1. Cult Busters
Comment #428240 by Dispiracist on October 30, 2009 at 1:02 pm
14. Comment #428044 by RedCarnage on October 29, 2009 at 6:53 pm
I was looking for the 10 qualities of a cult and after reading the google translation of the french documents, these seem to be the 10.
2. We are born to believe in God
Comment #413257 by Dispiracist on September 8, 2009 at 6:06 am
We’re not born to believe religious mumbo jumbo. We’re born to believe whatever a credible expert tells us.
If you’re interested in the mechanics here’s the link from the unwired for God item which indicates that the mechanism exists.
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0004957
”… disbelief is generally the work of deliberate, effortful work against our natural cognitive dispositions — hardly the easiest ideology to propagate.”
Comment #412756 by Dispiracist on September 6, 2009 at 3:01 am
Thanks for the reference on The Cell TV documentary. It’s excellent.
Another good 70’s BBC TV series was Connections – James Burke, and The Day the Universe Changed.
And another recent outstanding BBC documentary is Earth Story.
All are either DVDs at local libraries or active torrents.
The new stuff with good graphics makes a difference to kid friendliness. I’ve shown episodes of The Ascent of Man to the kids. They can’t get over the antique graphics. Kids have zero tolerance for long-winded discussions which would have taken a few seconds via animation.
Hollywood seems to be having great success with remakes of movies and TV shows from previous decades, but incorporating newer technology special graphics effects, maybe BBC could do the same thing with their legacy science and history content. Re-use the same basic script material, just update, re-edit, and include current technology special effects.
They could even use the Gollum graphics approach like in District Nine and resurrect people like Bronowski and Sagan to present the updated versions.
Comment #412234 by Dispiracist on September 3, 2009 at 8:42 pm
There’s support for the unwired view in economic research.
Religious people believe gods are real, not supernatural. So a neural mechanism predisposing irrational supernatural beliefs begs the question. The problem is belief in real gods, which reduces to explaining belief in natural phenomena if there’s nothing unique about supernatural belief.
It is simpler to just assume, as in economics, that people are reasonably rational and only put real faith in logic and natural things they have good reason to expect are true. This doesn’t mean they personally understand the details of why they are true. They’ve left that effort to others – who’ve given them the bum steer.
A mundane neural mechanism for how the bum steer works has been observed via fMRI research in neuro-economics:
http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0004957
The experiment is non-threatening to religious interests because of its focus on economics. But generalising the conclusions indicates that anxiety and uncertainty cause the receipt of a message sourced from a credible expert to suppress the neural activity of the recipient’s critical thinking and value discrimination. Actionable beliefs are accepted if they are not rejected by this active neural analysis filter. There are situations where analysis is shut down. Just about everything about religious ritual would have a suppressing effect on this neural processing.
Evolved biological mechanisms are always like this - slightly imperfect but good enough in normal conditions. Like breathing to get O2 intake being triggered indirectly from CO2 accumulation.
5. Malaysia woman gets caning reprieve
Comment #409150 by Dispiracist on August 25, 2009 at 9:26 am
This situation is less irrational than it seems.
I think she’s been requested by politicians and religious authorities to appeal her sentence because a public flogging risks damaging the international tourism reputation of Malaysia and Islam. She is effectively a tourist, because she lives in Singapore and was visiting relatives when the offence was discovered by religious police.
Ironically, by declining to appeal as requested by religious authorities she is at risk of wilfully bringing Islam into disrepute, a more serious crime than the original charge of sipping beer. Many such offences only apply to Muslims. Presumably this is the logic behind caning rape victims someone referred to earlier: it may only apply if the victim and the accused rapist are Islamic, on the basis that a legal prosecution of a Muslim for rape would inevitably bring Islam into disrepute – a more serious crime than the rape itself. Hence, for the sake of Islam it would be logically more important to deter rape complaints than to deter actual rapes.
6. Who asked for Ireland's blasphemy law?
Comment #394920 by Dispiracist on July 10, 2009 at 2:52 am
I can always rely on this website for a good laugh. I notice that the ‘banned in Turkey’ website banner has gone. Given the new legislation, perhaps it’s timely to replace it with an ‘illegal in Ireland’ banner.
