51. Randi and 800 Other Amazing Skeptics

Comment #19106 by aleprechaunist on January 25, 2007 at 2:12 am

As I understand it, Uri Geller claims to have psychic powers - he does not market himself as 'just a magician'. Insofar as the people being willfully conned are often psychologically vulnerable, it could be argued that there is a case for bringing action..

52. Activation Of Brain Region Predicts Altruism

Comment #18959 by aleprechaunist on January 24, 2007 at 2:16 am

It's hard to imagine what it would be like to perceive other peoples' actions as 'meaningless'.

I'm assuming what's being referred to is 'empathy' or lack thereof, which would make a bit more more sense.

It's a pretty uninformative article either way...

53. The Mystery of Consciousness

Comment #18673 by aleprechaunist on January 22, 2007 at 9:45 am

Martha, people will generally agree on what constitutes a 'shoe', surely.

54. The Mystery of Consciousness

Comment #18645 by aleprechaunist on January 22, 2007 at 7:35 am

The 'subjective experience of self' problem has always felt similar to the 'why something rather than nothing?' problem. I'm inclined to agree with Pinker that certain aspects of the world will be forever out of our grasp, due to our human limitations, and may only ever be describable mathematically.. sigh!


"To say that you cannot sense yourself when you sense good music is conceptually inconsistent. "

Sancus, perhaps I'm getting this wrong, but I don't think Pinker was claiming the above. - rather he's drawing a distinction between consciousness and self-awareness. Maybe this is a subtle question of semantics that you shouldn't lose sleep over..

55. Some stars and planets in scale

Comment #18601 by aleprechaunist on January 22, 2007 at 1:53 am

I guess you can't be too hard on Gawd for letting the odd tsunami slip by, then..

56. Dispatches: Undercover Mosque

Comment #18265 by aleprechaunist on January 19, 2007 at 7:35 am

"Am I the only one who thought that fella looks like Arnold from Diffrent Strokes???"

... What you talkin' about, Feuerbach! Yes, there is a similarity.

Seriously though, let's hope it takes 'different strokes [than radical Islam] to move the world...'

57. Dispatches: Undercover Mosque

Comment #18218 by aleprechaunist on January 19, 2007 at 3:47 am

Nasty virus... I don't think I'll ever feel safe in a dental clinic again...