Reason
Science, Reason, and the Illumination of Ignorance
Faith is the great cop-out, the great excuse to evade the need to think and evaluate evidence. Faith is belief in spite of, even perhaps because of, the lack of evidence. - Richard Dawkins
Such crimes has superstition caused. - Titus Lucretius
You don't have to be a scientist - you don't have to play the bunsen burner - in order to understand enough science to overtake your imagined need and fill that fancied gap. Science needs to be released from the lab into the culture. - Richard Dawkins
Scientists propose new hypothesis on the origin of life
Reposted from http://www.physorg.com/news171263002.html
The new hypothesis suggests that life on Earth originated at photosynthetically-active porous structures made of zinc sulfide similar to deep-sea hydrothermal vents. Credit: The Institute for Exploration, the University of Rhode Island (URI) Graduate School of Oceanography (GSO), and the URI Institute for Archaeological Oceanography.
The Four Horsemen Discussions with Richard Dawkins
Religion and child abuse
A few weeks ago I discovered that my brother-in-law became a born again idiot. He has given his heart to the invisible sky fairy and joined the ranks of those mindless zombies that we call Christians. All well and good. If he wants to believe in fairy tails then that is his own business. I might find it worthy of ridicule, but it is still his right and who am I to stop him. A problem has arisen however, as he seems determined to take my niece and nephew strolling down the yellow brick road as well.
The emerging moral psychology
The emerging moral psychology
by Dan Jones, Prospect Magazine
Reposted from:
http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/article_details.php?id=10126
Experimental results are beginning to shed light on the psychological foundations of our moral beliefs
Long thought to be a topic of enquiry within the humanities, the nature of human morality is increasingly being scrutinised by the natural sciences. This shift is now beginning to provide impressive intellectual returns on investment. Philosophers, psychologists, neuroscientists, economists, primatologists and anthropologists, all borrowing liberally from each others' insights, are putting together a novel picture of morality—a trend that University of Virginia psychologist Jonathan Haidt has described as the "new synthesis in moral psychology." The picture emerging shows the moral sense to be the product of biologically evolved and culturally sensitive brain systems that together make up the human "moral faculty."
Fitna
Recently the Dutch politician Geert Wilders created a movie called Fitna and released it on the internet. It is a movie that juxtaposes verses in the Quran with footage of Muslims carrying out its injunctions. It is a disturbing film and an enlightening film, and shows the depth and depravity that ignorance and superstitions can plunge people to. Wilders, of course, has his own agenda with this film.. an agenda that is not that palatable, but the film is worth watching nevertheless. Due to death threats against it's staff, the film was pulled from live leak. A copy of the film can be seen above though.
Taking Evidence Seriously
by Alan Sokal, Guardian
Reposted from:
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/alan_sokal/2008/02/taking_evidence_s...
Public policy decisions should be based on evidence. So why are taxpayers funding faith schools and alternative therapies?
"We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality," a senior adviser to President Bush told the New York Times in the summer of 2002.
Missing link found in Sydney Harbour (Sydney Morning Herald)
Reposted from:
http://www.smh.com.au/news/science/missing-link-found-in-sydney-harbour/...
Richard Macey
February 21, 2008 - 5:56AM
ONE of evolution's missing links has been found lurking in Sydney Harbour.
Although only a microscopic, single-celled creature, it has excited scientists around the world because it is the nearest relative yet found of a group of deadly parasites.
