More Items from Recent Weeks…

Posted on Tuesday 10 October 2023 by Mark R. Kelly
  • Hemant Mehta’s summary of the “Project 2025” plan by conservatives to turn the nation into a Christian theocracy;
  • The trend in the US of the nonreligious;
  • How drug use doesn’t cause homeless; it’s usually the other way around; and conservative cynicism;
  • Revisiting U2 and Peter Gabriel. Today: “San Jacinto”

I’ve mentioned “Project 2025,” the Heritage Foundation’s plans for dismantling the US government as soon as a Republican gets into the White House again, several times. Here’s a one-stop-shopping summary by Hemant Mehta. (Including a link to the 920-page plan!)

Hemant Mehta, Friendly Atheist, 3 Oct 2023: Project 2025: A Christian Nationalist fever dream that would destroy American democracy, subtitled “The 920-page document details how a future Republican president could turn the nation into a Christian theocracy”

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Numerous Items From Recent Weeks

Posted on Monday 9 October 2023 by Mark R. Kelly
  • How the worldwide migration crisis is about civil wars and climate change, but also about the internet and smartphones;
  • How the Luddites were not what we think, and why it might be appropriate to be one now;
  • About the new book The Tyranny of the Minority and how Republicans have become an anti-democratic institution;
  • How the Christian panic over “sex trafficking” is misplaced and hypocritical;
  • Heather Cox Richardson about gerrymandering, and how it has led to our current dysfunctional Congress;
  • How disinformation works even in China against Taiwan;
  • Another item about how residents of San Francisco reject the characterization of their city by the right-wing media;
  • An essay by Matthew Walther about book banning and the how to value literature.

NY Times, Ross Douthat, 23 Sep 2023: The Permanent Migration Crisis

Does Douthat really understand why it’s permanent? Well, he identifies what I think are the two obvious factors, but also a couple I hadn’t considered.

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The Shifting Sands of Religious Dogma

Posted on Sunday 8 October 2023 by Mark R. Kelly
  • Ross Douthat on the swings of dogma within the Catholic Church;
  • Politicians who “textjack” the Bible;
  • Valerie Tarico on 10 thought processes that trip up Christians.

The pieces today echo other recent items: the Veritasium piece (posted on the 5th) on cognitive ease (say something over and over…); Adam Lee’s item about book bans (posted on the 6th) from conservative parents so absolutely certain of their dogma they insist on imposing it upon everyone else; and the item about that obscure Christian text (posted about on the 1st) once popular, now forgotten.

This is from one of NY Times’ conservative columnists.

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NY Times, opinion by Ross Douthat, How the Extraordinary Became Normal in Catholicism

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Deep Questions and Tribal Answers

Posted on Friday 6 October 2023 by Mark R. Kelly
  • Science fiction and philosophy;
  • The next frontier of book bans;
  • Ken Ham rues the difficulty of indoctrinating children;
  • Paul Krugman on voters, and why conservatives still think the economy is bad.

Big Think, Jonny Thomson, 3 Oct 2023: Apocalypse philosophy: What science fiction teaches us about existence, subtitled “There’s nothing like the end of the world to make you a philosopher.”

Key Takeaways

• The best science fiction presents philosophical thought experiments that make us ask deep questions. • Here, we look at a broad range of apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic scenarios and isolate four themes common to them. • As it turns out, science fiction has a lot to teach us about existence.

Whenever you see an article like this in a general publication (whether website, newspaper, or magazine), it’s invariably mostly about SF movies and TV. And that’s true here. The few titles that are books are here because they were later made into movies or TV series. Let me see if I can find any exception…? Nope. It’s not that long an article.

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Evens and Beginnings

Posted on Thursday 5 October 2023 by Mark R. Kelly
  • Veritasium on cognitive ease;
  • How the world views the US’s disarray (due invariably to Republicans);
  • How a century ago in France, smelling bad was a good thing; how standards about hygiene have changed;
  • Two WaPo pieces about the decline of life expectancy in the US… due to Republican policies;
  • And an NPR station manager in North Carolina who won’t allow broadcasts of Met operas that she deems non-Biblical.

