HBO will make a Foundation TV series

IO9 has the details.  Apparently Jonathan Nolan, of 'Interstellar' fame, is involved. I'm not sure how I feel about this.  The Foundation series, by Isaac Asimov, is classic golden age science fiction.  It's one of those works that has influenced lots of other science fiction, with many common tropes originating from it.  Galactic empires?  Foundation. … Continue reading HBO will make a Foundation TV series →

The (ongoing) evolution of evolutionary theory

Massimo weighs in on a debate that I'm increasingly starting to view as semantic.  Everyone seems to agree on the actual science, but disagrees whether or not it should be categorized as a new era of evolutionary theory.  Massimo admits in this post that the new proposed paradigm is essentially a super-set of the current one. … Continue reading The (ongoing) evolution of evolutionary theory →

The decline of religion in western societies

Huffington Post UK has published the results of a survey showing that half of Britain thinks religion does more harm than good, and that you don't need it to be a good person.  This seems to be a trend in Europe that was started in the Scandinavian countries.  It's in contrast to the United States, … Continue reading The decline of religion in western societies →

E.O. Wilson: Science, not philosophy, will explain the meaning of existence

Well, in remarks that I'm pretty sure are guaranteed to rile up philosophers, E.O. Wilson, who apparently has a new book out on the meaning of human existence, disses both philosophy and religion, saying that scientists will provide the meaning of of existence. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lx26k8LTCdI I can agree with a lot of what Wilson says in … Continue reading E.O. Wilson: Science, not philosophy, will explain the meaning of existence →

The blogging experience at one year

One year ago today, I published my first post on this blog: Patterns who have achieved consciousness.  It wasn't actually the very first post I wrote.  I had just written one on mind uploading, but wanted the blog's first post to reference its title. My immediate motivations for starting this blog was frustration with heavy handed but … Continue reading The blogging experience at one year →

The movie ‘Interstellar’ and wormholes

The other day, I did a post on interstellar exploration which linked to one by Sten Odenwald on the problems with interstellar travel.  Well, he posted some follow-up remarks, expressing some surprise at the response, doubling down on the aspects of the limitations of interstellar travel he identified, and urging people to be optimistically realistic.  (I predict he'll get … Continue reading The movie ‘Interstellar’ and wormholes →

Half the stars in the universe may exist outside of galaxies

Every so often you get a reminder of how little we know about the universe: Rogue stars outside galaxies may be everywhere | Science/AAAS | News. You’ve heard of rogue planets, floating through the universe untethered to any solar system. Now meet rogue stars, which drift through space with no galaxy to call home. A new … Continue reading Half the stars in the universe may exist outside of galaxies →

Is the human species still evolving? Of course.

It looks like Bill Nye, the science guy, is coming out with a new book on evolution, with an excerpt at Popular Science: Is The Human Species Still Evolving? | Popular Science. We cannot step away from evolution. Our genomes are always collecting mutations, and we are always making mate selections. Are humans preferentially mating with … Continue reading Is the human species still evolving? Of course. →