Pharyngula

Pharyngula: "about the nature of the universe, about our history, about how we function, and then we encounter a conflict: religion keeps giving us different answers. Very different answers. They can't all be right, and since no two religions give the same answers, but since science can generally converge on similar and consistent answers, I know which one is right. And that makes religion simply wrong."

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Religion, on the other hand, uses a different body of techniques to explain the nature of the universe. It uses tradition and dogma and authority and revelation, and a detailed legalistic analysis of source texts, to dictate what the nature of reality should be. It's always wrong, from an empirical perspective, although I do have to credit theologians with some of the most amazingly intricate logical exercises as they try to justify their conclusions. The end result of all of this kind of clever wankery, though, is that some people say the world is 6000 years old, that it was inundated with a global flood 4000 years ago, and other people say something completely different, and there is no way within the body of theology to resolve which answers are right. They have to step outside their narrow domain to get an independent confirmation — that is, they rely on science to give them the answers to the Big Questions in which they purport to have expertise.

Get By With a Little Help From Your Friends | Brain Blogger

Get By With a Little Help From Your Friends | Brain Blogger: "The closest thing that researchers have been able to identify as a single secret to happiness is successful relationships. High levels of intelligence, social aptitude, physical strength, or mental health mean very little in the pursuit of happiness. Positive relationships — with parents, siblings, spouses, children, friends, neighbors, and colleagues — as early as childhood are the most important predictors of happiness and success as we age. Largely, loving relationships and an appreciation for beauty positively predict life satisfaction."

The Philosophy of Science: Some Verifiable Rational Considerations of Reality

The Philosophy of Science: Some Verifiable Rational Considerations of Reality: "Edward O. Wilson, who describes science as the 'remarkable engine of testable learning',"

Why A Low Calorie Diet Extends Lifespans: Critical Enzyme Pair Identified

Why A Low Calorie Diet Extends Lifespans: Critical Enzyme Pair Identified: "To date, there are only three known genetic networks that ensure youthfulness when manipulated. One centers on the insulin/insulin growth factor-1, which regulates metabolism and growth; the second is driven by mitochondria, the cell's power plants; and the third is linked to diet restriction."

First Image of a Memory Being Made | LiveScience

First Image of a Memory Being Made | LiveScience: "One of the surprising revelations of the new study is that more regions of RNA, a protein-building instruction manual similar to DNA, are required to form the new proteins than previously thought."

Sun CTO douses own cloud in cold water • The Register

Sun CTO douses own cloud in cold water • The Register: "chief technology officer Greg Papadopoulos doubts enterprises will move their existing applications onto this or any other data center in the sky. But Amazon cloud prophet Werner Vogels disagrees.

'I'll pour a little bit of cloud water on this,' Papadopoulos said at the cloud-obsessed Structure 09 conference in San Francisco, California, on Thursday. 'It's generally really hard and expensive and often unwise to be moving your legacy pieces over into something new in computing like this, unless you can really demonstrate what the advantages are."

New chips don't deliver, Facebook says | ITworld

New chips don't deliver, Facebook says | ITworld: "'The biggest thing (that) surprised us is ... less-than-anticipated performance gains from new microarchitectures -- so, new CPUs from guys like Intel and AMD. The performance gains they're touting in the press, we're not seeing in our applications,"

Why Do Atheists Have to Talk About Atheism? | | AlterNet

Why Do Atheists Have to Talk About Atheism? | | AlterNet: "atheists see religion as a lot of things. But for many of us, religion is, above all else, a hypothesis about how the world works and why it is the way it is.

Obviously, we think it's a mistaken hypothesis: inconsistent with itself, inconsistent with reality, unsupported by any good evidence"

More on accomodationism : Thoughts from Kansas

More on accomodationism : Thoughts from Kansas: "nsofar as I’m an accommodationist, then, it’s not because I don’t see the incongruity between relying on faith, and looking for evidence, as bases for knowing. Rather, it’s because I know that many very intelligent people are struggling all the time to make their peace with this incongruity in their own way–a peace that works for them. And so long as they’re not messing with what our kids learn–or, again, trying to ram their views down our throats–then good on ‘em."