It shall be a defence to proceedings for an offence under this section for the defendant to prove that a reasonable person would find genuine literary, artistic, political, scientific, or academic value in the matter to which the offence relates.
7. Interview with Oliver Sacks
Comment #394913 by Dispiracist on July 10, 2009 at 2:28 am
If this item strikes a chord then I recommend you get hold of ‘This is Your Brain on Music’ Dan Levitin.
http://www.yourbrainonmusic.com/
Music is the original language; the rest is just evolutionary history.
(The PBS doco Musical Minds is available to the impoverished from the usual disreputable sources.)
8. Attendance at religious services, but not religious devotion, predicts support for suicide attacks
Comment #345685 by Dispiracist on February 24, 2009 at 5:21 am
Publicity about suicide attacks lead to further suicide attacks. So it will probably disappear eventually when media attitudes change.
It's probably safe to assume that the places where most suicide bombers come from tend to have tightly controlled media, which won't be changing attitudes any time soon. So what might make a difference is if there's something more interesting on TV. Alternatively a surge in sunspot activity, wiping out TV broadcasts for a few months would probably see the end of it.
Here's an example of how the process works for regular suicide:
http://www.afsp.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.viewPage&page_id=7852EBBC-9FB2-6691-54125A1AD4221E49
9. Officials reject 'no god' ad campaign on buses
Comment #341135 by Dispiracist on February 15, 2009 at 8:47 pm
6. Comment #340954 by markg on February 15, 2009 at 1:29 pm
an atheist there who's loaded with money?
10. Creationists don't deserve credence--especially from Forbes.
Comment #340295 by Dispiracist on February 14, 2009 at 4:51 am
30. Comment #340207 by aragones on February 13, 2009 at 6:34 pm
Challenge:
Could Someone give an example of how the knowledge of brain evolution could one day be usefull to fix a brain?
11. Dutch MP refused entry to Britain
Comment #339749 by Dispiracist on February 12, 2009 at 5:22 pm
For ease of reference, here’s a comprehensive list of undiscussable issues:
1.
2.
3.
n.
(N.B. Order of appearance does not indicate precedence. To avoid perceptions of intolerance, all undiscussable issues are displayed as equally undiscussable. Some issues may not be entirely visible because they are more equally undiscussable than others.)
12. Evolution indoctrination at OU
Comment #339137 by Dispiracist on February 12, 2009 at 3:29 am
Evolution science is not really science but a religion. That is why it cannot stand honest scrutiny or tolerate other views.
13. Media Release - Abortion Laws To Blame For Bush Fires?
Comment #338888 by Dispiracist on February 11, 2009 at 3:50 pm
83. Comment #338183 by Richard Dawkins on February 10, 2009 at 9:57 am
It seems that arson is seriously suspected, and I find myself desperately flailing around and trying to think of a motive.
14. Malaysian scientists find stone tools 'oldest in Southeast Asia'
Comment #336724 by Dispiracist on February 7, 2009 at 7:44 pm
6. Comment #333185 by Lucas on February 2, 2009 at 11:04 pm
I want to know more about what happened between 1.8 and 2200 BC.
15. The Man In Darwin's Shadow
Comment #336721 by Dispiracist on February 7, 2009 at 7:21 pm
18. Comment #336577 by Rodger T on February 7, 2009 at 3:25 pm
Here is a stunning piece of creationist stupidity that is in todays paper here in New Zealand
16. Young Aussies 'becoming non-believers'
Comment #332396 by Dispiracist on February 2, 2009 at 4:55 am
14. Comment #331325 by mdowe on January 31, 2009 at 9:20 pm
Almost exactly the same percentage of non-believers as in Canada (~20%). It would it interesting to know if the demographics are the same as well...
