1. Who's Minding the Mind?

Comment #61293 by George Dickeson on August 4, 2007 at 1:28 pm

I agree with Jamougha on this. I think Derren Brown's act is mostly slight of hand and misdirection, rather than genuine psychological trickery. I have yet to see anything that could not have been done by an ordinary magician or film director.

I certainly don't think that anything like NLP could be used as effectively as Brown ostensibly does.

2. Scientist Finds the Beginnings of Morality in Primate Behavior

Comment #26659 by George Dickeson on March 21, 2007 at 2:36 am

The article annoyed me a little in its misrepresentation of contemporary philosophy.

Many, if not most philosophers these days would happily agree with the suggestion that morality can be explained in Darwinian terms.

The views of Prinz are interesting (and may well be correct) but they are hardly the norm.

3. 1986 Oxford Union Debate

Comment #25429 by George Dickeson on March 13, 2007 at 4:15 am

I thought that Dawkins' referring to the supporting side's other publishings was not really in the spirit of debate. Particularly when he mentions the fact that Edgar Andrews is a young-earth creationist. Doing so was nothing more than an ad hominem, since Andrews makes no reference to such a position in his speech.

John M Smith was the highlight. Particularly his rebuttal to Arthur Smith's comments about 3/4 of the way through Part 8.

Many thanks for posting this!