1. On TV: The Genius of Charles Darwin: Presented by Richard Dawkins

Comment #224554 by edwaltthespisactor on August 5, 2008 at 5:26 am

It is a travesty that the Channel 4 catch up service is not Mac friendly. What is it with these people?

Come on RD, we've all seen you with your MacBook, get those C4 IT bods sorted out for us Mac Users!

2. Faith is not the answer

Comment #222252 by edwaltthespisactor on July 31, 2008 at 3:40 am

I'd like to point out that modern technology has allowed me to keep having face to face communication with my girlfriend who is 20,000 miles away.

I know the rabi may have a phone line direct to Yahweh, but he doesn't have SKype with the allmighty now does he - not if he rejects the e-credentials of modern life...

So stick that in Torah and smoke it!

3. The brain in love

Comment #216326 by edwaltthespisactor on July 23, 2008 at 1:32 am

Did anyone else stifle a sob during this talk?

I find this is exactly what Prof Dawkins is talking about when he explains the powerfully moving journey of science IN COLLABORATION with art.

As a playwright and theatre maker, obsessive about the scientific project, I found this talk sublime.

Plus, my girlfriend's 20,000 miles away, I was a bias spectator I think...

4. Researchers Discover Remnant of an Ancient 'RNA World'

Comment #213277 by edwaltthespisactor on July 18, 2008 at 11:08 am

Do they think their pipe is full yet?

Are they done sticking all of the evidence in it?

Are they ever going to accept that they need to smoke away all their IDioting ideas?

5. Conversation between Richard Dawkins and John Lennox

Comment #211739 by edwaltthespisactor on July 16, 2008 at 9:23 am

What beautifully benevolent noose this sweet sounding old Irishman tied himself, and stepped up so willingly to his very solid and unmiraculous gallow of reason.

Many thanks, laughed alot.

6. From Big Bang to Us - Made Easy

Comment #192591 by edwaltthespisactor on June 13, 2008 at 1:36 pm

I'm a teacher and I use my BEBO page as a teach group page and guess what my latest video feed is going to be????

7. The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing, ed. Richard Dawkins

Comment #187030 by edwaltthespisactor on June 1, 2008 at 6:33 am

Richard insisted on not having any articles in the collection. I admire his constant attempts to avoid hubristic immodesty.

The slightly less self restrained reviewer from the Sindependant seems to have missed this rather obvious facet to the book.

I have the book. It makes outstanding bathroom reading.

Nice one RD.

8. Richard Dawkins' secular army must be stopped. God is behind some of our greatest art

Comment #160939 by edwaltthespisactor on April 14, 2008 at 3:05 pm

Aha!

As a dramatist myself I feel somewhat embarrassed by Ravenhill - mostly due to his less than amazing canon of work.

But as for this reactionary bilge - I'm sorry to be associated if only by our common artform.

He is as usual completely off the pulse, making a point already examined and revised in the GD amongst other recent volumes.

But my major gripe is that his personal incredulity that he could not have crafted a mediocre yet trend setting 'SHopping and Fucking' without his Christian upbringing. Does anyone else see this as not only insulting to all of the post-Islam atheist writers, but also naive 'what-if'ery.

Um ah, just think, if they hadn't had sacrificed all those virgins, we wouldn't have had stone henge... BUT WE'd PROBABLY HAVE SOME OTHER CONSTRUCTION OF THE ERA. IT's JUST THAT THE OVERRIDING IMPORTANT EVENTS, THE THINGS THAT MAKE YOU FULL OF FEELING THAT YOU HAVE TO EXPRESS OR THE MOST IMPORTANT RITUALS WHICH DEMAND THE GREATEST EXPENDITURE OF YOUR RESOURCES ARE TO DO WITH LIFE, DEATH, MARRIAGE, YOUTH, ADULTHOOD AND OTHER TRANSITIONS --> AND RELIGIOUS RITUAL WAS TRADITIONALLY THE ONLY GAME ANYONE KNEW THE RULES TO.

See welfare state international MR RAVENHILL, a company of which he is no doubt aware, who have offered secular advice for performing legal, safe and rewarding rituals for the above transitions. Art & beauty = religion divided by faith. I think not.

9. The Salamander's Tale

Comment #133067 by edwaltthespisactor on February 25, 2008 at 3:04 pm

I just finished the ancestors tale. Absolutely immense! As a teacher of Performing Arts I find RD's work not only accessible but have a real gripping style for the non-specialist scientist. I find myself chatting away to my students who have taken advanced Biology when we're supposed to be analysing Stanislavski and Chekhov!

