Darwin Day, according to the International Darwin Day Foundation, is “a global celebration of science and reason held on or around Feb. 12, the birthday anniversary of evolutionary biologist Charles Darwin." The idea of the celebration arose in 1993 as part of the activities of the Stanford Humanist Community, then headed by biologist Robert Stephens. … Continue reading It’s Darwin Day, a celebration of science and reason | Machines Like Us
Category: Zeitgeist
Why I think Sam Harris is wrong about morality | The Righteous Mind
Several commenters have said I should not just critique the excessive certainty of the New Atheists. I should respond directly to Sam Harris’s Moral Landscape Challenge. I should say why I think the argument he makes about a science of morality are wrong. (Harris argues that what is right and wrong can be determined scientifically, … Continue reading Why I think Sam Harris is wrong about morality | The Righteous Mind
IBM to make Jeopardy winning Watson available for commercial use
Remember the IBM Watson, the computer system that won at Jeopardy? Well IBM is getting ready to make the technology available for use in cloud platforms. I'd imagine we can expect web applications to suddenly get much more intelligent. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_nSX7uystw
Earth life may have started a billion years earlier | Machines Like Us
Provocative new research published this month in the journal Geology suggests that oceanic plate subduction was operating from the earliest times in Earth’s history, meaning conditions for the formation of life may have existed up to a billion years earlier than generally thought. via Earth life may have started a billion years earlier | Machines … Continue reading Earth life may have started a billion years earlier | Machines Like Us
Thoughts on the Nye-Ham creationism debate
The Bill Nye and Ken Ham debate happened, and by all accounts Nye wiped the floor with Ham. (I watched a few minutes of it, but I've been racing against deadlines all week and had to content myself with the post game write ups.) This doesn't really come as too much of a surprise to … Continue reading Thoughts on the Nye-Ham creationism debate
This View of Life: Why Sam Harris is Unlikely to Change his Mind
The New Atheist Sam Harris recently offered to pay $10,000 to anyone who can disprove his arguments about morality. Jonathan Haidt analyzes the nature of reasoning, and the ease with which reason becomes a servant of the passions. He bets $10,000 that Harris will not change his mind. via This View of Life: Why Sam … Continue reading This View of Life: Why Sam Harris is Unlikely to Change his Mind
Opinion: Real Tragedy of Taiji Is Our Inhumanity Toward Animals
Since the 1980s, when commercial whaling was finally banned worldwide, we've come to know a great deal more about the minds of marine mammals and many other animals. What we've learned suggests that, like the human animal, many other species, including all whales and dolphins studied to date, are thinking, emotional creatures, and are conscious. … Continue reading Opinion: Real Tragedy of Taiji Is Our Inhumanity Toward Animals
Existential comics: How philosophy gets made
I would have just shared this on Twitter, but it seemed relevant to our conversation on the 'Philosophy that ignores science' thread, that I decided to highlight on the blog. Click through to read the whole thing. via existentialcomics.com/comic/14
Skylon Spaceplane
On the post I made about the Dream Chaser spacecraft, Steve Morris called my attention to the Skylon Spaceplane. It takes off as a plane, but has an jet engine that can switch into rocket mode, allowing it to rocket into orbit. It reenters much as the shuttle did, but still has enough fuel to … Continue reading Skylon Spaceplane
As artificial intelligence grows, so do ethical concerns – SFGate
Now that Google is delving even deeper into artificial intelligence, the minds behind "Don't be evil" might face real questions of right and wrong. This week the Mountain View search titan snatched up DeepMind, which develops artificial intelligence software. The price tag and the specifics of the deal remain unclear, but Google will set up an … Continue reading As artificial intelligence grows, so do ethical concerns – SFGate
SelfAwarePatterns 