AI atheism blogging Capital capitalism Chinese Room connectivism consciousness CritLit2010 crtc curriculum revision distraction downes environment evolution flickr hitchens Inheritance internet safety intro iran myth mythical myths net neutrality networking nuclear power obama OER open data personal learning philosophy physics police privacy quantum mechanics race skeptics sustainable energy taxes TIMSS trig UBI usage-based billing Village Green wncp
- October 2024
- August 2024
- July 2024
- June 2024
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- November 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- June 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- July 2019
- June 2019
- May 2019
- January 2019
- December 2018
- August 2018
- May 2018
- January 2018
- December 2017
- November 2017
- September 2017
- August 2017
- June 2017
- May 2017
- April 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- August 2016
- May 2016
- March 2016
- February 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- October 2015
- September 2015
- June 2015
- April 2015
- March 2015
- February 2015
- January 2015
- December 2014
- November 2014
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014
- July 2014
- June 2014
- May 2014
- April 2014
- March 2014
- February 2014
- January 2014
- December 2013
- November 2013
- October 2013
- September 2013
- July 2013
- June 2013
- May 2013
- April 2013
- March 2013
- February 2013
- January 2013
- December 2012
- November 2012
- October 2012
- September 2012
- August 2012
- July 2012
- June 2012
- May 2012
- April 2012
- March 2012
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- November 2007
- October 2007
- September 2007
- August 2007
- July 2007
- June 2007
- May 2007
- April 2007
- March 2007
- February 2007
- January 2007
- December 2006
- November 2006
- October 2006
- September 2006
- August 2006
- July 2006
- June 2006
- May 2006
- April 2006
- March 2006
- February 2006
- January 2006
- December 2005
- November 2005
- October 2005
- September 2005
- August 2005
- July 2005
- June 2005
- May 2005
-
Category Archives: biology
Why do people say race isn’t real?
People who say “race isn’t real” do so because they are so unbelievably lazy that they are prepared to just spout a manifestly silly slogan rather than do the work of explaining what racists get wrong. They do this even … Continue reading
Moral Realism
Sean Carroll has taken issue with Richard Carrier over the latter’s position on Moral Realism. On reading Carrier I think that his real point is (or should be) that realism and relativism are not in conflict. Moral values, like the economic … Continue reading
Algorithmic Babies and the Chinese Room
I commented at Stephen Downes’ website on Patricia Kuhl’s TED talk about “The Linguistic Genius of Babies”. My quibble was less with the content than with the sentimentalized headline, because, although the babies’ brains do appear to implement a sophisticated … Continue reading
Defining Evolution
When I read the title of this piece (Theologians Lobby Successfully to Change Definition of Evolution | Cosmic Variance | Discover Magazine)I was prepared to get angry. But instead I am embarrassed on behalf of those who are complaining about … Continue reading
Posted in evolution, religion
Leave a comment
“The Belief Instinct”
Jesse Bering’s “The Belief Instinct” is described as an exploration of possible sources of religion in cognitive tendencies towards a sense of being observed even when we have no evidence for it. To support this idea he reportedly both cites … Continue reading
Posted in evolution, psychology, religion
Leave a comment
Mythical Myths #3 – The Concept of Race
Oh damn! I had no particular wish to address this until browsing led me by chance to RACE – The Power of an Illusion at PBS where a bunch of well intentioned people are discrediting anti-racism by associating it with a … Continue reading
The Chinese Room
Stephen Downes links to this notice about three free Philosophy courses from John Searle who is famous for his Chinese Room thought experiment. Now Searle may be a great teacher, and the ‘Chinese Room’ may be a useful paedagogical device, … Continue reading
The Inheritors of What?
A new book by Eric Kaufmann entitled Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth?: Demography and Politics in the Twenty-First Century is
Posted in biology, religion, sustainability
Leave a comment
Data Sharing Speeds Research
An article in the NYTimes (coming to me via Michael Geist) reports progress in Alzheimer’s research coming as a result of researchers adopting the principle of open data.
Selfish Altruism
‘Psychological Altruism’ is just a special case of ‘Biological Altruism’ and the “gene” for either is the most selfish of all. Of course the concept of genes for actual characteristics all being in one-to-one correspondence with discrete sequences of DNA … Continue reading
Posted in evolution, psychology, religion
Tagged altruism, evolution, genetics, PhilosophyTalk
Leave a comment
Brain Scans as Lie Detectors
BBC News – Brain scans being misused as lie detectors, experts say. And of course those who claim to interpret the scans will also call themselves experts. (Which leads us off to another conversation entirely) I am troubled by the … Continue reading
Posted in psychology, social issues, technical issues
Leave a comment
Getting Smarter
This article shares some of my own reaction to the “internet is making us dumber” nonsense, as well as commenting on other possible sources of increasing global intelligence.
Is Mental Causation a Problem?
Stephen Downes points to this review by Sara Worley in NotreDame Philosophical Review of the book ‘Mental Causation’ by Anthony Dardis, and he (Stephen) concludes with this: “The main takeaway? This nice neat picture of ‘A causes B’ is deeply … Continue reading
Posted in psychology
2 Comments
I Google, therefore I Don’t Think
My friend Gerry Pareja sent this article by John Naughton from The Observer, responding (I think very well) to Nicholas Carr’s ‘Is Google Making Us Stupid?‘ in The Atlantic, but I can’t say that its arrival is what distracted me … Continue reading
Posted in education, literature, psychology, web
Leave a comment
Hedonic Man
Hedonic Man is the title of a review by Alan Wolfe of two books on the “new economics”. Like Wolfe (and probably countless others) I am sure that the science of economics is sorely lacking, but also like him I … Continue reading
Posted in economics, politics, psychology
Leave a comment
Gates on Watson on Race
The Science of Racism is an odd title for an article in which Henry Louis Gates identifies James Watson’s view as something he calls “racialist” and distinct from “racist”.
Posted in biology, social issues
Leave a comment
The Hyberbolic Crochet Coral Reef Project
“Holding theorems in their hands” is a blog post about the Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef Project. It’s a wonderful story about collaboration on many levels and across many interest groups – and with beautiful images to boot. I saw it … Continue reading
Posted in arts and culture, biology, mathematics
Leave a comment
Eggheads – The Boston Globe
Eggheads – The Boston Globe Ravens and octopi both give me hope for the future of intelligence on this planet.
Posted in biology
Leave a comment
Leaning Tower Illusion
My friend Gerry Pareja forwarded a link to this story from ‘Improbable Research’ about the first prize winner in the Neural Correlate Society’s 2007 Illusion of the Year contest. The image certainly is pretty cool. But to test the explanation … Continue reading
Posted in arts and culture, photography, psychology
Leave a comment