1. Discussion between Richard Dawkins and Clive James

Comment #248974 by hfaber on September 17, 2008 at 10:09 am

There is a very strong argument against the lamarckian idea of the giraffe stretching its neck to get to the leafs and thereby lengthening it. It is incompatible with classical mechanics! Straightening the neck is done by vertically oriented muscles which COMPRESS the vertebral column while contracting. Only if you think Munchaussen can pull himself by his hair out of a swamp this lamarckian idea can make sense. Ofcourse Richard's arguments are fine to demolish Lamarck, but it's a pity he doesn't put this forward.

2. 'Climate crisis' needs brain gain

Comment #244248 by hfaber on September 8, 2008 at 1:35 pm

Solving the climate problem is easy. Just spend a lot of money on nuclear fusion. But no, it will take 15 years to develop ITER, the first nuclear power plant to deliver fusion energy. If the politicians only had a little vision...

3. Intelligent people 'less likely to believe in God'

Comment #192405 by hfaber on June 13, 2008 at 2:23 am

Truly intelligent people know when correlations really are simplistic and when you have to take complex factors into account. In this case there is no doubt that the relation is really simple: high IQ makes you less vulnerable to religous indoctrination.

4. Logical Proof of the Existence of a Divine Creator, Why Atheism is Not Logically Sound

Comment #190627 by hfaber on June 9, 2008 at 9:54 am

I thought it was a parody...

5. What Genes Remember

Comment #184704 by hfaber on May 26, 2008 at 2:14 am

If a mother is starving during pregnancy, nobody is surprised when her offspring suffers from a low birth weight. Have the genes of the baby been altered to reduce the birth weight? No. Just because there is contact between mother and offspring during pregnancy there is the possibility to epigenetically influence the development of the offspring. This fits perfectly in the neodarwinistic theory.

6. Happy Birthday, Richard Dawkins!

Comment #150764 by hfaber on March 27, 2008 at 12:00 pm

As we we say in Holland:

Richard, gefeliciteerd en nog vele jaren!

7. The real danger in Darwin is not evolution, but racism

Comment #115316 by hfaber on January 24, 2008 at 2:04 am

Whoow, that's not good. I mean this:

Darwinism ~= Darwin or
Darwinism != Darwin or
Darwinism <> Darwin

8. The real danger in Darwin is not evolution, but racism

Comment #115314 by hfaber on January 24, 2008 at 2:02 am

Darwinism &#8800; Darwin

9. Ayaan Hirsi Ali: abandoned to fanatics

Comment #77684 by hfaber on October 10, 2007 at 6:53 am

I live in the Netherlands and I am shocked by the number of times I hear (non islamic) people say that Ayaan is the troublemaker and that she is responsible herself for the death threats. Too many people in the Netherlands can't or won't see the dangers of a fanatic religion like islam. It seems I am living in a country filled up with nutcases.

10. Review of Darwin's Angel

Comment #70134 by hfaber on September 14, 2007 at 7:41 am

"The basic premise that has dominated our world since the scientific enlightenment is that unless you can put something under a microscope and prove it is what it says it is, you can't believe in it."

Nonsense. Parallel universes and superstrings in the 11th dimension have never directly been observed but there is solid science about this stuff. Logic is the part that is lacking in the above citation. Religion utterly fails the test of logic.

11. The Emptiness of Theology

Comment #69270 by hfaber on September 10, 2007 at 8:58 am

"What makes anyone think that theology is a subject at all?"

A brilliant abstract of religion. Go Richard go!

12. Study: Religion is Good for Kids

Comment #35050 by hfaber on April 26, 2007 at 5:01 am

If you want to determine the effect of religion, everything else should be the same, ceteris paribus. So the teaching of values should also be the same in both groups. I doubt whether the results are the same if the study is done properly.

13. The God Debate

Comment #29238 by hfaber on April 2, 2007 at 7:32 am

Sam Harris must be the most patient person ever. I would have lost my temper after one minute with this lunatic.

14. The Nodder

Comment #16829 by hfaber on January 9, 2007 at 3:31 am

I expect professor Dawkins to apologize in this forum for the cruel things he has done to Steven...

15. The problem with secularism

Comment #14356 by hfaber on December 22, 2006 at 6:11 am

"Arbitrary processes" cannot explain convergence in biology according to this confused author. I completely agree. But the poor soul "forgot" to include natural selection. Small error...