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Veritasium on Facebook: Cognitive Ease and the Illusion of Truth

Just mention something a few times, and claims you make about it will more likely be believed. Authoritarians and pastors count on this. Here’s the end of the video:

Cognitive ease is useful for being creative and intuitive, but it also makes you more gullible. So, for the written part of your driving test, going with your gut is probably a good strategy. But it areas like physics, where the answers are counter-intuitive and there are many common misconceptions, it’s important to be more skeptical.

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An SF “Quiz” from 25 Years Ago

Posted on Wednesday 4 October 2023 by Mark R. Kelly

Here’s a “quiz” I composed way back in 1996 or so, inspired by an earlier list by Connie Willis of quotes and names from classic (1950s and 1960s) works of SF, that she read off at some convention in 1995, and which was subsequently published in Locus Magazine. I composed a follow-up list from more recent works, the 1970s through the 1990s, and when I created Locus Online in 1997, I posted it there. It’s not a “quiz” exactly; it’s not a test you can take and be scored. It’s intended as an evocation of classic works. Here’s a link to the original post post in 1997:

Locus Online: My Locus Quiz

I am now reproducing it here. Below the ‘quiz’ I’m now providing answers. Except for one I don’t remember. I think if you are well-read in science fiction, you will recognize most of these. I suspect that many of the newer 21st century writers and fans will not. (But then, I wouldn’t recognize an analogous list from 21st century works.) Science fiction has a history of building upon the past, developing and recreating ideas from earlier works. But I suspect that’s fading.

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MAGAs and Ukraine; Trust in Science

Posted on Tuesday 3 October 2023 by Mark R. Kelly
  • Paul Krugman on why MAGA supports Putin rather than Ukraine;
  • An essay on why Americans increasingly distrust science;
  • And in tribute the late Larry Kramer, the greatest track I heard when he introduced me to the rock band U2.

NY Times, Paul Krugman, 2 Oct 2023: Why MAGA Wants to Betray Ukraine

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Psychology and Ostranenie

Posted on Monday 2 October 2023 by Mark R. Kelly
    • What psychology is good for, and its recent accomplishments;
    • The idea of Ostranenie, a kind of defamiliarization, which of course is one of those things science fiction does at its best.

Big Think, Elizabeth Gilbert and Nick Hobson, 1 Oct 2023: Is psychology good for anything?, subtitled “Recent high-profile instances of fraud in psychology have led some to wonder if there’s anything useful about the field at all.”

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How Politics and Religion Are All About Human Psychology, Chapter 5,271,009

Posted on Sunday 1 October 2023 by Mark R. Kelly
  • How dumb fascists can be dangerous, re: the Biden impeachment hearing;
  • About The Shepherd of Hermas, an obscure Christian text, once popular, now forgotten;
  • Why Trump wants Gen. Milley to be killed, and Trump’s belief in his superior genes;
  • David French on why Trump Fever Won’t Break (it’s all about the human propensity to tribalism and mysticism).

So how’s that impeachment hearing going?

The New Republic, Michael Tomasky, 29 Sep 2023: Impeachment Hearing Proves Even Dumb Fascists Can Be Dangerous, subtitled “The House Republican effort to make a case against Joe Biden is mostly blundering—but their collective face-plant can still cause some significant damage.”

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Fixing the Budget; Civics Education and Constitutions

Posted on Saturday 30 September 2023 by Mark R. Kelly
  • How to fix the national budget: more tax revenue (not necessarily raising tax rates);
  • Civics education and various ideas for rewriting constitutions.

Apropos of this weekend’s events in Washington DC. In some cases there are smart solutions to our problems that even Democrats refuse to entertain. Because politics.

NY Times, Peter Coy (subscriber-only newsletter), 29 Sep 2023: There Is Only One Way to Fix the National Budget

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