Category Archives: Human Progress

Johan Norberg, PROGRESS

Posted on Tuesday 3 March 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Subtitled: Ten Reasons to Look Forward to the Future (UK: Oneworld, Oct 2016, 246pp, including 28pp notes, acknowledgements, and index) Rather as I did with Rutger Bregman a few days, here’s an author who has a new book out recently, … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Human Nature, Human Progress, progress | Leave a comment

SOTU last night

Posted on Wednesday 25 February 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Perspectives on last night’s State of the Union address; Followed by personal thoughts about ICE and why conservatives are especially concerned about crimes committed by immigrants. – – – We saw only a bit of the SOTU address last night, … Continue reading →

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Does ICE need to come and track you down?

Posted on Tuesday 24 February 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Why Trump fears “woke,” why he loves the poorly-educated, and how advances in American history were due to “woke”; How he cares about discrimination only if it’s against Jews or whites; How his creepy emails work on the MAGA faithful; … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Human Nature, Human Progress, Psychology | Comments Off on Does ICE need to come and track you down?

Another Take on the Left/Right Divide

Posted on Sunday 22 February 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Kalen Dion on the right/left divide: homogeneity/diversity, and all that implies; What do historians mean that tomorrow won’t be better than today? Because human nature; The modern economy and the limits of human cognition; Conservative values: the Biblical right to … Continue reading →

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Does Western Civilization Depend on Christian Monotheism?

Posted on Thursday 19 February 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

Challenging David Brooks, the retiring NYT columnist, and his idea of building a humanist culture, from Bruce Ledewitz and Robert Reich; Brooks’ problem, claims Ledewitz, is that Brooks can’t let go of religion; “the past collapsed for a reason”; And … Continue reading →

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The Clash Within

Posted on Sunday 15 February 2026 by Mark R. Kelly

How there isn’t a clash of civilizations (e.g. Christian vs. Muslim) so much as a clash between modernity and those who resent it: WOKE vs MAGA; Items about ensuring the “right” people will vote, the erosion of the separation of … Continue reading →

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Retreat from Civilization

Posted on Saturday 6 December 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Trump worries about “civilizational erasure” but only in a white supremacist sense; And contrasting his motives with those described by Pinker that brought about modern civilization; Heather Cox Richardson describes the retreat from the global stage; Bryan Walsh at Vox … Continue reading →

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And How Science Fiction Is Both a Symptom and a Solution

Posted on Monday 13 October 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Further thoughts on how science fiction informs current social ills; Republican doublethink about “No Kings” rallies; Columbus Day, and Trump’s veneration of Columbus vs the realities of history; Heather Cox Richardson’s perspective on Columbus, and the origin of Columbus Day. … Continue reading →

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And How This Is All About Reality, and the Future of Humanity

Posted on Saturday 11 October 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Quotes from E.O. Wilson and Brian Cox; Comments about existential threats, base human nature, MAGA, and woke; More examples, like yesterday’s; A report from Nicholas Kristof, who lives in Portland; How Trump isn’t responding to crises, he’s constructing them; Final … Continue reading →

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No Necessary Nations

Posted on Saturday 12 July 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Stephan Marche on how there are no necessary nations, and no permanent global order; Judges, appointed both by Republicans and Democrats, speak out against the Trump administration; Heather Cox Richardson identifies one key failure in the Texas floods, the result … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Human Progress, Lunacy, Morality, Politics, progress | Comments Off on No Necessary Nations