17. Comment #331334 by robotaholic on January 31, 2009 at 9:39 pm
Population density of the continents:
North America - 32 people per square mile
South America - 73 people per square mile
Europe - 134 people per square mile
Asia - 203 people per square mile
Africa - 65 people per square mile
Australia - 6.4 people per square mile
17. Attenborough reveals creationist hate mail for not crediting God
Comment #330631 by Dispiracist on January 31, 2009 at 12:47 am
131. Comment #329387 by phatbat on January 29, 2009 at 6:56 am
18. Attenborough reveals creationist hate mail for not crediting God
Comment #329333 by Dispiracist on January 29, 2009 at 3:04 am
Attenborough would have to be the most underrated, long-running force for good the world has ever seen – partly thanks to the availability of mass media technology.
If I were the kind of person to download all his stuff for free, it would almost be enough to make me feel slightly guilty.
19. 10 Lectures on Darwin's Legacy
Comment #313223 by Dispiracist on January 6, 2009 at 12:19 am
In breaking news: Darwin’s legacy is nearly bankrupt.
As a consequence of the depression, Waterford Wedgewood is now under administration.
That Charles Darwin married into family wealth sufficient to allow him to study and do virtually anything he wanted would have to be an inspiration to scientists everywhere. Wedgewood is no longer an option. But for the next generation of researchers today’s equivalent, Paris Hilton, could still be available.
20. What Will Change Everything?
Comment #311158 by Dispiracist on January 2, 2009 at 6:37 pm
65. Comment #310913 by sidelined on January 2, 2009 at 11:44 am
Sorry for the confusion dispiricist, I was speaking not of weapons but of fusion reactors
21. What Will Change Everything?
Comment #310779 by Dispiracist on January 2, 2009 at 1:37 am
Quetzalcoatl
I think the real trigger is the political expediencies of the situation. Which reminds me - will this be the first war between Pakistan and India since Pakistan acquired nukes?
21. Comment #310691 by j.mills on January 1, 2009 at 8:19 pm
22. What Will Change Everything?
Comment #310773 by Dispiracist on January 2, 2009 at 1:13 am
17. Comment #310613 by sidelined on January 1, 2009 at 6:39 pm
23. What Will Change Everything?
Comment #310603 by Dispiracist on January 1, 2009 at 5:52 pm
Nobody ever voted to get the vote either.
Some amazing new technology innovations that actually do work might be good.
Say a non-stick frying pan that actually doesn’t stick. And some so-called long-life fluorescent lights that actually really do last longer than the obsolete and much cheaper incandescent bulbs.
And perhaps now that have collectively accumulated so much new knowledge it could be timely to start work on clearing out some of the old useless stuff.
Intellectual property rights might be among the first obsolete intellectual developments on the garbage pile. It might otherwise be very irritating to have to de-evolve myself or my dog because the process of genome manipulation is subject to copyright litigation. I'm not sure that the legal system has yet caught up with the fact biological reproduction involves illegal copying of genetic information - much of it may already be subject to copyright or patent law protection.
24. For Good Self-Control, Try Getting Religious About It
Comment #310524 by Dispiracist on January 1, 2009 at 3:08 pm
Dan Ariely, researcher in behavioural economics, wrote ‘Predictably Irrational’ where he describes experiments in honesty. He reports that contemplation of a moral code (eg. The 10 commandments) makes a significant impact on the extent of dishonesty.
He discusses this experiment in this video clip:
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=w0F2f-O28nU
‘Self control’ might be a bit too intangible for researchers to measure, but there may be a link to honesty. Apparently everyone will cheat and steal if they think they can get away with it. Being reminded that things don’t work if everyone behaves dishonestly might be more effective than compounding dishonesty by attempting to believe there’s some kind of omnipresent security camera that records everything for judgement day. Hence the practical role of the 10 commandments. It actually doesn’t matter who wrote them or what particular commandments appear on the moral code, apparently few people can remember them anyway. What is important is the existence of any widely accepted moral code – evidence of explicitly agreed behaviour standards. And having frequent reminders of it – perhaps like regular attendance at church. Perhaps also occasional public floggings, stonings, and beheadings of violators and apostates etc. This is probably what people mean when they say people should pay attention to the 10 commandments.
25. For Good Self-Control, Try Getting Religious About It
Comment #309817 by Dispiracist on December 31, 2008 at 4:22 pm
Some aspects of selfs are less controllable than others.
