1. The Stupidity of Dignity

Comment #179469 by RSP on May 13, 2008 at 9:49 am

The more things change the more they stay the same. It's just like during the colonial era when religious zealots were opposed to medicine because God would preordain anyone destined to live or die.

2. $271 Million for Research on Stem Cells in California

Comment #177634 by RSP on May 9, 2008 at 11:55 am

Christopher Reeve will be psyched about this several years ago.

3. The History Channel might do something right

Comment #176104 by RSP on May 6, 2008 at 2:47 pm

This is good, but it's still paltry in comparison to the constant barrage of ghost hunting and UFO shows they put out.

The discovery networks channels sure do love their computer animation.

4. Is Liberal Catholicism Dead?

Comment #175957 by RSP on May 6, 2008 at 9:30 am

"they simply do what they want or shop for another church"

Says a lot.

5. The emerging moral psychology

Comment #175711 by RSP on May 5, 2008 at 11:19 pm

I have been taking the tests for fun. I have to say I do not understand how they derive meaningful data from these questions. Maybe it's just my gross inadequacy in statistics lol. But many of them seem so deliberately structured and made with language of either the far right, or left or nothing else. They are so vague it's really ambiguous a lot of the time. Not to mention they are almost all setup in emergency situations, where morality seems so incredibly capricious depending on important details that arent put forth.

6. The emerging moral psychology

Comment #175508 by RSP on May 5, 2008 at 2:19 pm

"Despite the knocking it has received, reason is clearly not entirely impotent in the moral domain. We can reflect on our moral positions and, with a bit of effort, potentially revise them. An understanding of our moral intuitions, and the unconscious forces that fuel them, give us perhaps the greatest hope of overcoming them."

Well gosh, who would have seen it coming. The day academia admits maybe humans aren't just miserable animals who can never know reality. Of course an idea like this would have to come from the scientific end, because you'd never hear it from the philosophic end.

7. Evolution's Critics Shift Tactics With Schools

Comment #174918 by RSP on May 3, 2008 at 8:28 pm

Are groups for preserving education ever going to introduce legislation to counter this kind of crap? Oh wait, the constitution already exists, and no one minds it any attention.

8. Student's 'Be Happy, Not Gay' t-shirt ok

Comment #168925 by RSP on April 25, 2008 at 1:06 pm

Why do some think they have the right to force other people to not be offensive. It's such a glaringly stupid way to respond. In this case the proper response would be to call him out and condemn him for being a bigoting idiot. But forcing someone not to offend you is just a silly attitude, especially in the U.S.

9. Interview with Dan Dennett

Comment #167828 by RSP on April 24, 2008 at 11:09 am

The bit before he interviews Dennett is insufferable.

Also, wtf is that weird feminine squeek noise at 18:49 and 18:56?

10. If God Is Dead, Who Gets His House?

Comment #165958 by RSP on April 22, 2008 at 4:12 pm

The attitude taken in this article seems typical. There's either religion, or there's non-religion. Philosophy is so ignored it seems some people aren't even conscious of it. Morality is not the property of religion. Philosophy has been dead so long some people seem to often forget this.

Religions *are* philosophies. They are philosophies that are supernatural in nature. And and it is the supernatural that atheism rejects. Therefore being an atheist doesn't imply any other specific philosophical meaning for me *except* that NO acceptance of the supernatural is possible. And so what you are left with is any philosophy a person may wish to subscribe to that is non-theistic.

So, I think that the answer to the question posed in the article's title would be philosophy. The next logical question would be, what philosophy? Which would be up to the individual to decide for themselves.

Also,
Comment #165760 by Jack Rawlinson
Agreed, well said.

11. Evolution fray attracts top scientist

Comment #162198 by RSP on April 16, 2008 at 10:04 am

"He races to the Capitol between lectures to give the fruit fly talk."

It's strange, but it really is almost like the public has to be totally reeducated completely on evolution, as if they were students. I'm glad my science teacher loved science.

12. Scientists take drugs to boost brain power: study

Comment #159155 by RSP on April 11, 2008 at 2:02 pm

This is dumb. They say it "boosts brain power" like it's a fucking Super Mario power up. In other news 20% of the scientists who took that survey have shitty judgment.

13. Reviews of Expelled

Comment #158235 by RSP on April 10, 2008 at 8:44 am

Fox News panned it?! Wow, I'm just speechless.

14. Anti-evolution bill clears another hurdle

Comment #157637 by RSP on April 9, 2008 at 11:10 am

That's not discrimination, it's called doing your job. So many teachers in America have this attitude no one can judge if they're a good or bad teacher. What a load.

