1. Creationists declare war over the brain

Comment #269741 by William Carlton on October 23, 2008 at 9:26 am

These little sideshows are such a hoot. Here's one I heard about on Christian radio, which I monitor often: "Finger of God". YouTube it.

It's about "miracles" such as gold teeth appearing in people's disgusting mouths, or gold dust landing on some codger's crotch, or princess-cut gemstones appearing out of thin air, or benighted denizens from "deep in the African bush" being bewitched by religious propaganda appearing in the first motion picture many of them have ever seen, and... you get the idea.

Of course, you never actually SEE any of these miracles occur, only the TESTIMONY of others---which, for the superstitious, is always more than enough.

2. Faith Attack

Comment #267243 by William Carlton on October 20, 2008 at 11:10 am

"Daniel Dennett, in Breaking the Spell (guess what "spell" that is? Shades of The Golden Compass?)..."

Dennett makes perfectly clear that the "spell" he proposes to break is NOT the one into which the faithful have fallen in observation of their doctrines, but the one protecting religious phenomena from scientific inquiry. The Professor actually concedes that we may discover the spell of religion itself may be something we dare NOT to break, but we can never be sure until we break the first spell preventing us from "looking under the hood" to find out.

3. In conversation with... a computer program

Comment #267225 by William Carlton on October 20, 2008 at 10:55 am

I "chatted" with Elbot for a while, and then it slipped into something called "[ELIZAMODE]", which is whatever I just typed, repeated verbatim, followed by the [ELIZAMODE] tag.

4. A 'values' voter speaks her mind on Obama

Comment #267179 by William Carlton on October 20, 2008 at 10:17 am

That woman is going to kick that poor man's ass when he pulls the lever for Obama. He'd better develop a good poker face real quick-like.

5. The Joke's on Him: Bill Maher could use a lesson in civility from Michael Moore

Comment #265822 by William Carlton on October 17, 2008 at 10:33 am

I reflect that there are millions and perhaps billions who, like Mr. Podhoretz, believe that faith is "the most powerful and meaningful force in the history of human existence", and I shudder. Yes, fervent belief in the complete absence of evidence is the most important thing, like, EVER. Really? REALLY?

I would have rather thought that scientific inquiry and all its myriad fruits might be the most powerful and meaningful force in history. I am filled with the urge to be in the same room with this man, and take him to task on it.

6. 'Intelligent' computers put to the test

Comment #263990 by William Carlton on October 13, 2008 at 1:02 pm

I thought that.

7. Scientists confirm shark's 'virgin birth'

Comment #263977 by William Carlton on October 13, 2008 at 12:50 pm

Okay, I believe in Jesus now.

8. 'Intelligent' computers put to the test

Comment #262386 by William Carlton on October 8, 2008 at 12:23 pm

Seems like Ultra Hal is a bit soft on the "worries" concept. It would seem Ultra Hal has not developed any worries of which to speak, such as being shut off, perhaps, or failing the test and disappointing his programmers. Ironically, this is Ultra Hal's biggest worry, though he doesn't "know" it.

It's been fifteen years now, since our local science musuem had an algorythmic dialogue generator---green letters on a black screen, it was so crude. It had the same answering-a-quetion-with-a-question quality about it as the example provided above. The only improvement I seem to detect in Ultra Hal is a bit of camoglogue and improved smokescreen techniques.

Very sad.

I remember that once I sat for maybe an hour, trying to coax the machine into a feedback loop that would render it incapable of producing a response. It took a while, to work through all of the various permutions in which a probing from me resulted in an often clumsy attempt to regurgitate recent content into a new strain of dialogue. It turned out there were not many variations at all, but tying off the ends was the challenge. Each one required a somewhat different knot. Now, perhaps the computer had a daily word quota, after which it would simply shut off, but it did not do even that. The blinking cursor was all I got. So I tell the story as if I vanquished the machine. At the very least, I got it to say "Why doss yar moth-her blow goats?" and I call that a victory.

I'm still a believer in strong AI.

9. Big Bang or Big Bounce?: New Theory on the Universe's Birth

Comment #261781 by William Carlton on October 7, 2008 at 11:18 am

Deadity, just in case you weren't joking, I think that 10-35 meter is meant to be read "ten to the negative thirty-fifth power", rather than "ten to thirty-five meters".

Just in case.

10. A Tortoise May Be Bred Back Into Being

Comment #256709 by William Carlton on September 29, 2008 at 11:54 am

Turtle Pimps.

11. Eoin Colfer to write sixth Hitchhiker's Guide book

Comment #249754 by William Carlton on September 18, 2008 at 1:26 pm

I say of course why not. My thirteen-year-old asked me the other day if he thought that Harrison Ford would ever make another Indiana Jones film. I'm always interested in these prediction-type questions, because the space of possibilities in the near future is so vast (especially with regard to media). I almost said no, because of the very low probability that Lucas, Speilberg, and Ford will actually get down to the business of grinding out another picture in the small window of time in which that have to do it.

But then I said yes, because for all I know Harrison Ford will go from 80 to 18 on the wings of some scientific breakthrough or another. Of course, that did seem a rather outlying possibility so I offered a different take. There is no reason, for example, that the various memes which make up the personna of Harrison Ford playing Indiana Jones cannot be arranged to pleasing effect by some future storyteller's pallette, each aspect of idiosyncratic "Harrison Fordiness" orchestrated by its own little team of homunculi, every member fully versed in the "essence" of Harrison Ford playing Indiana Jones as directed by Steven Speilberg.

But would it be AUTHENTIC? Not just achieving virisimilitude, that is easier than we like to think. Comedians like Rich Little have made careers out of bottling personalities, because we are not just easy to be fooled---we enjoy it. No, the challenge is nailing down just what we mean by "authentic".

