Thursday, October 23, 2008

Science during this momentous election

For the 3rd year I'm blogging about the 3rd annual Beyond Belief conference, this one subtitled "Science as a Candle in the Dark", which undoubtedly many of you will recognize as a Carl Sagan catch-phrase. Indeed, the idea and Sagan are paid tribute.

This is an extraordinary moment to consider the critical role of science in a reason-based society and the amount of emphasis we are going to choose to give it as we move forward towards - wherever we end up.

While I wouldn't expect anyone reading my blog to go to the Beyond Belief site and watch every talk presented by some of our brightest minds, it would be a good idea to go there, read a little about each of the talks and see which one(s) appeal to you the most and give it your attention for a half hour.

For instance, I could make some of the following recommendations:

For the Exterminator, how about Naomi Oreski's and "This is Your Brain on Politics"? For The Chaplain, I have a sure-fire 40 minute fixation on Sam Harris doing "This is Your Brain on Morality"! And for Spanish Inquisitor, V.S. Ramachandran and "Human Flourishing".

Anyway, stop by and enjoy some of the Beyond Belief conference. Your sure to find something there that will inspire and inform.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

40 minutes! As cute as Sam Harris is, I hate watching internet videos that last any more 5 minutes. I get impatient with all the stopping, buffering and restarting that internet videos do. Is there a transcript? I can read a lot faster than Harris can talk - unless he's an auctioneer. ;)