Category Archives: Science

Hitchens and the Speculative End of Religion

Posted on Wednesday 18 December 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

There have been several online articles in recent days about Christopher Hitchens, author of god is not great [lower cases intentional], who died just two years ago. Jerry Coyne checks in on rival takes on Christopher Hitchens, both on Salon, … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Philosophy, Religion, Science, Thinking | Comments Off on Hitchens and the Speculative End of Religion

Getting Along without Knowing

Posted on Sunday 8 December 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

Interesting interview with Patricia Churchland, UCSD ‘neurophilosopher’ in Slate today, originally from New Scientist, about the dismay some people feel at the notion that, to quote the interview’s intro, “our hopes, loves and very existence are just elaborate functions of … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy, Psychology, Science, Thinking | Comments Off on Getting Along without Knowing

A Celebration of Human Ingenuity

Posted on Monday 25 November 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

Andrew Sullivan’s The Dish on The Inevitabilty In Beauty. Theoretical physicist Nima Arkani-Hamed and novelist Ian McEwan recently discussed the relationship between art and science, often agreeing that what might unite them is beauty. I like McEwan’s response: I would … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy, Science | Comments Off on A Celebration of Human Ingenuity

Why Science Is Not About Faith

Posted on Tuesday 19 November 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

Great post at Slate by Jerry Coyne — the original headline on the homepage has disappeared, so I’m reproducing from memory in this link: Why Scientists Have No Faith in Science The point is science isn’t about faith, not even … Continue reading →

Posted in Religion, Science | Comments Off on Why Science Is Not About Faith

Gravity

Posted on Sunday 6 October 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

[Capturing my Facebook post as a blog post.] Just back from seeing Gravity. It’s quite a ride — spectacular in many ways. Terrific effects, portrayal of people in orbit over Earth, and even the simulated zero-G (or micro-G) movements look … Continue reading →

Posted in Science, science fiction, Space | Comments Off on Gravity

Odds and Ends, 23Sep13

Posted on Monday 23 September 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

Scientific American has this Michael Shermer essay about struggling with motivated reasoning– http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=why-we-should-choose-science-over-beliefs Give him credit — he struggles with ideological convictions in the light of evidence, and changes his mind. But finds that others at a Libertarian conference are … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy, Science, Thinking | Comments Off on Odds and Ends, 23Sep13

Law v. Science

Posted on Monday 16 September 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

Nice essay by Jesse Bering — an excerpt from his forthcoming book — about ‘age of consent’ laws and their variation over time and across different countries, whose cutoffs range from 12 to 21. (And in olden times, some US … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Science | Comments Off on Law v. Science

Sunday Links and Commentary

Posted on Sunday 8 September 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

PZ Myers compares the atheist movement to the plight of World SF Conventions — in terms of their resistance to being open to interests of younger members. http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2013/09/06/the-future-will-not-be-the-past/ Alternet: http://www.alternet.org/former-christian-fundamentalist-how-science-made-me-lose-my-religion?paging=off When an engineer raised in a fundamentalist Christian community sees … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Quote at Length, Religion, Science | Comments Off on Sunday Links and Commentary

Does anyone ever change their minds about anything?

Posted on Tuesday 3 September 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

Via Andrew Sullivan Why Even Your Best Arguments Never Work The arguments people make are those that appear the strongest to themselves and the people who already agree with them. But such arguments tend to be meaningless to people who … Continue reading →

Posted in Quote at Length, Science, Thinking | Comments Off on Does anyone ever change their minds about anything?

Respectful Insolence on the anti-vaxers; the healthcare crisis

Posted on Wednesday 28 August 2013 by Mark R. Kelly

Orac’s Respectful Insolence blog explores the motivations of anti-vaxers, via the recent news of the Texas church whose anti-vaccination advice resulted in an outbreak of measles (widely reported in the past few days). Measles outbreaks, religion, and the reality of … Continue reading →

Posted in Religion, Science | Comments Off on Respectful Insolence on the anti-vaxers; the healthcare crisis