What, Why & How do we Know ?
Last week, on BBC This Week, Jonathan Powell ex PM Blair’s Chief of Staff did the round up of the week (intro from about 7 mins in) and was thoroughly bludgeoned for his efforts by Andrew Neil in his own inimitable and entirely effective way. Several people re-tweeted Neil’s performance approvingly. I’m a big fan. … Continue reading “Invoking Godwin’s Law Too Soon? Maybe.”
Perhaps not the environment for a constructive conversation – speaker talks for over 40 minutes and individual audience members get to ask a single question – but for me a disappointing evening at LAAG to hear Charlie Klendjian talk on – well – a bag of loosely related topics. A lot of “whataboutness” and Godwin’s law (!) … Continue reading “Charlie Klendjian of the Lawyers Secular Society”
William Godwin has never previously figured in any of the posts or pages of Psybertron, despite often appearing in conversations arising from the same subjects. (Not to be confused with Mike Godwin of Godwin’s Law – mentioned here several times before. Don’t mention the war, Pike!) So this is just a placeholder for William Godwin … Continue reading “William Godwin”
Vive La Différance – or a white swan in the hand is worth more than risking a few black feathers in the bush. I’ve regularly used the Derridan version of difference (différance) ironically and usually when talking about gender differences. That minefield of: what differences there really are between men and women (specifically archetypically, but … Continue reading “Vive La Différance, Again.”
Interesting responses to my critical post of the recent LAAG event below. Defensive and now, sadly, largely ad-hominem. Apparently the number and size of my balls affect the arguments. I’d drafted a couple of yards of replies on Friday afternoon, to the initial handful of comments that day, but the aggressive responses continued over the … Continue reading “Atheist, Rationalist, Secularist and Humanist – What’s in a Name?”
@ConwayHall tonight a #londonthinks event from The Ethical Society chaired superbly by Samira Ahmed, with: Adam Rutherford @AdamRutherford – scientist, atheist, writer and humanist. Rev Giles Fraser @Giles_Fraser – priest, Grauniad columnist and humanist. Francesca Stavrakopolou @ProfFrancesca historian of religions of the book, atheist humanist but expressly not “new atheist”. Billed unimaginatively by some for … Continue reading “Science knows best, or does it? #londonthinks @ConwayHall @ProfFrancesca @AdamRutherford @giles_fraser”