Category Archives: Morality

The Lottery and Jim and Mary G

Posted on Sunday 9 August 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

I reread Shirley Jackson famous/infamous short story “The Lottery” this morning (you can find the full text here) and was struck by this passage, about 2/3 the way through: “They do say,” Mr. Adams said to Old Man Warner, who … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Morality, science fiction, Short Fiction | Comments Off on The Lottery and Jim and Mary G

The Irish Need Not Apply

Posted on Wednesday 15 July 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

» New York Times, Timothy Egan: Not Like Us Donald Trump is attracting quite a following with his comments about Mexican immigrants: When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Human Progress, Morality, Social Progress | Comments Off on The Irish Need Not Apply

Links and Comments: Criminal Justice; Evangelicals and Divorce; Vaccine Narratives; Anthony Doerr’s favorite science books; Jeffrey Tayler’s latest; social trends and arcs of history

Posted on Wednesday 8 July 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Monday 6 July: Today’s episode of NPR’s “Fresh Air” has an interview with Adam Benforado, author of new book Unfair: The New Science of Criminal Justice, which applies the developments of the past decade or two in human psychology to … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Human Progress, Morality, Science | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Criminal Justice; Evangelicals and Divorce; Vaccine Narratives; Anthony Doerr’s favorite science books; Jeffrey Tayler’s latest; social trends and arcs of history

Links and Comments: About religious parents shielding their children from reality

Posted on Tuesday 26 May 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

More about the Duggars’ insular worldview. Gawker: Tell Your Duggar Tales: Did Michelle Duggar Get a Gay Crew Member Fired? The family kept their children so sealed from exposure to the outside world that their ideas about big cities like … Continue reading →

Posted in Conservative Resistance, Evolution, Human Progress, Morality | Comments Off on Links and Comments: About religious parents shielding their children from reality

Links and Comments: Politics and Ideology; About Changing One’s Mind

Posted on Monday 4 May 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Politics and Ideology: This theme has been around for some time: Republican economic policies rely on ideologies (ideas about government non-interference, about individual freedom, about the moral turpitude of the poor, etc.), while the actual evidence shows that the country’s … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Morality, Psychology | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Politics and Ideology; About Changing One’s Mind

A Month’s Worth of Links and Comments

Posted on Friday 1 May 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

New York Times, March 20: In the Age of Information, Specializing to Survive The Internet makes it easy to learn almost anything. And yet And yet, even as the highbrow holy grail — the acquisition of complete knowledge — seems … Continue reading →

Posted in Children, Culture, Economics, Evolution, MInd, Morality, Narrative, Psychology, Religion, Science, The Gays | Comments Off on A Month’s Worth of Links and Comments

Links and Comments: Still Climbing

Posted on Friday 13 February 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

The New Yorker, Adam Gopnik, Obama and the Cruaders. Parsing faith, fanaticsm , liberalism, pluralism. Bad acts may rise from good causes: faith may never be the enemy; fanaticism is always the enemy. But faith has always been the first … Continue reading →

Posted in Morality, Religion | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Still Climbing

Links and Quotes: Science and Humanities; Babies; American Exceptionalism

Posted on Wednesday 4 February 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Science and the Humanities For decades, ever since C.P. Snow characterized the Two Cultures of science and humanities, debates have raged about the divisions between the two. Recently writer Leon Wieseltier posted a screed in the New York Times Book … Continue reading →

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Links and Comments: Michael Shermer, Science and God, Religion vs Education, Your soul

Posted on Monday 2 February 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Michael Shermer’s new book As mentioned a couple posts ago, Michael Shermer has a new book out this week (I got my copy yesterday), The Moral Arc: How Science and Reason Lead Humanity toward Truth, Justice, and Freedom, which addresses … Continue reading →

Posted in Atheism, Culture, Evolution, Morality, Religion, science fiction | Comments Off on Links and Comments: Michael Shermer, Science and God, Religion vs Education, Your soul

10 Provisional Conclusions about Life, the Universe, and Everything, subject, of course, to revision based on evidence

Posted on Sunday 25 January 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

Inspired by my post last night about A Secular Ten Non-Commandments, and the book’s invitation to generate one’s own set of beliefs, I sat down today to write out my own response… not of *commandments* (who am I, or anyone, … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Evolution, Humanism, Morality, Philosophy, Religion, Science, Ten Commandments | Comments Off on 10 Provisional Conclusions about Life, the Universe, and Everything, subject, of course, to revision based on evidence