Category Archives: Evolution

Richard Dawkins: RIVER OUT OF EDEN

Posted on Wednesday 23 September 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: A Darwinian View of Life (Basic Books, March 1995, xiii + 172pp, including 11pp Bibliography and further reading, and index.) By the time Dawkins wrote this short book for the publisher’s Science Masters series, he had already published three … Continue reading →

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Peter Singer: A DARWINIAN LEFT

Posted on Wednesday 16 September 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: Politics, Evolution and Cooperation (UK 1999; Yale University Press, 2000, 70pp, including 7pp notes and references) What’s interesting about this book is the background of progressive idealism that is not widely acknowledged, or perhaps has simply been forgotten. That … Continue reading →

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Cognitive Overload?

Posted on Tuesday 25 August 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Is humanity suffering information overload? Why people hate data centers; Why people hate the government; Is this all about the increasing complexity of the world, and the limits of human cognition? Comments about Trump and Canada from Robert Charles Wilson … Continue reading →

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Toby Ord, THE PRECIPICE

Posted on Monday 6 July 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: Existential Risk and the Future of Humanity (Hachette, 2020, 468pp, including 225pp of resources, acknowledgements, appendices, further reading, notes, bibliography, and index.) Here is book about existential risks, a topic on which I have several books, though this one … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Culture, Evolution, Human Progress | Comments Off

Misconceptions about Science and Predictions

Posted on Friday 20 March 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

How Jeffrey Epstein, obsessed with eugenics, was wrong; How Paul Ehrlich was not a villain, even though his predictions failed; John Pavlovitz wonders why anyone still supports Trump; I have another idea; Tom Nichols on no Plan B; the disappearing … Continue reading →

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Donald Hoffman: THE CASE AGAINST REALITY

Posted on Friday 20 March 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitle: Why evolution hid the truth from our eyes (Norton, 2019, 250pp, plus color plates, including 45pp acknowledgements, notes, and index.) This is the first of three books I read in January, all with ostensibly similar themes, but actually quite … Continue reading →

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Trek and Woke, Perception and Reality, Art and Truth

Posted on Saturday 17 January 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Stephen Miller accuses the new Trek series of being woke, with my comments on how the original Trek series was extremely woke, especially for its era; An interview with Anil Seth about deep reality and whether it’s built by human … Continue reading →

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Survival, Revelations, Falling Standards

Posted on Tuesday 4 November 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Samuel McKee on how our brains are wired to survive, not to find truth; Adam Gopnik from 2012 about an Elaine Pagels book on Revelations; Jonathan Chait on how falling standards of behavior in Washington; Brief items about tariffs on … Continue reading →

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Most Beliefs Aren’t About What’s Real, They’re About Conforming to Tribal Mythology

Posted on Monday 22 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Three more core principles today, illustrated by an essay by a “former creationist” and how she found “following the science” clashed with her culture — and how this conflict is born of ancient biology; How universities would like to teach … Continue reading →

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A Core Theme: The Mismatch of Human Nature

Posted on Sunday 21 September 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

One of the emerging themes on this blog over the years is the idea that human nature evolved over millions of years to enable survival in an ancestral environment that most people no longer live in. In my own reading … Continue reading →