351. Fleabytes

Comment #134893 by robotaholic on February 28, 2008 at 9:45 am

I keep seeing all the responses to David Robertson I guess but I havn't seen his initial remarks- what comment # - does anyone know off hand - I want to read some...

thx

352. The Giant Tortoise's Tale

Comment #134400 by robotaholic on February 27, 2008 at 6:08 pm

once again, just thanks!

353. Evidence can't shake your faith if your faith excludes it as evidence

Comment #132474 by robotaholic on February 24, 2008 at 7:50 pm

oh wow, this tripe utilized the english language- I am going to Steve Zara out:

Why is Stanley Fish so much smarter than Richard Dawkins?

that question occurred to me last week, while attending a lecture at which Fish, the well-known literary and legal theorist, did the thing he always does, which is to make the following point over and over again:

"No believer will find his faith shaken by evidence that is evidence only in the light of assumptions he does not share and considers flatly wrong."

Richard Dawkins is, I'm told by persons whose authority I accept on faith, a distinguished evolutionary biologist. He holds a chair at Oxford. He has won many prestigious academic prizes. By all conventional measures, Dawkins is an extremely intelligent man. So why does he seem incapable of understanding what Fish is saying?

Richard Dawkins is, I'm told by persons whose authority I accept on faith, a distinguished evolutionary biologist. He holds a chair at Oxford. He has won many prestigious academic prizes. By all conventional measures, Dawkins is an extremely intelligent man. So why does he seem incapable of understanding what Fish is saying?

In other words, evidence must always be interpreted within the context of interpretive assumptions that necessarily determine what that evidence is understood to signify, and which by their nature are themselves matters of faith. Thus the only way someone like Dawkins will ever see any evidence for the existence of God will be if he loses his faith that he never will.

354. Physicist Neil Turok: Big Bang Wasn't the Beginning

Comment #132466 by robotaholic on February 24, 2008 at 7:30 pm

I like the fact that mathematics really has been the basis for antimatter, for the "spin" of particles, and also "strangeness" - they all were mathematical concepts and even the creators of the concepts were embarrassed to find out that their concepts had a basis in reality - how funny!

I also would like to say that string theory has only predicted the graviton and it's mass- it has not predicted any other particle nor it's mass - it's almost like fiction- but the standard model has predicted so many particles that it must be true in some ways- string theory has a long way to go before it's even relevant IMHO in the field of physics - that is why this article seems obtuse

355. Physicist Neil Turok: Big Bang Wasn't the Beginning

Comment #132460 by robotaholic on February 24, 2008 at 7:23 pm

i just have to say that quine, and steve- it's amazing that anyone else even cares about this subject but i will tell you what i have learned from my lectures on QED from Steven Pollock - the matter/antimatter collision that happened at the big bang is not 100 percent equivelent- and there was a tiny bit more matter than antimatter particles created - thus explaining our universe and the dark energy effect of expanding spacetime is a result of the difference- (dark energy being the expansion of the universe as a result of microfluctuations of vaccuum energy background- there isn't an exact cancellation of virtual particles and the lack of cancellation creates expansion)

Lorien- the loss of information in blackholes has been disproven and STeven Hawking admitted this at his grand revelation he once had yrs ago- there is a great youtube video about Hawkings loss of the bet & you can find it readily- the most amazing thing to me lately is that the LHC will discover if there are other dimension because of the inverse square law - as you get 2x far away from an object - it's light or gravity get 1/4 as strong- if we can measure that on a microscale we can detect if other dimensions exist and that is where the energy/gravity is leaking- the problem is that its very difficult to detect the loss on the smaller and smaller scales- the LHC has enough energy in it's collisions to detect this leakage effect and will be difinitively able to dispell the mystery- please omit all spelling inaccuracies thank you

356. The Salamander's Tale

Comment #132431 by robotaholic on February 24, 2008 at 6:37 pm

omgoodness- this video was so amazing to me- #1. Lalla Ward is the best narrator I have ever heard- ever - #2. I never heard of a ring species before- and the conclusion of the video is so interesting.

wow Professor Richard Dawkins has produced so much material that I have not experienced- he is such a scholar- I CONTINUALLY am appreciative!- Thank you so much

EDIT: I also want to say something else: To me the joy of learning is unmatched. I pitty the religious individual who turns off at the word evolution. This planet is amazing, evolution is wonderous, and making the information so easy to grasp for the layman (that would definitely be me)fills me with joy that I absolutely never had when I was being religiously indoctrinated in the past. WOW

