John Schellenberg has an article up on Aeon noting that, while we seem to have no problem accepting deep time in the past, there isn't much discussion of deep future, that is, the future millions or billions of years in the future. It's an interesting article (aside from an unfortunate plea for us to take Thomas … Continue reading Deep history, and deep future?
Neptune’s Brood, a review
This is a review of Charlie Stross's science fiction novel, 'Neptune's Brood'. It's a sequel of sorts to another book of his that I reviewed a couple of weeks ago, 'Saturn's Children'. Both of these books envisage a post-human robotic civilization. (In both books, the robots have very human like personas, having been modeled after … Continue reading Neptune’s Brood, a review
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
The foundations of morality
Last week, I made a post on the fact that we have desires, urges, impulses, motivations, that are inherently not rooted in reason or logic, that while reason and logic are extremely useful, they are tools of these desires, these instincts. And that while reason can have an effect on how we resolve conflicts between … Continue reading The foundations of morality
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
SelfAwarePatterns 