How The Light Gets In 2016 #htlgi2016

At Hay on Wye HTLGI festival again for the final weekend: My late arrival and changes to programme meant Friday pm didn’t quite go according to my pre-planning, but got to see and hear; Denis Noble, Anne Bowcock and Rupert Sheldrake chaired by David Malone, talking on the promissory hype of the Human Genome project … Continue reading “How The Light Gets In 2016 #htlgi2016”

Mind and Body on @BBCStartWeek

I’ve claimed “Evolutionary Psychology” as my topic since I started this blog. Dominant schools of thought have evolved with the human mind, something that’s true for any “belief system” including modern “rational” science. I don’t use the term “Evo-Psych” too much since, like so many ideas named and hijacked by one flavour at one period … Continue reading “Mind and Body on @BBCStartWeek”

Additional “Eastern” Thoughts.

This is a short post to address the additional “eastern” perspective missing from the post note in my previous blog on the London Thinks “How Do We Believe” event. Here on Psybertron, much of the philosophical journey was informed early on by the qualities of Zen / Tao thinking introduced to millions by Robert Pirsig with … Continue reading “Additional “Eastern” Thoughts.”

Is there life beyond materialist science? @metamorgan says F*ck it.

Interesting post from Morgan Giddings, with a Facebook response from Sabine Hossenfelder: Morgan I have mostly maintained a façade of being that “rational, materialist scientist” most of the time … … it was always unsettling to think that consciousness is just some byproduct of what is a random universe made up of a bunch of bouncy-balls. … Continue reading “Is there life beyond materialist science? @metamorgan says F*ck it.”

Atheists, the Origin of the Species #TheosSheldrake @Theosthinktank

Had an interesting evening Thursday, listening to Rupert Sheldrake (again) at Theos, the Christian religious think-tank (for the first time), and having the opportunity to question and talk with him and with other Theos members. Also acquired a copy of Nick Spencer’s “Atheists, the Origin of the Species“; more on which later. [Post Note : Full … Continue reading “Atheists, the Origin of the Species #TheosSheldrake @Theosthinktank”

Daniel Dennett at The Royal Institution of Great Britain @Ri_Science

I was fortunate to meet and hear Dan Dennett delivering Convergence: Information, Evolution, and Intelligent Design at The Royal Institution on Wednesday 25th March this week. I say fortunate because, despite being a huge fan of his as these pages will attest, and despite exchanging emails with him back in January when I noticed he … Continue reading “Daniel Dennett at The Royal Institution of Great Britain @Ri_Science”

Noumena and Materialism

Part of researching stuff for my Chalmers / Deutsch synthesis paper, I was browsing a number of Diploma and BA essays on the Sheffield University “Pathways to Philosophy” site. (I’m often contemplating the need for me to have some more formal philosophy education before having enough credibility to write myself, but I fear I may … Continue reading “Noumena and Materialism”