15. Upside-down church sculpture on hit list

Comment #154678 by RSP on April 3, 2008 at 3:03 pm

It's ugly. The symbolism is as superficial, and literal as it gets. The only interesting thing about it is the way they created the structure to stand like that. Crappy art is crappy.

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

Comment #154664 by RSP on April 3, 2008 at 2:53 pm

Didn't he get the memo? You are supposed to predict the end of the world takes place after you will likely be dead. See Pyoty darling, this is what happens when you ignore a few thousand years of decedent doomsdayers.

17. CEAI Action Alert for Science Teachers

Comment #154651 by RSP on April 3, 2008 at 2:40 pm

It would be nice if all boards would do this, or all boards who want their state to be taken seriously and not a huge joke. It would take a lot of wind out of the sails of evolution deniers.

The other thing is he speaks with the familiar attitude of a typical bad American teacher. The kind that believe there is next to nothing they can do to be fired because they're in a union, and that no one can judge what makes them a good teacher. Well you know what Mr. Brackin? If a teacher refuses to teach evolution, or enforces lies and false information, YES they ARE a bad teacher, and should rightly be reprimanded or fired if they refuse to be reasonable.

18. Christian Founders 3D Adventure Computer Game

Comment #153597 by RSP on April 1, 2008 at 4:19 pm

This is pretty goofy, but Zoorace is still reigning king of D grade, oddball, fundamentalist edu-tainment games.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVfV2OzEHwg&eurl=http://www.zoorace.com/

19. Beware the Believers

Comment #151984 by RSP on March 29, 2008 at 9:25 pm

The giant sphere robot should have rapped too. Close but no cigar.

20. 'We Make Our Own Heaven'

Comment #151390 by RSP on March 28, 2008 at 3:48 pm

To Luxmoore, in my opinion "spiritual" doesn't have to mean a religious "spirit" or soul. It is the same way morality is inherently human, but has been practically usurped by religious connotation. The same goes for the human spirit. Indescribable feelings of inspiritation when you listen to music, or observe a gleaming skyscraper, or solve an incredibly hard problem are all things I'd ascribe to the human spirit.

That having been said this sounds kind of silly. It sounds like a poor pseudo emulation of a church just to save face. But I guess if they want to, feel free. I don't want to spend my Sundays at a church or there.

21. Expelled from Expelled: PZ story goes global

Comment #150796 by RSP on March 27, 2008 at 12:29 pm

To be honest, I'm sick of hearing about this stupid movie and this silly bit of drama.

22. Expelled Overview

Comment #149432 by RSP on March 25, 2008 at 3:43 pm

I'm constantly amused at how religious groups try so hard to emulate popular culture in order to get their ideas across. They do it so badly, and it sounds like this is another example. A crummy mimic of the humorous, documentary methods popularized by Michael Moore, the Daily Show, Colbert, and P T Bullshit. Of course, as I understand it, the aforementioned don't need to lie to the people they interview.

23. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #148974 by RSP on March 24, 2008 at 8:07 pm

Well that is true. Ben Stein as himself however became mildly popular among geeks and trivia nerds because of his show "Win Ben Stein's Money". It was popular because of it's academic nature with a twist of humor. Jimmy Kimmel was a big part of the shows success, being the comedic foil to his dry monotone personality.

He's was still a boring blue haired dinosaur, but now he was semi hip, and comedic because of his show. After that he's mostly been a talking head among the VH1 and various irrelevant pop culture crowd. And now he's apparently a tool for anyone willing to pay.

24. Lying for Jesus?

Comment #148923 by RSP on March 24, 2008 at 4:16 pm

Honestly, this movie is going to plummet into obscurity pretty quickly. Just like the crummy straight-to-video movies made in response Michael Moore movies, and "An Inconvenient Truth".

Anyone who once had some respect for Ben Stein most likely lost it when he started appearing on that stupid reality show for models a while ago.

The only thing this movie has in its future is to be a single copy available at Blockbuster to be passed up for years in favor of a wall of "Alvin and the Chipmunks".

25. When blasphemy bit the dust

Comment #140716 by RSP on March 8, 2008 at 12:18 pm

The way in which they describe god in the article is pretty surprising to me as an American. I agree with it, but you would just never hear any politician here saying something so bold and unmistakable. Any who did would surely be drawn and quartered by Fox News, and the bible belt.

26. Out of the Blue

Comment #140697 by RSP on March 8, 2008 at 11:22 am

As I understand it, this simulated brain would have no stimulus and more importantly no biological chemicals to create emotions right? So no sight, smell, touch, sound, or hormonal urges. Seems strictly a model. Unless they have a way of sending it data, there's not much for such a consciousness to conceive.