I read an article a couple of days ago reporting on the currently fashionable vows of chastity taken by church-going teenagers. Cultivating irrational expectations of self control implies no need for condoms. So these religiously disciplined teenagers tend to experience very much higher rates of teen pregnancy and STDs than teenagers who rationally expect little self-control, instead relying on keeping condoms handy.
26. Archaeological Discovery: Earliest Evidence Of Our Cave-dwelling Human Ancestors
Comment #304901 by Dispiracist on December 22, 2008 at 12:49 pm
Now that humans no longer rely on stone tools, what remnants will today’s humans leave that could endure in a cave for 2 million years?
Future archaeologists, of any species, would need something more substantial than subtle patterns of snapped off stalactites and smashed beer bottles as evidence of human intelligence.
27. Poll Finds No Boost in Church Attendance during Economic Crisis
Comment #303991 by Dispiracist on December 20, 2008 at 2:26 am
Eshto
I think you're right about the enemy.
For 911 the followers of one religion were cleary trying to terrorise people by exterminating the infidels. The method was horrific and anything church leaders said was trivial in comparison. You would expect churches to be swamped regardless of what religious leaders said.
But now we have church leaders apparently blaming corporate greed for the 2nd Great Depression. Which just isn’t credible. Church leaders are known to be eager to participate in corporate greed wherever possible. And corporate greed is normally inflicted by the friendly bank manager downtown – chances are he is a prominant church benefactor and sings in the choir, reason enough to steer clear of the place.
28. Religion in [Australian] schools to go God-free
Comment #302481 by Dispiracist on December 17, 2008 at 5:03 am
Mixmastergaz
You’ve answered my blog-equivalent of prayer!
There is no religious requirement to blog, some of us are just irrationally driven to it. And you did get a reply when you prayed as a child. You just failed to interpret the response as conveying significant meaning. It’s like a binary code – the zeros are as equally significant as the ones. Just like phoning someone and getting no reply at least tells you that the called party isn’t home or doesn’t want to talk to you (if they have caller ID).
I’m probably not the clearest in describing the unclear. I’m just saying that you can sometimes clarify by assuming an unjustified clear position then look at the implications that follow if that assumption were valid. There’s probably some philosophical methodology involved. If the resulting implications make sense then there may be some value in the initially unjustified assumption. If the implications don’t make sense you can be reasonably sure that the assumption isn’t justified.
We might be associating religion with superficial rituals and beliefs. Distinctive rituals and beliefs might not be fundamental for the critical social bonding aspect without which those rituals and beliefs would otherwise dissipate. Possibly some of these rituals exist because they camouflage what is really going on. It may even be critical to have such things as myths, sacred texts, priests etc because the psychological belief processes only work well when attention is misdirected. i.e. Religion might one day be scientifically prove to be genuine real magic.
I’m thinking that indicators of a religion would be that there is some kind of social bonding mechanism that has achieved critical mass or escape velocity from reality-based criticism. E.g. Evangelism is less about converting new adherents, either by rational or irrational argument, than it is about reinforcing commitment in existing adherents who attempt to convince others.
This is probably the real purpose of such things as Sunday school and religious education – the real target is the teacher and not the student. The process of pitching the product entrenches the seller’s beliefs.
You could look at a range of uncritically accepted popular beliefs for what they have in common that prevents them being considered religions, at least for now. And what conditions might result in traditional institutions dropping out of the religious category?
Witchdoctors could study medicine then trade as physicians. The underlying scientific basis or their technical effectiveness might be irrelevant to uncritical followers, so their movement away from superstition and religion is not necessarily for the better. Witch doctors might have relied on placebo effects and traditional medications and achieved worthwhile results, while the physicians may depend on sterile equipment or sophisticated drugs which might be relatively unaffordable. Or even simple things like hand washing may be impractical – as is apparently the case with physicians in Australian metropolitan hospitals.
