1. Do they really think the earth is flat?

Comment #224576 by Foggerty on August 5, 2008 at 6:53 am

"The space agencies of the world are involved in an international conspiracy to dupe the public for vast profit."

The space agencies of the world WISH they could do this for vast profit!

1: Tell everyone that The Earth is flat.
2: ???
3: Profit!

I wish the space agencies of the world were doing this for huge profit, they need it :(

2. The books that inspire me

Comment #157999 by Foggerty on April 10, 2008 at 12:39 am

A quick note re the Kakapo (the endangered parrot from NZ).

Richard said he wasn't wasn't sure if Douglas' explanation that until recently they had "virtually" no predators was entirely satisfying.

Well, its true (unless my schooling and BBC docos have lied to me). Until humans came along, the only land mammals around here were bats. Everything else was birds, insects and reptiles. True, we get seals along the coasts, but they don't tend to pose much of a threat to the poor Kakapo.

The first people (Polynesian) to arrive here bought rats and dogs. The second lot (European) bought cats, goats, deer, possums, stoats, more rats and other species of birds. Everything pretty much went to hell in a hand basket from that point on as far as the native species were concerned. Wildlife on these Islands evolved not having to worry about eggs being stolen or predators such as stoats or people hunting them down.

3. Cult leader Pyotr Kuznetsov tries suicide after realising he was wrong about doomsday

Comment #154770 by Foggerty on April 3, 2008 at 5:25 pm

While I laughed at the image of attempted suicide via a lump of wood :-), it is sad that this guy appears to be mentally ill and quite possibly believed that what he was said was divinely inspired.

Wondering how many other "lead by voices" prophets had the same affliction vs those that just made it up for kicks.

4. The atheist delusion

Comment #144128 by Foggerty on March 15, 2008 at 6:39 am

In The God Delusion, Dawkins attempts to explain the appeal of religion in terms of the theory of memes, vaguely defined conceptual units that compete with one another in a parody of natural selection. He recognises that, because humans have a universal tendency to religious belief, it must have had some evolutionary advantage, but today, he argues, it is perpetuated mainly through bad education. From a Darwinian standpoint, the crucial role Dawkins gives to education is puzzling. Human biology has not changed greatly over recorded history, and if religion is hardwired in the species, it is difficult to see how a different kind of education could alter this. Yet Dawkins seems convinced that if it were not inculcated in schools and families, religion would die out.

This is seriously missing the point - the Darwinian aspect (advantage) is implicitly believing what authority figures tell you. He seems unable to under stand that religous memes then latch on to this via "education".

He then goes on to imply that Dawkins suggested that religion *itself* was selected for darwinian reasons, again, missing the point and getting things horribly wrong.

Its people like this and the pretentious intellectual wannabe crap they churn out that make me generally distrust Philosophers. I'll hold off judging Daniel Dennet until I've read his books though :-)

5. Exorcism death shocks archdeacon

Comment #87354 by Foggerty on November 12, 2007 at 12:51 am

Unlikely, people in government here are anxious as hell not to step on people's cultural toes.