357. Richard Dawkins on five of his favorite books

Comment #132422 by robotaholic on February 24, 2008 at 6:23 pm

1. H.P.Lovecraft (has some of the most fabulous sentences I have ever read)
2. Varner Vinge (inventor of the idea of the technological singularity)
3. Robert A. Heinlein (just a kick ass scifi writer)
4. Richard Dawkins -TGD (the audiobook is amazing)
5. Steven Pollock - quantum lectures (i actually can understand some of this lol)

358. The Lava Lizard's Tale

Comment #131971 by robotaholic on February 23, 2008 at 5:42 pm

that was a great video- I really enjoyed it - thank you Richard Dawkins

359. Fleabytes

Comment #130523 by robotaholic on February 20, 2008 at 7:06 pm

I am an eliminative materialist- there is no qualia & my response is vapid

360. DLD08 - Life: a gene-centric view

Comment #130519 by robotaholic on February 20, 2008 at 6:50 pm

I love Richard Dawkins - he's classy

Edit- the Selfish Gene is awesome- I sleep to it constantly

Edit Edit - Nice Blackberry!

361. Bart Ehrman, Questioning Religion on Why We Suffer

Comment #130516 by robotaholic on February 20, 2008 at 6:45 pm

this was interesting- only because of my hysterectomy of religiousness- the whole job thing NEVER happened- the problem of evil cannot be answered by religious people and that is that-

362. Fleabytes

Comment #129947 by robotaholic on February 19, 2008 at 7:52 pm

wow, I just spent and hour and a half reading your review and it was amazing!- here is part of my favorite paragraph:

There is no evidence that God created the universe. There is no evidence that life could not have originated without God. There is no evidence that the universe exists for the purpose of making human life possible. There is no evidence of an afterlife. There is no evidence of the Garden of Eden, a Tree of Knowledge or talking snakes. There is no evidence of the Israelites wandering through the desert. There is no evidence for a virgin birth. There is no evidence for a resurrection, or a bodily ascension into the heavens. There is no evidence of a soul. There is no evidence of answered prayer. There is no evidence of the miraculous suspension of natural laws. There is no evidence that the Bible was written by or inspired by God. There is no evidence for God whatsoever -

363. Bill Moyers Interviews Susan Jacoby

Comment #129164 by robotaholic on February 18, 2008 at 6:30 pm

yawn- there wasn't enough blasphemy!

364. Machines 'to match man by 2029'

Comment #128541 by robotaholic on February 17, 2008 at 10:47 am

my 70 yr old mom augmented with machine servos makes me laugh

365. Ayaan Hirsi Ali asks for protection

Comment #128538 by robotaholic on February 17, 2008 at 10:43 am

Max your comment regarding how you're sorry some guy is small was amazingly mature.


Saerain you must not be very good at detecting irony since you obviously don't know what it means. It is the use of words to convey a meaning that is the opposite of their literal meaning.

That is not what I did.

Grade-A???

366. Study: Religion colors Americans' views of nanotechnology

Comment #128499 by robotaholic on February 17, 2008 at 7:55 am

that is the usual response bhoytony, quite expected - bash America and if anyone objects they're patriotic and thus their argument is marginalized-

-predictable-

If rationality were even considered, this website could be equally critical of many "areas of dirt with lines around it."

367. Ayaan Hirsi Ali asks for protection

Comment #128498 by robotaholic on February 17, 2008 at 7:52 am

un no "MAX"- my main argument is that there are consequences when one is famous- and if she loves life so much she shouldn't stand in the firing line

MaxD

It okay if she talks but not too much.

368. Ayaan Hirsi Ali asks for protection

Comment #128389 by robotaholic on February 16, 2008 at 10:26 pm

Ayaan Hirsi Ali asks for protection

369. Study: Religion colors Americans' views of nanotechnology

Comment #128382 by robotaholic on February 16, 2008 at 10:17 pm

I wouldn't consider myself patriotic, more like snubbed.

370. Ayaan Hirsi Ali asks for protection

Comment #128355 by robotaholic on February 16, 2008 at 8:12 pm

Nails You still didn't get my point- you think people should give her money so she can be protected and speak out about her beliefs or lack - I think she could do it but without requiring millions of dollars per year by taking a few precautions- Expecting donations so she can be famous and outspoken is really the issue.

I don't have a beef nor a chip on my shoulder. I'm just voicing my opinions. Don't call me misspelled names either.