Uncritical trust is associated with both witchdoctors and physicians. It is technically possible that the knowledge and skill training for witchdoctors may take half a lifetime and be more extensive and rigorous than for physicians, while the ritualistic aspects of physician training might also be significant. Just look at the movement for ‘evidence based medicine’ as an example of how modern scientific medicine is not always as scientific as people would think. A religious distinction between witchdoctors and 21st century medicine (as it is really performed in under-resourced, poorly managed Australian hospitals by non-English speaking migrant physicians) isn’t entirely clear.
29. Orangutan's Spontaneous Whistling Opens New Chapter In Study Of Evolution Of Speech
Comment #301840 by Dispiracist on December 16, 2008 at 12:18 am
41. Comment #301616 by mitch_486 on December 15, 2008 at 8:39 am
Do you have a book to recommend on the topic? I'd like to learn more about this.
30. Religion in [Australian] schools to go God-free
Comment #301714 by Dispiracist on December 15, 2008 at 2:18 pm
97. Comment #301591 by mixmastergaz on December 15, 2008 at 6:39 am
31. Orangutan's Spontaneous Whistling Opens New Chapter In Study Of Evolution Of Speech
Comment #301332 by Dispiracist on December 14, 2008 at 2:12 pm
“To suggest that we can learn anything about the simian nature from a study of man is sheer nonsense.” - Dr. Zaius, Minister of Science and Defender of the Faith.
32. Religion in [Australian] schools to go God-free
Comment #301321 by Dispiracist on December 14, 2008 at 1:30 pm
Great news. This could undermine the de facto policy of punishing recalcitrant kids via boredom.
If the alternative content is good it might trigger complaints that scripture kids are being unfairly advantaged. Maybe their parents will opt out their kids too.
It seems odd that a fundamentalist religious group employs a ‘research director’. I assume that’s spinne on the role of media manipulator. But their suggestion of teaching witchcraft and Satanism has merit. Belief in Satan is significant, which makes it a driver of evil. Kids need to know about it.
Like the Lindy Chamberlain case witchcraft makes a useful a case study: that not all scientists are honest, how science often isn’t allowed to work, and how fudging scientific results is driven by financial, political, and religious expediency. Plus it highlights the effects of mass hysteria, the ethics of lying, and of manipulating the legal system and deceiving juries.
This would be timely for kids. Paedophiles now appear to be a serious epidemic in Australia. Possibly a long-term consequence of police corruption and incompetence and focussing on easier targets following the discovery of infallible scientific tests for witchcraft. Convicted witches are likely to have been released by now and their confiscated children would be old enough to avoid state custody and legally seek contact with parents. Suppression orders on names and evidence would presumably be lapsing so true stories are potentially available.
These stories would show how easily science is undermined by religious activists. It also shows how dangerous these people can be when they attain credible positions as psychologists, policemen, journalists, judges, politicians, or teachers.
33. Hubble Finds Carbon Dioxide on an Extrasolar Planet
Comment #300550 by Dispiracist on December 12, 2008 at 4:10 am
Eshto
I’m still waiting for Tropic Thunder on DVD so I can further enjoy its historical accuracy. The scene with the hand signals is a classic.
About Apollo, I think a geologist was brought in on a later mission to lend scientific credibility. This initially didn’t go down too well with those of the right military stuff.
The comparison with Star Trek is that while real life heroic adventure is inspiring, it can’t compete with a good screenwriter. If there isn’t much real scientific justification for your project then you may as well do the whole bit with all the weird stuff: faster than light travel and communications, transporter beams, English-speaking aliens, and time travel. It’s more honest. And given that robot probes would have eventually done the business on the Moon, Star Trek probably had an underrated impact on the next generation of scientists – if only by getting people to think about things like what the speed of light actually is or whether Vulcans really can interbreed with Humans.
It’s interesting that people focus on the speed of light rather than the rate of time. They’re probably the same underlying thing, but at least with velocity we can travel slower and even stop. With time we only seem to have the choice of it passing us by more quickly. What we really should be looking at is slower than time aging.