I have now absorbed many new 'cranes' into my artistic vocabulary as well from RD's example of 'clarity first' intellectualism.

Ideas such as Discontinuous thinking versus continuous thinking are great cranes for critical thinking skills. Also the cunning way RD works from the macro to the micro in his analysis - always using beautiful examples - only to then take the reader back up to the macro once more with a new understanding and perspective.

This weighty tome is not a threatening book, it is an exciting and episodic collection of short tales by funny and exotic pilgrims. Of all I remember fondly the Fungi's tale - which really is an eye opener - closer to animals than plants I ask you! - and the hagfish and lamprey with the jawless eating action! nice. Also the reverse-evolved fish swim bladder - coming after the lung! And I even sat chatting amazedly with my new friend the Biology teacher recently about the evolutionary scandal of the male sex! She seemed very excited about my second hand account of Dawkins' description of the Bdelloid Rotifer - and the absence of males...

I'll let you know If I make any progress as a male in that direction as it were... Maybe she was a little too impressed by the Bdelloid Rotifer's ultimate imancipation from men - perhaps I'd best steer clear...

In short - an AMAZING BOOK, cool pictures, cunning diagrams, dry and often laugh-out-loud wit, and the stunning power of billions of years of creativity lurking behind every page!

Keep it up RD!

Ed
Aberdeen

10. Eddie Tabash at AAI 07

Comment #81080 by edwaltthespisactor on October 24, 2007 at 2:56 am

in the UK we have a problem with right wingers claiming Patriotism and the flag. I was inspired listening to this speech to claw back patriotism and the flag.

Americans: PLEASE TAKE UP THE STARS AND STRIPES WITH 'FIRST AMENDMENT PATRIOT' PROUDLY TATTOOED, AND REMIND THE WORLD WHY THE USA IS STILL WORTHY OF OUR ADMIRATION AS THE DEMOCRATIC PROJECT.

11. Debate between Christopher Hitchens and Alister McGrath

Comment #79332 by edwaltthespisactor on October 17, 2007 at 1:14 am

Brilliant Opening Speech by Hitch - But AAAAAAGGGGGGHHH Mcgrath just got up and after hitch's composure and smooth delivery I feel an unholy urge to cut off McGrath's overly gesticulatory appendages, and send him to a speech therapist.

GOOD SWEET DARWIN! The is irritating - but like others above me in this thread I will continue on 'Onward Atheist Soldiers, Marching as to war...'

12. Debate between Richard Dawkins and John Lennox

Comment #78687 by edwaltthespisactor on October 14, 2007 at 10:10 am

The structure of the debate is bias, despite the 'christian charity' rubbish at the beginning.

Clearly all are aware of Dawkins' ideas, why then is he speaking before the querying of his side of the argument?? Surely if all are aware of Dawkins' premises in the book then the questioning of these premises should be first then Dawkins' right to reply.

Rigged.

Not surprised RD complained about the structure.

13. 'Flying Spaghetti Monster' Religious Group Turning Heads at MSU

Comment #78608 by edwaltthespisactor on October 13, 2007 at 7:40 pm

In the manner championed by Saint Francis of the Salted Boiling Water, I have begun to ONLY consume wholewheat spaghetti in order to quickcook my way to the rapture.

Come forsake the heady and mispent luxury of refine wheat pasta, and humble thyself to the slightly off brown magesty of the WHOLE of LORD.

Available at Tesco. Every little helps.

14. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams criticizes popular atheist writers

Comment #78601 by edwaltthespisactor on October 13, 2007 at 6:13 pm

Tut tut tut. Archbishop, how noble of you to take the moral high ground and not give a rise to the various debates of atheism. How paternal for you to gently shake your head and say:

"they misunderstand religious beliefs "
and
"atheist writers [should strive to] better understand religion."

As clearly the detail and breadth of the arguments by the popular atheist writers is insufficient held up against your own superlative consciousness around the ins and outs of the current debate.

Your comments on the origin of the universe, game theory, and the of course the 'real arguments' belie your flagrant laziness in exploring the atheist position, even to the degree of simple self defence. Even Kent Hovind appears more switched on to the debate and its verious topics than your reverend self.

Furthermore, what is this supposed to connote, suicide atheist bombers???:

"militant, atheist writers such as Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, "

I have yet to see Hitchens or the Prof with a gun in their hands. The only WMD's on this side of the fence are the elegant and stirring Words of Messiah Disproval.

Best to avoid praise before a but:
"wonderfully lively and attractive writer,"
Because it makes you sound like a used faith salesman - Younger model, only 2000 on the clock, strong appreciation, retains value well over a 3 day rest-ascension period, runs on water as comes with catalytic converter as standard. Why am I selling, well...no longer fits my lifestyle.

