1. Carlin on Religion

Comment #198295 by c4chaos on June 23, 2008 at 2:04 pm

love the guy! unlike other comedians, Carlin, made us laugh and think, deeply.

unfortunately, religion may be bullshit, but it's a BS that is so not dead.

godspeed Mr. Carlin, goodspeed.

~C

2. Is the Universe Actually Made of Math?

Comment #195513 by c4chaos on June 18, 2008 at 11:27 am

interesting. but Tegmark sounds more like a philosopher or a mystic.

pop quiz: without consciousness, would there be mathematics?

http://coolmel.typepad.com/iblog/2008/06/there-is-only-m.html

~C

3. Edgar Mitchell ushers in the Next Epoch in Evolution

Comment #182788 by c4chaos on May 21, 2008 at 1:16 am

Phenomenology is not the usual topic here in RichardDawkins.net. so i'm quite surprised and glad to see a posting on the topic of consciousness here.

that said, i'd love to hear a Dawkins-Sheldrake debate in the future.

~C

4. Richard Dawkins discusses Einstein's new letters

Comment #180706 by c4chaos on May 15, 2008 at 3:22 pm

my take? Einstein would've been a New Atheist ;) Einstein was both a genius and a mystic.

~C

5. Happy Birthday, Richard Dawkins!

Comment #149928 by c4chaos on March 26, 2008 at 10:39 am

Happy Birthday, Mr. Dawkins!

Thank you for your passion and compassion. Keep it flowing...

Here's to the Mother of all Burkas!

~C

6. Ayaan Hirsi Ali to get EU protection

Comment #135946 by c4chaos on February 29, 2008 at 11:17 am

good news. it's good to know that Ayaan Hirsi Ali can safely proceed with her ass-kicking! w00t!

~C

7. State Approves Evolution As 'Scientific Theory'

Comment #129663 by c4chaos on February 19, 2008 at 12:40 pm

gah! but this is still somewhat of a good news, though. personally, although i don't doubt that biological evolution is a scientific fact, there's more to the evolution debate than between creationists and evolutionists.

allow me to link to my serendipitous post on my blog: "Will the REAL Evolution Debate Please Stand Up! (Reloaded)"

here's to the mother of all burkas!

~C

8. Machines 'to match man by 2029'

Comment #128868 by c4chaos on February 18, 2008 at 6:11 am

nice. very serendipitous. yesterday i just posted about the singularity on my blog from a (integral) philosophical perspective. allow me to share the link here:

http://coolmel.typepad.com/iblog/2008/02/ken-wilber-riff.html

and here's Wendell Wallach at IT Conversations talking about the road to singularity. cool stuff.

http://itc.conversationsnetwork.org/shows/detail3404.html

"Robotic agents with artificial intelligence may become empowered with moral reasoning and decision making capacities. Trumpeted by enthusiasts, dismissed by doubters, and feared by doomsayers, the implications of advancing machine intelligence should be thoroughly and honestly engaged."

~C

9. Why Darwin matters

Comment #124202 by c4chaos on February 8, 2008 at 6:16 pm

thanks for the heads up! allow me to share my own homage to Darwin ;)

http://coolmel.typepad.com/iblog/2008/02/homage-to-charl.html

~C

10. There Are No Ghosts in Your Brain

Comment #120779 by c4chaos on February 2, 2008 at 1:40 pm

Rational_G,

thanks for the links. will check out those book reviews.

in the meantime, i just want to clarify that my point is that the study of mind/consciousness is not reducible to highly organized chemistry, as suggested by PZ Myers. the chemical components of consciousness are exterior correlates of consciousness but it doesn't address the subjectivity realm (as studied by philosophers, psychologists, and even mystics). neuroscience is just one piece of the big puzzle that is consciousness.

here's one case in point: check out this 10-year old essay from the Journal of Consciousness studies.

"An Integral Theory of Consciousness"
http://www.imprint.co.uk/Wilber.htm

thanks! will read up on that book reviews now ;)

~C

11. There Are No Ghosts in Your Brain

Comment #120729 by c4chaos on February 2, 2008 at 11:55 am

i like PZ Myers. but in this case, i think he's misreading the mind :)

i've posted my take on my blog. allow me to share the link here.

http://coolmel.typepad.com/iblog/2008/02/there-are-no-gh.html

be sure to check out this article too, by Jonah Lehrer.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/commentary/la-op-lehrer20jan20,0,1188074.story

~C

12. Morality and the 'new atheism'

Comment #120245 by c4chaos on February 1, 2008 at 11:00 am

"I think an important answer was provided by the ancients - virtue or self-respect."

exactly! a lot of people argue that people couldn't be moral without religion or God. although we could use evolutionary theory to rebut those claims, a simpler logic is to use ancient social philosophers.

for example, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucianism#History">Confucianism predates Christianity by 500 years. yet the Chinese have *evolved* a sophisticated moral system without reliance on infallible holy text or a notion of God. Confucianism, although there are references to supernatural beings, is neither a religion nor has a concept of God. ergo, it's possible to be moral without the Bible or God. no atheist argument required :)

~C

13. Hitchens V. Boteach

Comment #120181 by c4chaos on February 1, 2008 at 10:13 am

nice. but where is the full video so i can pimp it out some more? so far, i've only found this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDw5_fFIkf0 ~C

14. MySpace: No place for Atheists?

Comment #119050 by c4chaos on January 31, 2008 at 9:31 am

preposterous! but there's always ning.com for those who want to start a social network for atheists and agnostics. or, maybe this is an opportunity to add social networking features on RichardDawkins.Net? *wink*

~C

15. Happy Birthday Josh Timonen!

Comment #118782 by c4chaos on January 31, 2008 at 1:29 am

happy birthday, Josh! and indeed, thanks for raising consciousness, and traffic :)

~C

16. 'Irrational Atheist' trounces God-deniers

Comment #117704 by c4chaos on January 29, 2008 at 12:10 pm

i don't agree with the general premise of this book. but i'm still intrigue to glimpse its pages. too bad i can't find the free download link on the Vox Populi blog.

in any case, i think Vox Day should read this:

http://richarddawkins.net/articleComments,2189,New-atheists-or-new-anti-dogmatists,Online-Opinion,page1#117040

because it's a more accurate take on the New Atheists.

my two cents.

~C

17. New atheists or new anti-dogmatists?

Comment #117075 by c4chaos on January 28, 2008 at 8:05 am

P.S. i prefer post-dogmatists :)
http://coolmel.typepad.com/iblog/2008/01/new-atheists-ne.html

18. New atheists or new anti-dogmatists?

Comment #117040 by c4chaos on January 28, 2008 at 6:25 am

bingo! this is one of the best reviews of the New Atheists i've read. i'm going to blog this forward ;)

~C

19. Islam in Europe

Comment #114561 by c4chaos on January 22, 2008 at 12:10 pm

reminds me of this classic speech by Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

http://www.nrc.nl/opinie/article215732.ece

~C

20. George Scales, War Hero and Generous Friend of RDFRS

Comment #111361 by c4chaos on January 14, 2008 at 12:32 pm

get well soon George. thank you for your help in opening our collective burka.

here's to the Mother of All Burkas!

~C