34. Hubble Finds Carbon Dioxide on an Extrasolar Planet
Comment #300470 by Dispiracist on December 11, 2008 at 8:57 pm
Decius
Diluting the facts is a long-term iterative effort. You start with some kind of military disaster and after many years of accumulated delusions and propaganda you really do end up with the opposite. The US Civil War is an example. And where I live we now celebrate one of the greatest examples of military incompetence in history, the Anzac disaster of WW1, as a nation-building cultural icon. We even have Anzac biscuits, bridges, frigates, and spirit.
I don’t recall Chomsky’s view, I think he proposed an institutional driver for the objectives in the Vietnam war. But I’m not sure there really was a tangible objective in the Vietnam war. It was just WW 1 and 2 continued. Fighting to end WW2 had a reasonably clear purpose in Europe and the Pacific, but conflict was never clearly resolved in some places like South-East Asia.
For a true strategic objective to be real it must be achievable, which includes being funded with sufficient resources. If the objective isn’t achieved it is most likely because it was never realistic. Complex projects of any nature tend to collapse for similar reasons of inadequate scope definition, untested assumptions, and unmanaged expectations. So it’s no wonder that perceived outcomes default to the subjective opinion of stakeholders. Psychologists show that people who get the worst out of any deal tend to be the most satisfied. So if everyone thinks they’re the victors you’re left with a win/win situation – at least for the supporting spectators. This is quite important otherwise voters would be less willing to move on and support the next war.
35. Hubble Finds Carbon Dioxide on an Extrasolar Planet
Comment #300446 by Dispiracist on December 11, 2008 at 6:46 pm
81. Comment #300424 by Eshto on December 11, 2008 at 4:57 pm
If we can get to a point where our technology provides us with everything we need, I don't see how money will matter anymore.
36. Hubble Finds Carbon Dioxide on an Extrasolar Planet
Comment #300386 by Dispiracist on December 11, 2008 at 2:42 pm
As Steve Zara points out: The real problem with interstellar travel is the vast amounts of energy required.
But abundant energy is everywhere. The real problem is the tremendous economic cost of developing technology to manipulate sufficient energy. We can assume our laws of economics are at least as inapplicable to intelligent extraterrestrials as to humans, so these laws would be as universal as the laws of physics and biological evolution. That’s probably why we don’t see extraterrestrials from other planets commuting to visit Earth. There just isn’t enough money.
But politicians claim to solve tremendous economic problems by facilitating massive credit creation through leveraging multiple teradollars. That's how they put a man on the moon and won the Vietman war. This process might be cosmically significant if spectral atmospheric traces of the economic surges are detectable by extraterrestrial astronomers hundreds of light years away. With this magnitude of cash creation even the impossible appears temporarily plausible. Though it seems much less plausible that intelligent extraterrestrials would ever develop economic theory this sophisticated. This implies there’s no point in waiting to receive visitors from other planets, we’ll have to go there.
The most awesome implications of economic theory might be that some of our politicians are already living on another planet. Life, but not necessarily as we’d want to know it.
37. Interview with Nicholas Wade
Comment #299839 by Dispiracist on December 10, 2008 at 2:26 pm
I’ve just finished reading Nicholas Wade’s book Before the Dawn.
Anyone interested in the present and continuing evolution of human behaviour really should read this one. It is a jam-packed sampler of interesting theories involving human origins.
Some random things I learned:
1. Evolutionary change in human minds can be very rapid – with significant changes in some reproductively isolated groups suspected to have occurred over as little as 800 years. (Significantly increased intelligence in Ashkenazy Jews.)
2. Domestication of plants and animals may have occurred very rapidly and repeatedly in different locations.
3. Domesticated dogs are critical for enabling civilisation. (I have always been suspicious about people who prefer cats over dogs – this may lead to incriminating evidence that cat lovers really are undermining the very foundations of human civilisation.)
4. Humans are programmed to divide up into groups and wage war on the out groups – dog versus cat lovers, the United Atheist Alliance versus the Allied Atheist Allegiance.
Religion may be the evolved social mechanism which enables our recently acquired tolerance of strangers and family orientation, essential for civilisation, to be suppressed, facilitating our capability for genocide, which is an important aspect of our evolutionary development. (Perhaps this is an underlying genetic driver behind programs like SETI – not just scientific curiosity about intelligent life, but whether it is feasible to undertake a dawn raid on their star system and kill them all in their beds before they do unto us - just like we dealt with those Neanderthal bastards.)
