In my post on how similar or dissimilar life might be if evolution started over, I observed that much of the environment that life operates within is itself generated by other life. It turns out that goes deeper than I imagined. I knew that things like oxygenated atmosphere and soil were products of life, but it turns … Continue reading How life transformed the planet – Robert Hazen – Aeon
Category: Zeitgeist
The Paleo delusion, and a delusion about that delusion
Today at lunch I listened to the latest Point of Inquiry podcast, which was an interview of Marlene Zuk about her new book on common delusions about evolution and the paleolithic life style. These misconceptions usually run along the lines of assuming that since we evolved to be hunter gatherers, that we should live like those … Continue reading The Paleo delusion, and a delusion about that delusion
Sean Carroll defends philosophy
Sean Carroll, theoretical physicist, has a post up on his blog telling his fellow physicists to "stop saying silly things about philosophy". The last few years have seen a number of prominent scientists step up to microphones and belittle the value of philosophy. Stephen Hawking, Lawrence Krauss, and Neil deGrasse Tyson are well-known examples. To redress the balance a … Continue reading Sean Carroll defends philosophy
Captain Phillips
Last weekend, I finally saw the movie Captain Phillips. I had been a bit slow to watch this one, because I wasn't sure how the events would be portrayed. I was pleasantly surprised to find the movie to be a mostly thoughtful chronicle of those events, although I don't doubt that it took some dramatic liberties. … Continue reading Captain Phillips
Ruth Chang: How to make hard choices
The TED talk by Ruth Chang gets at some of the points I've made before, namely that reason only carries you so far, and that reason exists to serve intuitive goals. This comes out in hard decisions, when reasoning by itself is often insufficient, and we have to fall back on our innate values, on … Continue reading Ruth Chang: How to make hard choices
SMBC: Surpassing the Turing test in order to assess moral standing
Click through to see the full sized version. via Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal.
A debate on quantum mechanics interpretations
"Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not understood it." --Niels Bohr "If you think you understand quantum mechanics, you don't understand quantum mechanics." --Richard Feynman Quantum mechanics are utterly bizarre. Quantum particles behave like spread out waves, until their position is measured, when they suddenly behave like a particle with definite position. The … Continue reading A debate on quantum mechanics interpretations
BICEP2 team publishes results, backpedals on certainty
The BICEP2 team have officially published their results. They had announced to much fanfare back in March, that they had detected primordial gravitational waves, and hence cosmic inflation. But the results have increasingly been met with doubt, primarily centered on the possibility of interstellar dust causing the observed results. From a New Scientist article on the published paper: It … Continue reading BICEP2 team publishes results, backpedals on certainty
Yog’s Law and Self-Publishing
Michael Dowd on the personification of reality
Michael Dowd is one of the few people with the title of "Reverend" whose views on reality I find interesting. His motto is, "reality is my God, evidence is my scripture." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QeTWVw9Fm4 The other day, I did a post asking what religion is, and wondering whether science wasn't itself a religion. It's hard to listen to … Continue reading Michael Dowd on the personification of reality
SelfAwarePatterns 