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The methods of ascertaining “truth” via faith are either revelation or acceptance of dogma. These methods have produced “truths” like a 6,000-year-old Earth and the Great Flood. Not a very good track record. In fact, I have yet to find a single truth about humans, Earth, or the universe that has come uniquely from faith.

Brain mechanisms of hypnotic paralysis : Neurophilosophy

Brain mechanisms of hypnotic paralysis : Neurophilosophy: "In the controls, feigning paralysis of the left hand led to increased activity in the right inferior frontal gyrus, which is known to be involved in motor inhibition. However, hypnotic paralysis did not cause increased activity in this area, and so it seems not to occur as a result of inhibition of motor planning."

The Theory of Abominable Befuddlement « The Sensuous Curmudgeon

The Theory of Abominable Befuddlement « The Sensuous Curmudgeon: "The continued existence of creationists among us can be cited as evidence against natural selection. Therefore, we must boldly acknowledge the Paradox of Creationism: Creationism exists; and if evolution can’t account for it, then what does?"
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The brain of a creationist is so scrambled that it cannot be the result of natural processes. The Theory of Abominable Befuddlement (AB) holds that certain features of the creationist brain are best explained by an Abominable Befuddler, and not by evolution. It follows as a corollary that ID is the work of AB.
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Using this creationist-approved method of investigation, a befuddlement theorist studies the output of creationists, and thus is able to determine whether it is the rational product of an evolved brain, or an example of befuddlement.

ScienceDirect - Applied Animal Behaviour Science : Survey of the use and outcome of confrontational and non-confrontational training methods in client-owned dogs showing undesired behaviors

ScienceDirect - Applied Animal Behaviour Science : Survey of the use and outcome of confrontational and non-confrontational training methods in client-owned dogs showing undesired behaviors: "Dogs presenting for aggression to familiar people were more likely to respond aggressively to the confrontational techniques “alpha roll” and yelling “no” compared to dogs with other presenting complaints (P < 0.001). In conclusion, confrontational methods applied by dog owners before their pets were presented for a behavior consultation were associated with aggressive responses in many cases."

10 Barbecue Restaurants Recommended By Bon Appetit - Travel Getaways News Story - WEWS Cleveland

10 Barbecue Restaurants Recommended By Bon Appetit - Travel Getaways News Story - WEWS Cleveland: "Stacy's Smokehouse BBQ in Phoenix at 1650 E. Indian School Road;"

Denim and Tweed: No room for group selection in disease evolution?

Denim and Tweed: No room for group selection in disease evolution?: "Charles Darwin originally proposed it to explain the evolution of human moral systems: in a tribal society, helping your neighbor might cost you, but it might still help your whole tribe to compete against other tribes. So natural selection on individuals within a tribe may act in one way, but be opposed by group selection arising from competition among tribes."

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trade-off between transmission and virulence [PDF]. Simply put, if it's easy for a disease-causing critter to spread through a host population, it tends to do more damage to its hosts; and if it is less easy to spread,
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Kin selection takes into account the effect of natural selection on not just the copies of an individual's genes within that individual's body, but also the copies borne by close relatives; if you're a parasite that reproduces inside your host, making more offspring also means making more competitors for your offspring, and thereby reducing the fitness of the genes that you share with the next generation. So, unless it's easy to disperse to new resources -- uninfected hosts -- natural selection can actually favor prudent reproduction by a parasite, which keeps the host alive longer.

Total knee replacements increase mobility and motor skills in older patients | Science Codex

Total knee replacements increase mobility and motor skills in older patients | Science Codex: "he study examined physical functioning and gauged outcomes in a national sample of Americans aged 65 and older for up to four years—a longer period than previous TKA studies. Relative to the untreated comparison group, recipients of total knee replacements experienced significant improvement in function, including a 17.5% increase in mobility, a 39.3% improvement in motor skills; and a 46.9% decrease in limitations in activities of daily living such as bathing and dressing oneself."