The man whose name sits atop this webpage said that the only thing which survives our death is our genes and our memes. Has there ever been, for a person like Harrison Ford especially, such high-fidelity copying and reproduction of the memes that make us "us"? When Elvis fans bark that The King isn't dead, I think of all those literally thousands of impersonators and think: No, he isn't.

I mean really, how many atoms that threw those hammer punches in the last Indian Jones still reside in the body of the fellow who shared the screen with Shia Labeouf this summer? I'm pretty sure the answer is zero. Many fans will relate to the phenomenon of feeling something a bit off-putting about seeing Ford again in the iconic role so indelibly etched in their minds. Notice how difficult it is for them to explain what they are feeling.

So I have little doubt that we've yet to see the last of Indiana Jones, or virtually any other franchise even remotely profitable or well-attented. Say that studios introduce an option for actors to cash in on leaving their likeness to posterity in the form of a detailed mental and physical profile that can be resurrected post-humously for the purposes of---making money, obviously (or art)---but also more richly PRESERVING that individual as a developing narrative. It's a little slice of immortality, some might imagine. Or ghoulish. The actor would have limited influence, obviously, in the career choices of his studio-bought avatar. Harrison Ford might not be too keen to star, unwittingly, in a movie titled "Indian Bones---The Amazon Woman". Perhaps some mechanisms can be put in place similar to those found in trusts which prevent legacy funds, for instance, from being misused (from the benefactor's POV).

It would require a fundamental shift in the way we think about our selves, but it also happens to be the direction in which things are headed. And there's no reason it has only to be for personalities in demand. Here's an article that has some interesting things to say about it:

http://www.dailygalaxy.com/my_weblog/2007/06/virtual_immorta.html

"The National Science Foundation has awarded a half-million-dollar grant to the universities of Central Florida at Orlando and Illinois at Chicago to explore how researchers might use artificial intelligence, archiving, and computer imaging to create digital life-like versions of real people. This is considered a first step toward creating virtual immortality.

'The goal is to combine artificial intelligence with the latest advanced graphics and video game-type technology to enable us to create historical archives of people beyond what can be achieved using traditional technologies such as text, audio, and video footage,' says Jason Leigh of the University of Chicago's Electronic Visualization Laboratory.

The researchers plan on taking the appearance, mannerisms, voice, and even the knowledge of a real person and synthesizing the data into a 'virtual person' or avatar. The goal is to create an avatar that will be able to respond to questions and convincingly represent its human counterpart."

On the more low-tech end, Ezra Klein thinks a lot of under-employed English majors could be put to work fashioning commissioned biographies for 30 to 40 thousand dollars a pop. I had this same idea years ago.

So anyways, congratulations to Mr. Colfer.

12. Teachers should tackle creationism, says science education expert

Comment #246596 by William Carlton on September 12, 2008 at 2:28 pm

I would support "teaching the controversy" if it meant that the sham which is intelligent design were laid bare as the truly anti-science propaganda it is. Seems like it could be rather instructive, as far as defining what is science and what is throwing your hands up, saying: GODDIDIT.

13. Anthropologists Develop New Approach To Explain Religious Behavior

Comment #246593 by William Carlton on September 12, 2008 at 2:22 pm

So anthropologists have discovered heterophenomenology. Welcome on board.

14. Face to faith

Comment #244120 by William Carlton on September 8, 2008 at 11:00 am

"If Christ paid for your sins by dying, and was subsequently made alive, the payment is fraudulent."

Hehe, a friend of mine once replaced "Jesus: He died for you," to "Jesus: He took the weekend off for you".

Also, Richard Morgan's account smells like a stunt.

15. The God Delusion

Comment #230308 by William Carlton on August 14, 2008 at 2:26 pm

If I were thewhitepearl, I would be fond of reflective surfaces also.

(Sorry for lowering the tone.)

16. Enemies of Reason: Available now on DVD!

Comment #230302 by William Carlton on August 14, 2008 at 2:22 pm

I have only seen the first segment of this program available on YouTube. I'd love to see the rest but sorry, Richard, I cannot afford it.

I expect to see the rest posted online in the near future.

17. More than 100,000 rare gorillas found in Congo

Comment #225109 by William Carlton on August 6, 2008 at 8:27 am

If I might comment on the gorillas, I find it interesting how the connection is never made between the preservation of these animals and the fact that many are endangered because their own native, human neighbors see fit to slaughter them for bush meat. It sort of puts the lie to the notion of the noble savage in harmony with his fellow creatures.

Also, see the Cadbury gorilla:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy52yueBX_s

18. Charlie Brooker's screen burn

Comment #224586 by William Carlton on August 5, 2008 at 7:30 am

I'll start getting incensed by ignoramuses when it seems like they've got a snowball's chance in hell of winning the information race.

19. Degrees of religion

Comment #208746 by William Carlton on July 11, 2008 at 7:54 am

Only the most dire pessimist can believe that religion will long endure the withering influence of moderation brought to bear by the information age. It is being whittled to a nub.

20. When too much Rapture is barely enough

Comment #204639 by William Carlton on July 5, 2008 at 12:18 pm

I think I should like to launch an insurance company which collects premiums for a policy paid out to loved ones "left behind" in the event of the Rapture. The funds would be intended for Biblical study and other vital post-Rapture, Tribulation survival necessities.

I really do think this is a business opportunity. I am not kidding.

21. Galaxy map hints at fractal universe

Comment #199824 by William Carlton on June 26, 2008 at 11:44 am

DalaiDrivel, I believe it was Carl Sagan who wondered how no religionist had ever embraced the true scale and baffling beauty of the universe as greater than ancient scribes and sages could imagine. Of course I remember Professor Dawkins closing a lecture with the same remark.