371. Study: Religion colors Americans' views of nanotechnology

Comment #128353 by robotaholic on February 16, 2008 at 7:56 pm

I think I read the article and understood what it was saying. I happen to live in America and am tired of the negativity toward my country on this website particularly. Let's start posting how religious other countries are. Ohh look how religious Britain is:

http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=293

72 percent of the British claim to be christian (and I can just hear the excuses already - well they don't practice, well they aren't as adamant or evangelical)- will someone please respond to this - Look at your own country and how religious it is and how it's being invaded by muslims -There are many places in USA that aren't religious at all- many of them are larger than your country- At least there isn't a "Church of The United States"

372. Study: Religion colors Americans' views of nanotechnology

Comment #128306 by robotaholic on February 16, 2008 at 6:03 pm

it's british food

373. Study: Religion colors Americans' views of nanotechnology

Comment #128300 by robotaholic on February 16, 2008 at 5:58 pm

Hey guess what, American's have worse BO! Hey, Americans are so uncivalized they don't know what spotted dick is! Why don't you pick on any other country for a change???-

I'm sure Nigeria is more religious than America

374. Ayaan Hirsi Ali asks for protection

Comment #128295 by robotaholic on February 16, 2008 at 5:29 pm

And the last time I checked, your sexuality had nothing to do with me. your remark about this is both purile and irrelevant.

375. Ayaan Hirsi Ali asks for protection

Comment #128190 by robotaholic on February 16, 2008 at 12:51 pm

Linda, I agree with you- this sight could start posting articles about how stupid people are in trinidad or some other country, but instead it focuses on america constantly, it's turning me off to this website- the snobby british attitude, the know it all comments- mabye the first comment really is right on - mabye the citizens of the most important country in the world don't HAVE to care about other countries and therefore don't.

376. Ayaan Hirsi Ali asks for protection

Comment #128168 by robotaholic on February 16, 2008 at 11:58 am

Nails, I agree that it's important to speak out like she is, but mabye she shouldn't beg for protection and instead make herself less vulnerable

Anyway, I have submitted a petition to the European Parliament, if successful I will post the details here and I hope that you will all support it and post it to your MEPs.

377. Ayaan Hirsi Ali asks for protection

Comment #128148 by robotaholic on February 16, 2008 at 10:55 am

i get a scammy feeling about this -i mean why can't she just change her name, get a face lift, and move, or write books under a different name, or why can't she just not be so high profile and mabye she wouldn't be threatened-

true- she shouldn't have to change to avoid being killed - that's not fair to her - but life is the way life is-

"I don't want to die, I want to live and I love life,

378. Dumb and Dumber: Are Americans Hostile to Knowledge?

Comment #128140 by robotaholic on February 16, 2008 at 10:15 am

my parents are American and they are absolutely HOSTILE to science, to information about anything other than their religion - i didn't even read the article yet to tell you the answer.- they think science is satanic honestly - it's absolutely rediculous and it's a product of religious brainwashing- most of usa are brainwashed by religion and it's a sad state of affairs- brainwashing parents create brainwashed children-and deprogramming is tuff!

379. Ben Stein Wins Intelligent Design Money

Comment #128139 by robotaholic on February 16, 2008 at 9:54 am

Ben Stein is a douchebag - A small syringe with detachable nozzles; used for vaginal lavage and enemas

380. Smaller Version of the Solar System Is Discovered

Comment #128137 by robotaholic on February 16, 2008 at 9:48 am

everyone here are know-it-alls- on every subject-kind of annoying - about the article - i really wish i was on the microFUN team!

381. Debate between Richard Dawkins and Madeline Bunting

Comment #127045 by robotaholic on February 14, 2008 at 7:00 pm

bottom line she still believes in invisible people with superpowers - that's messed up

382. My Saudi Valentine

Comment #126834 by robotaholic on February 14, 2008 at 10:08 am

wow, that place sux-, god is a delusion, religion poisons everything, and i can't wait for the end of faith

383. Arguments From Design, First Cause, Something Rather Than Nothing, Fundamental Constants

Comment #126649 by robotaholic on February 13, 2008 at 6:30 pm

omg your fine tuning argument was very compelling and profound- i enjoyed what you wrote alot- THX!

