science

I recently read a Popular Mechanics article, "How The Blowout Happened" (October 2010), which described the events culminating in the destruction of BP's Deepwater Horizon oil rig. It also listed this disaster amongst others (Chernobyl, Challenger, Three Mile Island) as a Black Swan event. Black...

If you're looking for something interesting to watch on a Sunday, may I recommend the following: BBC: The End of God?: A Horizon Guide to Science and Religion Enjoy! :)

The UK BBC4 channel has what looks like an interesting programme tonight: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tw1tl I'll be recording it. It doesn't seem to be available via the Web, unfortunately.

So, I have never had a good time with philosophy. The first real philosophical work that I tried to read was Nietzsche's Also Sprach Zarathustra when I was 16, and I gave up reading it very soon after I gave up trying to understand it. I stayed away from philosophy for a few years, preferring...

Ever since I started running more than 3 miles at a time (up to 13 miles!) I've started to lose weight very quickly. I was never really overweight, but the difference is noticeable. Another thing I noticed is that certain areas with fat deposits were previously hard, and now they are soft. In...

For some reason I decided to muse/rant on religion which is going to focus quite a lot on science, I think, just because I felt like it, and I wouldn't be surprised if this got no views. Why would the other Atheists here care? I'm not religious, so it's something they've probably heard before...

This speech just made my day: http://edition.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/04/13/specter.denying.science/ Generally, it's about the benefits of Science, what Science has done for us, and what it needs to be doing. It covers denialism of vaccines, irrational fears about GM foods, and the futility of...

I have been debating with science minded atheists for a number of years now and I think I have a pretty good grasp on their methodology. It is more often than not assumed that the Bible can't possibly be anything other than a collection of primitive mythology, legend and superstition because it...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hj9oB4zpHww This is Sam Harris at TED. Can science answer moral questions? Does Sam Harris even answer that question in this talk? What do you think?

The Financial Times reports: Full article: Link

I have often heard this "argument" that science is something that we just chose to believe; and it's just as much of a faith as religion. I'm sure you've heard it too. How do you deal with it? I get so annoyed at that "argument" that I usually get rude and sarcastic. But I wanted to know how I...

I've recently had some very strong debates about acupuncture. First off, I'm not totally convinced it isn't real but that is the way I'm leaning. I find when I take the skeptical position, people get very angry! More so than if I was debating gods existing. Acupuncture seems to be more accepted...

My two favorite science books are Genesis:The Scientific Quest for Life's Origins by Robert Hazen This does an amazing job explaining various experiments scientists have done to try to figure out the origin of life. It explains how the knowledge is gained, not just the theories. It is...

Reading between the lines, my impression is that Stephen Hawking doesn't really expect the experiment to fail, rather, he wants to illustrate that he won't be disappointed if it does. I have a feeling that this "bet" is intended to highlight an important aspect of science, and it's my...

Hi all, I've been reading these forums for a while now and decided to make a post to get a question I've been wondering about some time anwsered I couldn't find any real reference to it using the search engine, but if it has been brought up before I'm sure someone will inform me. I'm afraid...

Let us assume, for the time being, that uncontroversial evidence was found, for an Intelligent Designer. Maybe we discovered the original blue-prints of various life forms, and the labs they were created in. Maybe something even more dramatic than that: Actual communications with the Designer...

Has anyone read "Fingerprints of God" by Barbara Bradley Hagerty. She apparently looks at spirituality from the scientific point of view (just read a review but not the book). It sounds like in the end she becomes attached to some kind of theism. Some of the reviews I've read have been good...

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/110442/WORLD-EXCLUSIVE-NASA-finds-missing-moon-landing-tapes Pretty cool stuff.

I was talking to an acquantance of mine the other day and she was about to use some 'rescue remedy' (we were taking a test). I made some comment about how it was some sort of quack medicine (I think I said that she should talk to someone else in the club who's also into "wacko 'remedies'") She...

I have been trying to sharpen my concept of the problem of allowing legitimate scientific debate and dissenting opinions vs what to do or how to address the problem of a scientific debate when the debaters are presenting lies and distortions such as the antiscience opinions that have become...

Not sure if this has been covered yet or not, but it seems Merck has been caught giving itself favorable coverage in its own phony and supposedly peer-reviewed medical journal. http://blog.bioethics.net/2009/05/merck-makes-phony-peerreview-journal/

I set the context with the following exchange of opinions from the "Lambda-CDM theory - Woo or not?" thread. However, as we can see, the comments in fact have a wide ranging effect on what we can consider to be "scientific". So what we have here is a contest between "observation" and...

Hi, I invite you to discuss my physical and scientific definition of the state of consciousness, which is : Consciousness is the state in which an entity is recalling any aspect of its prior state. Note that, recalling and memorizing happen unconsciously, which means: An entity that is...

W00T!!! :D Split vote upholds Texas education board ruling to ax evolution 'strengths and weaknesses' rule We aren't out of the woods just yet. The NCSE is reporting that some creationist legislators might attempt a backdoor maneuver - more detail on that here - but this does look like a big...

OK, I admit up front to some poetic license with the thread title, so I hope folks don't get too focused on that, but here's the thing.... Consider some of the great issues of our time: Climate change Energy Environmental degradation Nuclear power and weapons The global economy Stem cell...

I’m not necessarily taking this poster seriously but it was thought provoking and it looked like it would be a fun question to throw out. So did Christianity have a serious impact on scientific advancements or were other influences like invading barbarians the real culprit?

There is no disagreement science cannot look for gods that exist outside of the Universe so we can dismiss that issue up front. I propose looking at the problem of testing for gods in a different way. I'm having a unsatisfying discussion with one person on the SWIFT blog so I thought I'd open...

Science flies you to the moon. Religion flies you into buildings. Wrong at so many levels but very appealing. The tactics of the religious with emotional impact. Is this fighting fire with fire or stooping to their level?

One of my favorite science bloggers, Dr. Steven Novella, is going toe-to-toe with one of the Disco Institute's Fellows, Dr. Michael Egnor, concerning neuroscience. In this latest blog entry, Egnor puts on display one of the new rhetorical tactics being used by creationists - calling evolution...

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