Category Archives: Human Progress

Son of Longtermism

Posted on 22 August 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Some 14 days ago, in this post, I linked and quoted from a NYT guest essay by William MacAskill about valuing the future as much as we value the present. Which struck me as a reasonable position to take, a … Continue reading →

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Longtermism

Posted on 8 August 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

A key aspect of (good) science fiction is that it takes a long term view, of the species, of the universe, as so few individual people do.

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LQCs: The Arc of Historical Progress vs. Religious Oppression in the US

Posted on 10 May 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

First, my favorite print magazine The Week, for May 13th, in its “Viewpoint” box on the “Best Columns US” page, quotes Francis Fukuyama in The Wall Street Journal (a newspaper I don’t read). But unlike the similarly found David French … Continue reading →

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LQCs: Back in Time, to a Perfect Past

Posted on 3 March 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

It’s been a couple days since President Biden’s State of the Union address — in which he spoke forcefully about many things, but avoided topics that would strain attention spans, e.g. climate change — and I’ve been fascinated since then … Continue reading →

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Yuval Noah Harari, 21 LESSONS FOR THE 21ST CENTURY (post #1)

Posted on 3 February 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

This 2018 book is Harari’s third, of the three he’s published so far. It follows in ways from his second, HOMO DEUS (see here), in exploring some of its themes, but differs in being not a narrative, but a set … Continue reading →

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SF as Luddite Literature?

Posted on 13 January 2022 by Mark R. Kelly

Today’s counter-intuitive notion is from novelist and long-time Locus columnist Cory Doctorow. This essay is in the January 2022 issue, and posted (for free) online, here: Locus, Cory Doctorow, posted 3 Jan 2022: Science Fiction is a Luddite Literature

Posted in Human Progress, science fiction, Technology | Comments Off on SF as Luddite Literature?

Lc&Cs: The Sad State of Education in America

Posted on 31 October 2021 by Mark R. Kelly

“Civilization is in a race between education and catastrophe.” —H.G. Wells

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Links and Comments: Sides of History; Myths and Lies; Voting Inequities

Posted on 17 October 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

Washington Post: Trump brought data from the Fox News universe to a debate centered in reality How Trump, and Fox News (in particular Laura Ingraham), lie with statistics, as the article explains in great detail. It’s all spin, aimed at … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Trump, Evangelicals, Persecution, Fear, Withdrawal

Posted on 9 August 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

The front page of today’s New York Times has an aerial photo of a house in Sioux Center, Iowa, with the words “In God We Trust” on the roof. The article, a long one, is ‘Christianity Will Have Power’ with … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Human Progress, Lunacy, Religion | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Trump, Evangelicals, Persecution, Fear, Withdrawal

Yuval Noah Harari, HOMO DEUS: A Brief History of Tomorrow (2017; 2015 in Israel)

Posted on 7 February 2020 by Mark R. Kelly

This is, in effect, a sequel to SAPIENS. Top level summary: It opens with a long prologue: now that humanity has largely overcome famine, plague, and war, what next? Three possibilities: immortality, happiness, divinity. However these are predictions; this book … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Evolution, Human Progress, Religion, Science | Comments Off on Yuval Noah Harari, HOMO DEUS: A Brief History of Tomorrow (2017; 2015 in Israel)