384. Feb 12th: Happy Darwin Day!

Comment #125719 by robotaholic on February 11, 2008 at 11:04 pm

happy Darwin day everybody-

-signed your fellow mammal-

385. Are Darwin's Theories Fact or Faith Issues?

Comment #120311 by robotaholic on February 1, 2008 at 12:33 pm

awesome - I love pz's blog- read it everyday heh

386. U.S.: 'Demonic' militants sent women to bomb markets in Iraq

Comment #120309 by robotaholic on February 1, 2008 at 12:15 pm

these people are SICK SICK SICK

387. Richard Dawkins on The Big Questions

Comment #117844 by robotaholic on January 29, 2008 at 7:28 pm

they were a bunch of retards except for Richard Dawkins

388. Dawkins is third most prolific internet Briton

Comment #117718 by robotaholic on January 29, 2008 at 12:51 pm

ooh, I love Imogen Heap. Richard Dawkins is great too. - I wonder who would be on the list if it were from America.

389. Belief in Belief

Comment #117466 by robotaholic on January 28, 2008 at 10:42 pm

the truth is: we are physical organisms, we believed in invisible stuff for so long, but now it's time for honesty, truth, and realism- there are no invisible gods, there are no demons or angels, WE are in charge of our own lives, and we are the only ones who will SAVE US! We have to take care of ourselves, we have to be good to each other and we need to realize religion is terrible, faith is a bad thing,and we need to love each other because we are all brothers and sisters!

-those links are absolutely AWESOME - HEAR HEAR CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS!

edit- (after hearing the hitchen videos 2x) HOW DARE anyone believe that fallacy- If you directly think about it - it proclaims that we who don't believe are EVIL. It's judgemental. It's horrible. The three monotheisms are absolutely abominable!

390. New atheists or new anti-dogmatists?

Comment #117253 by robotaholic on January 28, 2008 at 1:00 pm

Look, I am an atheist- I don't beleive in a god or gods- (you know the invisible types).

Dogma- An authoritative principle, belief, or statement of ideas or opinion, especially one considered to be absolutely true.

-I suppose there are certain dogmas that really ARE true and that I agree with. Therefore I can say Atheist is a more accurate description of myself.

I think if I were Richard Dawkins I'd be dogmatic about Evolution by Natural Selection. It just happens to be true-

391. New atheists or new anti-dogmatists?

Comment #117074 by robotaholic on January 28, 2008 at 8:01 am

I didn't know Harris did a stint as a bodygaurd for the Dalai Lama! How interesting.

392. The Science behind the Large Hadron Collider

Comment #116482 by robotaholic on January 26, 2008 at 3:21 pm

I just love hearing the Dr. Terry Shears talk. I am just absolutely excited about the LHC- Excited excited excited- honestly I have a love for physics and sorry Steve but it's good to be excited about physics. So many people aren't-

393. Interview with Richard Dawkins

Comment #116463 by robotaholic on January 26, 2008 at 2:54 pm

Professor Richard Dawkins is amazing. "What do you mean 'dear me'?"- :D - He was especially barbed and I loved it.

394. A Letter From Hell

Comment #116075 by robotaholic on January 25, 2008 at 12:58 pm

I love it when ppl stand up and refuse being exposed to religious teachings. In most cases, people like that have paved the way for people like me who aren't as outspoken.

395. Launch of 'Atheists in Foxholes' Book Anthology

Comment #116072 by robotaholic on January 25, 2008 at 12:53 pm

I am equally nonviolent. I don't understand nationalistic pride.

396. Secrets of bird flight revealed

Comment #115809 by robotaholic on January 24, 2008 at 8:34 pm

Professor Dial said that dinosaurs may have evolved wings to help propel them over rocks and other obstacles that littered their terrain.

397. US scientists close to creating artificial life: study

Comment #115801 by robotaholic on January 24, 2008 at 8:14 pm

this will be another nail in the creationist coffin...

398. Heath Ledger Death: Baptist Group To Protest At Memorial

Comment #115776 by robotaholic on January 24, 2008 at 6:50 pm

not to be completely obsolete in this conversation...it wasn't long ago that the catholic church decided "limbo" doesn't exist- the idea of being in "limbo" reminds me of scientologists belief in thetans.-

The Pocket Atheist is a marvelous BOOK!!! I recommend you get it -

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

Comment #115218 by robotaholic on January 23, 2008 at 6:54 pm

I'm tired of just hearing about Origin of the Species. I'm going to read it- make up my OWN mind about the book.

I'll tell you what I think-

400. Death Sentence for Afghan Student

Comment #115140 by robotaholic on January 23, 2008 at 4:38 pm

excuse me for sounding so blatantly American...but That makes me pissed. That country is MESSED UP. How can anyone be so hateful as to demand someone's death. (rhetorical) I think of the so called progress in zeitgeist and feel like 1/2 the planet is 500 yrs behind the rest.