38. The Religion of Peace Strikes Again
Comment #295030 by Dispiracist on December 1, 2008 at 5:23 pm
165. Comment #294904 by Nairb on December 1, 2008 at 1:57 pm
If we want to tackle muslim extremism, I think we need to learn from what has worked in the past aainst other such extremists.
39. The Religion of Peace Strikes Again
Comment #294842 by Dispiracist on December 1, 2008 at 12:39 pm
68. Comment #294397 by decius on December 1, 2008 at 3:29 am
40. The Religion of Peace Strikes Again
Comment #294349 by Dispiracist on December 1, 2008 at 2:11 am
5. Comment #293871 by Evilcor on November 30, 2008 at 10:21 am
the problem is one of incentives, and therefore a structural issue.
41. The Religion of Peace Strikes Again
Comment #294344 by Dispiracist on December 1, 2008 at 1:57 am
Speaking of statistics, the Mumbai casualties are barely 2 weeks’ worth of bride burnings for India overall.
But this is typical of journalists to focus on the negative perspective. They could equally say the Koran is 47.3% hatred free. Most people will look at anything ambiguous and take from it whatever they want to hear or see. If disaffected, aggressive young men are prevented from reading the Koran then the bad half might be relatively harmless.
The mums in PNG had some insight into this:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/12/01/2434537.htm?section=justin
42. Atheist Foundation of Australia Bus Slogan Rejected!
Comment #291684 by Dispiracist on November 26, 2008 at 3:39 pm
I doubt this would be due to the religious beliefs of APN management. APN, like all the other badly managed media companies, is desperate for revenue. But their commercial risk is that the costs might exceed revenue – given that religious groups may retaliate with vandalism, abuse, and harassment of bus company employees and APN. APN’s insurance contract may even preclude this activity.
The problem here is not with APN, it is with the generally accepted reluctance of law enforcement and courts to enforce property rights and act against intimidation and violence. Presumably based on a misunderstanding of the concept of free-speech, property rights, and religious tolerance.
I am acutely aware of this inversion of law and order priorities at present, as we have aggressive paedophiles openly operating in our area, with several recent abduction attempts. This makes me the one who would be grossly irresponsible in allowing my youngest child to walk home from primary school. (It is already illegal in NSW to leave a parked car unlocked on a public street as it is considered to be aiding criminal activity. Next step will be laws against women and children being left unattended in public.) On the other hand, the top Sydney police story of today is the substantial resources committed to patrolling cinemas with special night vision equipment so police can arrest people recording movies with their mobile phone cameras.
Perhaps a better way through is to underwrite APN’s perceived additional risks so they can’t lose. They could be offered a substantial additional bond payment, which becomes non-refundable if APN provides independently acceptable evidence of harassment costs sufficient to justify police investigation and compensation claims against the perpetrators. This would at least get any consequences into the crime statistics (police are always eager to solve easy crimes – it gets their performance numbers up). It may only have to occur on the first few occasions, once a successful precedent is established there would be less perceived risk for media companies.
Comment #291522 by Dispiracist on November 26, 2008 at 1:32 pm
On the by-product issue about language development preceding or following music, a useful source would be the neuroscientist Daniel Levitin.
He is a guitarist and is therefore would be well acquainted with the significance of music and dance both for human and bird sexual selection, especially for picking up birds at gigs.
The idea is that language capability is a by-product that becomes available from the evolutionary-driven sexual display function of increasingly sophisticated audio processing input and output modules. This emphasises that by-products go both ways. They can obviously be useful, and can only ever be harmful as long as the net long-term harm to reproductive success is significantly less than the benefits of the module’s core function.
This music / language link may also have some commection to the fact that guitarists tend to have relatively primitive language skills: They usually can't read music, operate their amp volume knob, and use the word 'man' excessively.
