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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- Ted Chiang, Carl Sagan, Peter Singer
- The Holocene and Other Calendars
- Climate Change, Founding Fathers, UFOs and Scientific Literacy
- Last Questions and Possible Answers, 2
- Tribalism and Cooperation
- The Lies that Bind
- Narrative Bias and Control
- Then They Came for the Meteorologists
- Sausalito, and Heartstopper
- Groupthink, Reason, and Conspiracy Thinking
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Meta
Author Archives: Mark R. Kelly
Ted Chiang, Carl Sagan, Peter Singer
Ten Chiang characterizes the current examples of “artificial intelligence” as “applied statistics”; How Carl Sagan was wrong about the “reptilian brain”, in The Dragons of Eden; And an interview with Peter Singer, the controversial philosopher, author of The Expanding Circle … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Philosophy, Science
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The Holocene and Other Calendars
Here’s a concept I’ve heard of, fascinating and beneficial in ways, problematic in others. Wikipedia: Holocene Calendar
Posted in Culture, Science
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Climate Change, Founding Fathers, UFOs and Scientific Literacy
Topics today: Insurance companies, whose business depends on understanding risks, are taking steps to acknowledge climate change and its threats, even if many ordinary people still don’t “believe” in climate change; How the “founding fathers” were woke, compared to the … Continue reading
Posted in History, Music, Science
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Last Questions and Possible Answers, 2
This is a sequel to a post I did back in March, Last Questions and Possible Answers, 1, in which I considered the John Brockman book The Last Unknowns, in which he gathers deep unanswered questions about “the universe, the … Continue reading
Posted in Book Notes, Philosophy, Science
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Tribalism and Cooperation
Today’s topics: How tribalism, evolutionary evolved, solved some problems and created others, especially in the modern world; The counter idea of “coöperism”; Current events about Chick-fil-A and Republican condemnation of anti-racism. I talk of politics as manifesting ‘tribalism’ a lot; … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Evolution, Morality
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The Lies that Bind
How the Christian curriculum ACE lies about science; How some people are happy to submit to tyranny; Wondering if it matters children are lied to about reality, and concluding that it doesn’t, given certain purposes of life; And reflecting again … Continue reading
Narrative Bias and Control
Another take on why conspiracy theories have become so popular; How home-schoolers who decided to send their kids to public schools exposed the three lies about home-schooling that convinced them to do so; The Week on the state of book … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Music, Narrative, Religion
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Then They Came for the Meteorologists
Today’s items. How conspiracy theorists are attacking meteorologists; Naomi Oreskes on how the right attacks Social Security because it’s a “big government” program that actually works; The connection between American Christians and Uganda’s “kill the gays” policy And today’s music: … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Music, Psychology
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Sausalito, and Heartstopper
Missed posting yesterday because we took a day drive, on the first day of a three-day (Memorial Day, in the US) holiday weekend. On such weekends (Memorial Day, July 4th, Labor Day) most Americans don’t celebrate the event so much … Continue reading
Posted in Personal history, The Gays
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Groupthink, Reason, and Conspiracy Thinking
An apology/defense of groupthink; My thoughts about how religion undermines the ability to reason; A Republican who believes globes are a global conspiracy; How Republicans take advantage of laws they voted against; And how they’re trying to disappear gays and … Continue reading
Posted in Conservative Resistance, Epistemology
Comments Off on Groupthink, Reason, and Conspiracy Thinking