15. Postmodernism Disrobed

Comment #64226 by edwaltthespisactor on August 18, 2007 at 6:05 pm

The routledge companion to Pomo begins its chapter on Pomo in Science & Technology with a terse caution to he that would traverse the magisteria of Art/Culture and science:

Paraphrasing Jameson:

"If postmodernism is simply[...]a cultural affair, then the sciences, reading from the book of nature, are surely unaffected by any postmodern 'loss of reality'[...]"

For many people who work with postmodernism the hitchensesque wall exists between the artistic and cultural explorations of narrative and self-reflexivity etc and scientific empiricism. No amount of neologising will help a plane fly (as the example has been so overworked in this thread), yet the concerted belief in the laws of aerodynamics by those on board is not needed keep it airborne either. Seemingly pomo discourse is in a different game to trial and test evidence gathering OBSERVATION science.

To briefly outline from an artist's point of view the way the multifaceted idea of 'science' CAN be looked at through Pomo Spectacles I'll sample from the Routledge Companion.

In light of pomo movements in other areas, Society's thinkers can turn their attention onto the STUDY of science; a cognitive spur to society to check itself insofar as the way science feels like the 'disinterested search for facts.' (Kuhn) Which is very noble, but also a problem because scientists are not machines and their search for facts takes place in the wider contexts of politics and religion and so on. In this way the in fighting and wrangling for funding, pressure groups and individual curiosity which comes with the territory of anything done by humans, also affects the world of science. This is why it is possible for non-scientists to study scientists. A field of anthropology? Or may I say Culture Studies? Is there a benefit? Well it sounds simple to just say 'it keeps science right', whereas a fuller imagination may go so far as to see a whole field of mistaken steps, of patterns in the activity of science which have let people, and the science itself, down. The extreme of this is clearly the penis obsession of seeing phalli in every cultural sphere where men held sway (the inverse could be true, think of out dated conceptions about spheres of female dominion - uteri in the kitchen??? Bun in the oven.... ahem!) . But the risk of obscure knit picking is outweighed by the self reflexivity obtained. The development of this tendency has been attributed to the gradual birthing of the Postmodern condition, and not without controversy.

Further in this vein - items on the pomo study of science, or perhaps continuing check-up, are issues of power in scientific discovery, gender and class in who makes discoveries, and what action is taken with the new knowledge - who decides where to go next, is there a trend...

The Pomo perspective in this avenue is one of arts and culture looking over the shoulder of their noble and serious brothers and sisters in science and pointing out what we find. Clearly what criticism that is made will be reflective of the arts and culture fields of the spectator. For example Visual symbolists look at the relationship between women and medicine, childbirth/birth control, whereas a history of literature draws the eye to the vehicle of scientific communication - language.

Ahh language... Isn't pomo boring. Isn't it irreducibly dense and gibberish. Yep, a lot. However, a lot of theatre, literature, movies, art (lots of art) are very exciting. And these are better languages of discourse for engaging with pomo ideas. Sadly the triggers of many of these ideas are from the legion of gobblydegookers. I've found the best way to figure out the best ideas is to try them out.

Language is such a pomo biggie because the power relationship of subject and object is really detectable in the communication of ideas - say, in an enviornmental science journal how are the icecaps represented? Re there any patterns?

There's loads of highly relevant debate out there which is a result of the postmodern condition and which is a force for positive development. I would argue that postmodernism is not a purposeful obfuscation.

Also, the stance of some dissenters of, or even those who deny, postmodernity in defence of the 'black and white' vs 'shades of grey' dichotomy is a little faulted.

POMO on science is a varied beast but one seeming consistency between the varieties of thought is that the natural world is fixed and testable. The grey comes in context of study, the language of its commmunication, the mythical concepts of modernity such as 'nature' and the 'cosmos' which come through an all too human attempt to tell the story of the universe.

There's lots of fun to be had with the pomo debate in many fields - but as heatedly expressed on this thread: the world won't stop turning if you choose not to pick up that particular debate.

Lastly - narrative explanation.

I am currently mid way through 'The Ancestor's Tale' which is an exercise in postmodern science communication. And is so far excellent, well beyond my already large expectations of Richard Dawkins.

I hope that my lengthy post is not too naive, its intention was to offer a few olive branches of interest to some science folk. After living with engineers, medics, life scientists and vets I'm used to 'stimulating' discourse on precisely this topic. I even dragged them to pomo performance art, so you should all think yourselves lucky this was purely a text forum!!