South Carolinians for Science Education

South Carolinians for Science Education:
"David Stanton interviewed Governor Mark Stanford on today’s Newswatch. Among questions on the economy and education, Stanton asked a question about Intelligent Design. The following is a transcript, typed as best as can, from the interview:

Newswatch – WIS – TV – January 29, 2006

Host: David Stanton
Guest: Gov. Mark Sanford

DS: What do you think about the idea of teaching alternatives to Darwin’s Theory of Evolution in public schools… for instance Intelligent Design.

MS: I have no problem with it.

DS: Do you think it should be done that way? Rather than just teaching Evolution?

MS: Well I think that it’s just, and science is more and more documenting this, is that there are real “chinks” in the armor of evolution being the only way we came about. The idea of their being a, you know, a little mud hole and two mosquitoes get together and the next thing you know you have a human being… is completely at odds with, you know, one of the laws of thermodynamics which is the law of, of.. in essence, destruction.

Whether you think about you bedroom and how messy it gets over time or you think about the decay in the building itself over time. Things don’t naturally order themselves towards"

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Ah yes, two mosquitoes in a mudhole. Another dumb creationist gets what his non-rational mind brings him-- Crying in Argentina, with his wife & family waiting for him on Father's Day. Got to love these wacko non-thinking types..

Sacks_Hirsch_Editorial.pdf (application/pdf Object)

Sacks_Hirsch_Editorial.pdf (application/pdf Object)
Harris et al. note that reactions of assent are significantly
prompter than those of dissent or uncertainty.
This they take to support “Spinoza’s conjecture that
the mere comprehension of a statement entails the tacit
acceptance of its being true,” an almost reflexive, if
provisional, assent, to be followed by a more deliberate
weighing and assessment. Human beings, in other
words, are wired to “accept appearances as reality until
they prove otherwise.” This seems to us to ring true.

TITLE nr | The Reason Project

TITLE nr | The Reason Project: "If I told you that I believed that the H5N1 virus will never become a pandemic, or that string theory will be fully vindicated in the near future, or that complex life first developed on Mars and was later transferred to earth, and I gave as my reason for holding these beliefs that each “makes me feel better,” I am confident that your response would not be this “seems a pretty good reason to me.” Don’t you see how bizarre it is to accept such shoddy thinking with respect to the existence of a personal God or the divine origin of a specific book? A person cannot (or least should not be able to) believe something because it “makes him feel better.”"

TITLE nr | The Reason Project

TITLE nr | The Reason Project: "Enter embryonic stem-cell research. Suddenly, this “life begins at the moment of conception” business becomes the chief impediment to medical progress. Who would have thought that such an innocuous idea could unnecessarily prolong the agony of tens of millions of people? This is the problem with dogmatism, no matter how seemingly benign: it is unresponsive to reality. Dogmatism is a failure of cognition (as well as a commitment to such failure); it is the state of being closed to new evidence and new arguments. And this frame of mind is rightly despised in every area of culture, on every subject, except where it goes by the name of “religious faith.” In this guise, parading its most grotesque faults as virtues, it is granted a special dispensation, even in the pages of Nature."

evolution of morals

http://www.bio.umass.edu/biology/podos/Lahti_Biopage/Publications/lahti&weinsteinEHB05.pdf
The better angels of our nature: group stability and the evolution of moral tension, BDavid C. Lahtia,*, Bret S. WeinsteinEvolution and Human Behavior 26 (2005) 47–63


Richard Alexander has shown that two related facts are key elements in an evolutionary
understanding of morality. First, humans bevolved to live in groups, within which they both
cooperate and compete and outside of which they presumably failed consistently.

good overview: http://www.utilitarian.net/singer/by/200510--.pdf