44. Single-Celled Giant Upends Early Evolution
Comment #291485 by Dispiracist on November 26, 2008 at 1:06 pm
53. Comment #290993 by Roger Stanyard on November 26, 2008 at 4:33 am
fossils of large multi-cellular animals from the pre-Cambrian do exist
45. Single-Celled Giant Upends Early Evolution
Comment #290970 by Dispiracist on November 26, 2008 at 4:11 am
14. Comment #287900 by DamnDirtyApe on November 20, 2008 at 11:31 pm
A lot can happen in 550 million years.
Comment #290919 by Dispiracist on November 26, 2008 at 3:17 am
Someone mentioned SETI.
Which reminds me that there is a related project, though a little mundane in focus:
http://www.totl.net/STI/
47. We can't hide in our labs and leave the talking to Dawkins
Comment #290390 by Dispiracist on November 25, 2008 at 4:47 am
Coincidentally my kids and I have just completed watching the last of the 4 episodes of Marcus du Sautoy’s presentation of The Story of Maths.
It is an excellent production. While the kids would otherwise have preferred to watch The Simpsons my 14 year old enjoyed it and actually found it relevant for his school work. (Which wasn't the point - I'm trying to ensure they find this stuff inherently interesting rather than experiencing lacklustre exposure in school.) Even my 10 year old stayed alert and interested through all 4 episodes. And he’s someone who claims that everything except football is gay.
So I rate du Sautoy as having passed the discerning child test.
Comment #290350 by Dispiracist on November 25, 2008 at 3:50 am
I’ve got that Nicholas Wade book ‘Before the Dawn’. This has inspired me to actually read it.
Ignoring the fact that Spielberg wasn’t available as production director, I picked up a possible content error around 13 minutes:
Music cannot originally have been a cultural by-product of language put to rhythm, even if it appears that way today. Evolutionary developments must be incremental and developing spoken language must depend on enhancing an existing ability to discern and to produce vocalisations. This means that song and dance is likely to have preceded language, perhaps for mate selection as occurs in birds. Rhythm sources are more likely to be limb movement – with periods derived from walking, jumping, running, waving arms etc. rather than heart rate. It’s more of a coincidence that the frequency of heart pulses corresponds to the range of limb movement frequency.
Around 34 minutes there’s some discussion of monotheism versus polytheism and that desert religions are more repressive to women etc. Not sure how that fits with Australian aboriginal religion. Being a typical Australian (well a Kiwi actually, which is pretty typical for Australians) I therefore know virtually nothing about Aborigine culture. I've heard they whack their women around, but that isn’t their original cultural outlook. They probably learned that from the European missionaries. Perhaps Australian aboriginal spirituality is an exception to desert environments. Aborigine culture is one of the oldest human cultures and is apparently well adapted to desert conditions rather than being in conflict with geography.
In the Q&A the first commenter mentioned Greek polytheism compared to desert–originated monotheism. I’m not sure that there really is any shift from poly to mono in religious practises from Greek to Roman to Roman Catholic. Zeus was the top god with scores of lesser gods. Pronunciation shifts take Zeus to Deus and Theus and the original lesser gods just become complex hierarchies of angels, demons, and various prophets, disciples, and saints. It remains as polytheistic as ever. Does the same thing apply to Islam? It would make evolutionary sense that any novel religion is a small innovation producing a slightly more infectious mutation of something already in circulation.
I don’t think the polytheism versus monotheism question is relevant to the message. Perhaps best deleted if the theory is inconsistent.
49. Regenerating a Mammoth for $10 Million
Comment #290239 by Dispiracist on November 24, 2008 at 10:22 pm
This would encounter similar objections as sex education, immunisations, and stem cell research.
If animals can be unextincted then people might be less cautious with already endangered species. This will be as outrageous for environmentalists as condoms are for the Vatican.
On the other hand, seeing as our collapsing financial system, the impending nuclear war with Iran, and climate change might take us back to the Stone Age, perhaps it’s a good precaution to re-establish our natural prey. This will give us something to live on until civilisation re-emerges.
50. It came from outer space: Fireball streaks across Canadian Prairie, crashes
Comment #290139 by Dispiracist on November 24, 2008 at 6:09 pm
49. Comment #289662 by InfuriatedSciTeacher on November 24, 2008 at 4:11 am