Category Archives: Human Progress

We’re Living in an Age of Regression

Posted on Tuesday 13 May 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

In Trump’s America, it’s every parent and child out for themselves; Who decides who’s Christian? The government? Fox News says the Qatari bribe to Trump is fine because FDR gave three planes to the Saudis… 80 years ago; Robert Reich … Continue reading →

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Tim Urban, WHAT’S OUR PROBLEM?, post 1

Posted on Tuesday 13 May 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

(Wait But Why, 2024, 584pp, including 112pp of characters, acknowledgements, notes, bibliography, and bio) I wrote about this book back in December, before deciding to buy it. Which I did despite some cautionary signs: it’s apparently self-published, it’s enormous, it’s … Continue reading →

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J. Bronowksi: THE ASCENT OF MAN

Posted on Saturday 10 May 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

(Little, Brown, 1973, 448pp, including 9pp (in tiny print) of bibliography and index) This is a substantial book that was popular in its time but is probably not really recommendable now, simply because it’s 50 years out of date in … Continue reading →

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Perhaps Humanity Has Hit a Conceptual Ceiling

Posted on Sunday 13 April 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

Alternate title: America was supposed to be better than this. Perhaps MAGA is about making America *simpler* again; perhaps what we’re seeing is a rejection of the complexity of the modern world; Why is it Americans love watching crime shows? … Continue reading →

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How Soon Will This Madness End?

Posted on Tuesday 18 February 2025 by Mark R. Kelly

I keep thinking this has to implode, sooner rather than later. Trump and/or Musk will do something so egregious, so dangerous, that *someone* will step up to reign them in, even if very carefully, behind the scenes, so as not … Continue reading →

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Shocked, Just Shocked

Posted on Tuesday 19 November 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

The broad trend, perhaps, is the discomfort of tribal human beings living in multicultural liberal democracies. How some people (who weren’t paying attention) are shocked that Trump is actually setting out to do what he promised to do; How Trump … Continue reading →

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There Is Always Long Term Progress and Short Term Retreat

Posted on Thursday 14 November 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

An essay that proposes that the idea of progress is a myth; I disagree; Quick takes on politics, and crackpots. OK, I can’t help but follow the political news, but for today’s post I’m sinking links about that to the … Continue reading →

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Prothero: WHY LIBERALS WIN THE CULTURE WARS…

Posted on Saturday 2 November 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

(EVEN WHEN THEY LOSE ELECTIONS), subtitled “The Battles That Define America from Jefferson’s Heresies to Gay Marriage” (HarperOne, Oct 2016, 326pp, including 62p acknowledgements, notes, and index.) I’ve mentioned this book a few times, the first time even before it … Continue reading →

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Notes About the Real World

Posted on Wednesday 23 October 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

Let’s look at some non-political items today. Three critical thinking tools used by Daniel Dennett; Eight principles of lifelong learning from an astrophysicist; Adam Lee on our solarpunk future — technology that exists now, but isn’t widely distributed; Scientific American … Continue reading →

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Reality v Fear

Posted on Wednesday 25 September 2024 by Mark R. Kelly

If there’s a core lesson to take away from the studies of psychological biases over the past two or three decades, it is this: our minds evolved for survival, not for accurate perception of the real world. We are primed … Continue reading →

Posted in Human Nature, Human Progress, Politics, Psychology | Comments Off on Reality v Fear