What, Why & How do we Know ?
I have three or four draft responses to Pharyngula (PZ Myers) blog posts, but they always turn into long essays and I rarely get round to publishing. One problem is he has many signed-up readers who respond to every post, and individual comments get lost in the baying mob (just like Ben Goldacre’s Bad Science … Continue reading “Science vs Religion Wars”
When watching last week’s BBC Horizon, I was disappointed to see the singularity and inflation still at the root of big bang theories. That’s despite the fact that two key subjects were brought up very early – causation itself (which is actually not discussed further), and the logical problem with the idea of time itself … Continue reading “Before the Big Bang ?”
Thanks to PZ Myers for the links to this Jerry Coyne piece on Francis Collins (Obama’s choice for NIH Director) lecture at UC Berkeley. (And a review by Sam Harris.) Dr. Collins will have more responsibility for biomedical and health-related research than any person on earth, controlling an annual budget of more than $30 billion. … Continue reading “Religion Does Pollute Science”
Thanks to Sam for this link to this Terry Eagleton interview by Laurie Taylor in the New Humanist. Pretty sure I have this original link to Eagleton’s review of The God Delusion, but just in case. Great interview anyway. Several points to pick-up on … the inevitability of progress Eagleton referring to Dawkins beliefs. The … Continue reading “Laurie Taylor interviews Eagleton”
As promised herwith a few pointers to those items of interest in answers to the 2009 Edge Question. Answers ring like scientific odes to uncertainty, humility and doubt; passionate pleas for critical thought in a world threatened by blind convictions. THE TORONTO STAR Sue Blackmore – predictably, when some other “artificial” technological meme replicator becomes … Continue reading “What Will Change Everything ?”
This New Scientist article on the Intelligent Design crowd reinforcing the dualism of mind stuff distinct from material stuff, as part of a theism vs Darwinism debate passed me by in my recent move a couple of months ago. I’m pretty clearly a physicalist, a non-reductive materialist … both material-stuff and meaning-stuff arising from the … Continue reading “Who Built The Simulation ?”
“Expelled” is a movie in the pipeline (due for release in April at the last count) that purports not so much to “debunk” evolution (or Darwinism as they refer to it, like any good Victorian might) in favour of ID / Creationism, but to claim a mass institutional conspiracy preventing debate on alternatives, not just … Continue reading “Intelligent Design / Creationism Propaganda”
Pharyngula (Paul Myers) on Elizabeth Loftus. [via Dermot] Need to find a quiet space to read this. Alex, you’ll also like this Dermot post on Political Morality I think.