of the authors. I saw it in a bookstore, and bought it on impulse. (Well the blurbs from Sean Carroll, Carlo Rovelli, Phil Plait, and Daniel Dennett helped.)

It was a good decision, because the book speaks to a profound issue, even if it’s a little too wiseacre and jokey for my taste. As if they didn’t a serious reader to be interested?

The question the book asks could be rephrased, would aliens perceive the universe the same way humans do? Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Mathematics, Science | Comments Off on Whiteson & Warner, DO ALIENS SPEAK PHYSICS?

Clown Shoes, and Republican Obsequiousness

Posted on Wednesday 11 March 2026 by Mark R. Kelly
  • Marco Rubio in clown shoes;
  • Republicans think oppressing trans kids is more important than parental rights;
  • Trump’s delusional faith in himself;
  • That photo of the prayer group in the Oval Office is being mocked in China;
  • Motivated thinking sees that the Bible warns against socialism;
  • That medical ship never went to Greenland, but one MAGA guy complains it’s not getting enough press coverage.
– – –

As noted yesterday, this item wins the prize, for this week certainly, maybe for the month or the year, for demonstrating Trump’s idiocy and his cabinet’s obsequiousness. Covered widely today in the news and on Facebook.

The New Republic, 11 Mar 2026: Marco Rubio Roasted for Wearing Clown Shoes Trump Bought Him, subtitled “Donald Trump has bought everyone in his Cabinet the same pair of shoes—evidently without checking what size people wear.”
Continue reading →

Posted in conservatives, Politics | Comments Off on Clown Shoes, and Republican Obsequiousness

Certainty is the Enemy

Posted on Tuesday 10 March 2026 by Mark R. Kelly
  • And Trump is certain about his own moral authority;
  • And how the long-anticipated End Times have yet to appear;
  • Paul Krugman on how Pete Hegseth is being deliberately dumb;
  • Short items about Erika Kirk, Hegseth’s Bible reading, money spent on the war so far, Trump gives his staff ill-fitting shoes they fill obliged to wear;
  • And the last two movements of Philip Glass’ Symphony #5.
– – –

I think I may have just said this, in so many words: Certainty is the enemy. Because others are just as certain about opposite things. And the world will not survive such conflicts of moral certainty; survival of the human race, in the long term, is about getting over tribal mentality. The morally literate, responsible, thing to do is to be certain of nothing, live your life by principles instead, and let others judge your moral maturity by your actions, and principles, not your commitments to this or that god or holy book.

Salon, Chauncey DeVega, 10 Mar 2026: Trump’s moral crusade is dangerous for America — and the world, subtitled “The president casts himself as the ultimate authority on good and evil — and believes it is his job to enforce it”

Donald Trump imagines himself as a moral crusader fighting the forces of evil at home and abroad. But his morality is not guided by ethics, humanism or respect for the common good. The president instead relies on himself, something he made explicit in a January 2026 interview with the New York Times. “My own morality,” he replied when asked if he observed any constraints on his power to use the military, including invading other countries. “My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.”

Continue reading →

Posted in Morality, Music, Religion | Comments Off on Certainty is the Enemy

Malcolm Gladwell, THE TIPPING POINT

Posted on Tuesday 10 March 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: “How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference”
(Little, Brown, March 2000, 279pp, including 20pp endnotes, acknowledgements, and index)

This was a popular and well-received book when published back in 2000, and launched Gladwell‘s book career. Most of his books follow a similar pattern: identifying counter-intuitive things about how the world works. In this book, the theme is in the subtitle. In BLINK, it was about the power of snap judgments (contradicting considered wisdom *not* to rely on intuition); OUTLIERS explores the role of environment (and by extension, chance) in success stories. I read those too. Next was WHAT THE DOG SAW, a collection of essays, which I haven’t read, then three others, which I didn’t even buy. Most recent is REVENGE OF THE TIPPING POINT, in 2024, which revisits some of the themes of the first book, from different perspectives.

Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Philosophy, Physics, Psychology | Comments Off on Malcolm Gladwell, THE TIPPING POINT

Gullicism and Literacy

Posted on Monday 9 March 2026 by Mark R. Kelly
  • Adam Serwer on our “gullible, cynical” America, a condition he dubs “gullicism”;
  • And how this is an absence of “literacy” about how the world actually works;
  • Why everyone thinking “God is on our side” is a problem;
  • John Pavlovitz answers overseas friends worried about America: Yes, it’s worse than you think.
  • And my position living in a cosmopolitan city, and fortunately rarely experiencing what John Pavlovitz has observed.
– – –

As I’ve realized recently, ‘literacy’ isn’t just about being able to read and write, it’s about understanding how the world works, which understandings about it are true and which are just stories and are not true, and how the human mind works and is biased to believe certain things and reject others in the name of tribal survival and solidarity.

The Atlantic, Adam Serwer, 9 Mar 2026: Gullible, Cynical America, subtitled “The trouble with believing anything and nothing at the same time”
Continue reading →

Posted in Human Nature, LIteracy, Religion | Tagged | Comments Off on Gullicism and Literacy