16. Interview with Richard Dawkins about 'The Enemies of Reason'

Comment #63152 by edwaltthespisactor on August 13, 2007 at 9:07 am

3 Cheers for R & J!

Richard D seemed to be having a splendid time, and I agree that Richard M made his usually comic stabs at Judy!

"Lost their Faith in God!"

"That's because of him..." (Gesture to RD)

For any new initiates into Richard and Judy land you have to understand that they are basically a middle class couple in their 'living room' talking mostly with each other and some light entertainment guests - they do a brief bit of topical debate before more entertainment or cookery.

By default Ricahrd M represented the average joe's point of view - "oh that's interesting Professor, how bout this? Really? Good stuff! Keep it up, now what's next...?"

For alot of people this interests them for a two part mini series then back to watching Heroes.

And in the end that kind of viewership is a mark for rationality. For the 'on the fence' believers, the last thing you want to do is make it more doom and gloom, drawn out and wooly as a sunday sermon...

17. Beyond Belief: Atheism (with AC Grayling)

Comment #62955 by edwaltthespisactor on August 12, 2007 at 1:03 pm

The female theism lecturer seemed to be justifying her job/career.

And then vouched for the benefits of religion 'IN WHICH BELIEF IS NOT THE CENTRAL AND PRIMARY FOCUS.... '

I'm left speechless.

Maybe she should give lecturing on God and promote people's engagement in book groups.

Just something to get you out of the house, have a cup of coffee and a chat about the way things are...

I think collins has been drawn too close to his direct project to stand back and really think about the bigger questions.

I could accept his deism, or his self developed viewpoint of a God, that he figured out in his trekking days of 27 years old.

But to say he found Jesus Christ, and that the historicity was good?

All respect for his powers of enquiry, down the loo.

18. Electrons to Enlightenment 4: Debating Darwin

Comment #62765 by edwaltthespisactor on August 11, 2007 at 9:49 am

Very curious intro into the Elisabet Sahtouris section, and then with the vocal laughter I got to the bit about design.

How foolish to expect a new idea.

As for the consciousness comes first... who's is that exactly? The universe is conscious is a fun idea, but to suggest that what we recognise as human consciousness in a psychological sense is shared with the universe makes it sound like the universe is like us. Maybe a supernova is mirrored by a pang of guilt at destroying a solar system.

I think the eastern philosophies that expound 'consciousness' as preceding reality are explored in ideas such as 'the matrix' as in: how can we know that what we perceive as reality isn't actually generated by our own consciousness - the waves of consciousness idea seems to be a grouped up version.

All very interesting but suggests everything was very dull until the first consciousness started waving enough to create reality. And now we cycle back to origins...

AAaaarghh! How dare she declare what science will and will never answer?! I love the greek islands, but after a 12 week walking holiday I felt rapturous delight in celebrating the ancient architects, playwrights and politicians - but survived feeling that the universe was in debt to my consciousness!

19. The Stupidity of Fox News is Truly Beyond Belief

Comment #62653 by edwaltthespisactor on August 10, 2007 at 3:38 pm

Hmmm I wonder... Did the anchor couple have an agenda at all? They really had the ecumenexpert on the ropes with that interview...

And what's with asking him the last crappy question only to try and shut him up half way through?

Where did these guys learn how to manage a studio?? Huh?

20. Public Debate on Complexity and Evolution

Comment #62652 by edwaltthespisactor on August 10, 2007 at 3:24 pm

Hi folks. Fun debate. Re: Inherited characteristics such as underdevelopment due to malnutrition.

Here's an example:
Woman A goes through famine while pregnant with woman B.

Woman B is born underdeveloped due to the lack of nutrients offered to her by her mother's body.

Woman B gets pregnant as is not her self under nourished, her body offers as much as it can to the foetus of Woman C.

Woman C is born underdeveloped, and we presume her DNA has been 'stamped' with lack of nutrients in her mothers gestation.

Here's a theory:
Woman A is undernourished in the famine and so her body offers less nutrition to the developing foetus of Woman B.

While we observe Woman B is underdeveloped herself, we miss the hidden damage that is already directly done to woman C.

Before Woman B is born all of her OVA, specifically the very egg that will make Woman C, are (is) completely formed and in place in her ovaries.

These ova are, and the the proto-woman C is, as directly affected by Woman A's undernourishment as woman B.

in this way 2 generations affected by the famine.

If the damage done to the OVUM that will be woman C is enough, then woman D may well be touched by the dynasty of famine - especially if Woman B's underdeveloped body is hindered in its ability to support woman C.

Phew - had to get that little on off my chest.