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Monthly Archives: July 2010
Free will denial watch: Jerry Coyne calls himself “a molecular puppet”
In a recent blog post, evolutionary biologist, Jerry Coyne, doesn’t flinch at spelling out the implications of strict naturalism for the idea of free will: We simply don’t like to think that we’re molecular automatons, and so we adopt a definition … Continue reading
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Tagged atheism, atheist, determinism, evolution, free will, God, jerry coyne, naturalism, philosophy, Sam Harris, science
12 Comments
Fat Company Corrupts Good Diets?
The apostle Paul says that “bad company corrupts good morals” (I Corinthians 15:33). Not that I give a shit what the old misogynist says about anything, but, in this particular instance, Paul may actually have some science to back him up. It turns out, … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged dieting, exercise, I Corinthians, overweight, Paul, psychology, resolutions, social psychology, the apostle Paul, the new testament, weight loss
4 Comments
My Predictions for the Human Future
My daughters are four and six, and barring a severe catastrophe (personal or civilizational), my guess is that they’ll have lifespans that might double that of the average person living today. By the time they hit about the age of 50 (around … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged America, apocalypse, life, matt ridley, optimism, robert wright, the antichrist, The Book of Revelation, the environment, the future, the world
14 Comments
Thinking about Symmetry via Stuart Kauffman, William Blake, AR Ammons, Johann Gottlieb Fichte, Robert Frost—and My Wife
Biologist Stuart Kauffman blogs for the National Public Radio (NPR) website, and recently wrote a post reflecting on the universe’s symmetry breaking: To begin at the beginning, . . . The universe started extremely hot, dense, and essentially uniform, or isotropic. Perhaps all four … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged ar ammons, Big Bang, origins, philosophy, physics, Robert Frost, science, stuart kauffman, symmetry, the universe, William Blake
1 Comment
Neuroscientist David Eagleman calls himself a possibilian. What’s that?
A possibilian? A recent profile of neuroscientist David Eagleman explains what that is: Eagleman rejects not only conventional religion but also the labels of agnostic and atheist. In their place, he has coined the term possibilian: a word to describe those … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged agnosticism, atheism, consciousness, david eagleman, mind, neuroscience, ocean, philosophy, possibilian, reason
1 Comment
Something to keep life in perspective
Old film footage of Santa Monica Pier, 1954. No sound. Like the moments in this footage, we too are fast becoming the ghosts of time.
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged America, carpe diem, existentialism, history, life, santa monica
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Is the Universe a Broken Symmetry? I Need a Physicist’s Help!
Could a physicist (or someone at least somewhat in the know) answer a simple question for me? Does the video below roughly approximate what went on at the Big Bang (a symmetry is broken, its granular debris entropically shattering and cascading … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Big Bang, entropy, evolution, Genesis, origins, particle physics, physics, sand, science, symmetry, the big bang
5 Comments
Architect Buckminster Fuller’s “Buckyballs” Found in Space! Are They Evidence of God’s Existence?
This is a trippy story. The carbon molecule called a “buckyball”—named after Buckminster Fuller—has been discovered to be floating free in space: Sir Harry Kroto, who shared the 1996 Nobel Prize in chemistry with Bob Curl and Rick Smalley for the discovery … Continue reading
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Tagged agnosticism, apologetics, architecture, atheism, buckminster fuller, buckyballs, God, philosophy, physics, science, supersymmetry, symmetry
4 Comments
Why Read Literature or Watch Good Films? Martha Nussbaum on the Role of the Imagination in the Cultivation of Empathy
Here’s a great quote from Martha Nussbaum’s new book, From Disgust to Humanity: Sexual Orientation and Constitutional Law (Oxford 2010, xvii): That ‘terrified’ gay teenager needs, and deserves, equal respect, and a sphere of liberty equal to that enjoyed by … Continue reading
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Tagged college, creative writing, democracy, education, ethics, film, literature, martha nussbaum, morality, poetry, teachers
4 Comments
Why We Should Build Human Solidarity on Reason, Not Race, Faith, or Nation
Reason, to my mind, is a human universal (though some do it far better than others). In other words, barring intellectual disability or brain injury, human beings have a universal capacity for reasoning with others: we can deduct, induct, experiment, … Continue reading
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Tagged anglo-french enlightenment, atheist, Buddhism, critical thinking, enlightenment, God, Hinduism, human universals, Islam, Jesus, reason, Voltaire
16 Comments
The Holographic Principle for the Artsy
Below is a rather creative video rendition of the holographic principle. In string theory, the holographic principle is simply this: a two-dimensional area—the cosmological horizon 13.7 billion light years away from where we think that we are—may be sufficient for accounting for all the information … Continue reading
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Tagged 3-D, holograms, holographic principle, holographic universe, life, physics, string theory, symmetry
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Thoreau 2.1: Jay Shafer’s 100 Sq. Ft. Home
I find Jay Shafer’s Thoreau-like experiment elegant and inspiring. Who needs a mortgage if you have creativity?
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Tagged architecture, creativity, design, ecology, environmentalism, Henry David Thoreau, homes, hope, jay shafer, life, simplicity
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Are We the Low Energy State of a Hidden Symmetry?
Who are we? Where are we? Here’s my current answer. I think I can put it in a four line stanza. And I suppose it’s what I might tell my children the next time one of them asks me: At turns beautiful … Continue reading
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Tagged agnosticism, atheism, dancing, evolution, existentialism, Genesis, philosophy, physics, science, string theory, symmetry
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Christopher Hitchens, Henry David Thoreau, and Peitho
Christopher Hitchens was recently interviewed by Hugh Hewitt, and offered an interesting tidbit on a rhetorical strategy that tends to work for him: [W]hen I write, as often as I can, I try to write as if I’m talking to people. It … Continue reading
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Tagged Christopher Hitchens, creative writing, Henry David Thoreau, peitho, persuasion, Politics, rhetoric, writing
2 Comments
Glenn Beck says that the Jews killed Jesus
Isn’t Glenn Beck a lovely human being? Here what he said on Tuesday about Jesus and the Jews: Jesus conquered death. He wasn’t victimized. He chose to give his life. He did have a choice. If he was a victim, … Continue reading
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Tagged antisemitism, apologetics, Easter, fascism, glenn beck, Jesus, John Macarthur, rush limbaugh, the Holocaust
2 Comments
Ferris Club: Cameron Fights His Demons
Ah, young Hamlet!
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Tagged Camus, comedy, existential freedom, existentialism, freedom, Hamlet, Kierkegaard, life, Nietzsche, Sartre, self assertion, Shakespeare
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3-D for Real: Do We Live in a Holographic Universe?
Earlier this week, there was a mind-bending New York Times article on gravity that also touched on the possibility that we live in a holographic universe. Here is one of the key passages from the New York Times article explaining the so-called … Continue reading
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Tagged 3-D, existentialism, Garrett Lisi, holographic principle, holographic universe, love, philosophy, physics, poetry, quantum entanglement, science, William Blake
15 Comments
On Gay Adoption, the GOP’s Karen Handel is an Irrationalist
GOP candidate for Georgia governor, Karen Handel, in a recent interview for local Georgia television, offers no reasons for opposing gay adoption. She just does: Q: So you think gay couples are less qualified to function as parents than straight couples? A: I … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged Abraham Lincoln, adoption, America, critical thinking, gay equality, gay rights, karen handel, lesbian, Politics, reason, the Enlightenment, Thomas Jefferson
4 Comments
