2 Incredible Miracles for Your Judgement

First up, an Islamic miracle.

Second, an American humanist miracle.

Was either a miracle? Which one was better?

I leave it to you.

Love Those Bonobos!

John Hawks blogs about a great article on Bonobos in the New Yorker. You can read the full article here.

One of the things Hawks quotes from the article is, "Captivity can have a striking impact on animal behavior. As Craig Stanford, a primatologist at the University of Southern California, recently put it, 'Stuck together, bored out of their minds -- what is there to do except eat and have sex?' "


Yes. It would be like a researcher looking into human behavior by studying prison populations. Not that you couldn't find out some important things from such research (many such studies have indeed been done), but it hardly gives you a handle on their true nature.


If you aren't particularly familiar with the Bonobo, they are a species of Chimpanzee, Pan Paniscus (also known as Pygmy Chimps, found in Central Africa). Pan Paniscus lives a strikingly different life style from their cousin Chimps (living in western Africa), the Pan troglodytes. These have always been thought of as our closest genetic relatives. They are, genetically, closer to us than they are to gorillas. They were thought to be only two species of Pan. Now there may be a third that makes a living partly by feasting on big cats!

PART 1 - Science Made Irresistible

This is one of the talks from the 2006 Beyond Belief Conference that I mentioned in an earlier post. If you are a Homo sapien you will get some goose-bumps while watching these. I hope.

Neil de Grasse Tyson explains why science, even for us non-scientists, can be a way toward fulfillment of our lives. For reasonable human beings, religion is fading as a way of making sense of all of this. I realize that in my lifetime there will be no "end of faith". But it has dimmed and will continue to do so. This is no reason to give up hope. Quite the contrary. Please enjoy.

PART 2 - Science Made Irresistible

PART 3 - Science Made Irresistible

I've Been Beaten - This Guy Disproves Evolution

I have to admit, he makes a great case. I'll be doing Google searches tonight and rethinking my position.

By the way, we've had day after day of 80 degree weather here in Southern California. I'm having doubts about Global Warming. Wonder if this guy has done any research...

Can Science DISPROVE God? NO! but...

Neil deGrasse Tyson and V.S. Ramachandran respond to a question from a guy from the Templeton Foundation, "what scientific evidence can you point to that there is no personal god"? This is from the 2006 Beyond Belief Conference held in San Diego. I will be posting other clips from this great conference in the future. Additionally, there will soon be a 2007 conference to look forward to.

deGrasse Tyson's two talks are must-see for anyone who needs to be convinced on the absolute wonder of science. He can be seen on the regularly running PBS series, Nova Science Now.

Faith Exposed

Derren Brown - Messiah

Here in Part One of Messiah, Derren Brown attempts to convince pyschics of his own pyschic abilities in an effort to gain their endorsement. Read about Derren and the "Messiah" program here -

http://www.derrenbrown.co.uk/news/messiah

You Like My Big Red "A"?

Right there, on the upper right!

It means that I have "come out" as an atheist. Actually, I did that about 35 years ago and have never been shy about it. I don't make a big deal about it, but I've certainly made it clear here on the blog and in my personal life as well. If someone asks, I don't hedge with "I don't really believe anything", I just say I'm an atheist. If they want to know more, I tell them. If they want to convert me, I tell them even more. For me it's as simple as rejecting all supernatural.

I'm not sure where the campaign started; whether it was with PZ Myers at his blog Pharyngula or if it started over at the Richard Dawkins site, but you can read words of encouragement regarding it from both of them by clicking on the links.

For me, I just like the idea of being in solidarity with a lot of bloggers who really do put their careers and sometimes even their lives on the line by declaring that they are atheists. That's a good enough reason for me to proudly sport the Scarlet Letter. I don't think I'll be getting the T-shirt though.

Revolt By Reading!

This could have actually been an “end note” to my previous entry. First is a list of extremely interesting books that I have read in the past few years. There isn’t a one of them that I wouldn’t recommend if it is in a subject you are interested in. All of them are accessible to lay readers, though some are more esoteric than others (Dawkins' "The Extended Phenotype" comes to mind. I really struggled with that one, though it was worth the effort). The second is simply my running list of books that I have targeted for future reading. Rather than linking them all I’ll just let anyone interested cut and paste the title into Amazon.com. I have indicated books that I particularly enjoyed and learned from with “++”.

Books on science and related topics that I have read in recent years:

Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature, Matt Ridley
The Assault on Reason, Al Gore
The Demon Haunted World, Carl Sagan
A Short History of Nearly Everything, Bill Bryson ++
The Weather Makers, Tim Flannery ++
Our Final Hour, Martin Rees
A Devils Chaplin, Richard Dawkins++
The End of Faith, Sam Harris
Sweet Dreams: Obstacles to a Science of Consciousness, Daniel Dennett
Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge, E.O. Wilson
The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature, Steven Pinker ++
The Blind Watchmaker: Richard Dawkins
On Human Nature, E.O. Wilson ++
The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins
The Age of Mammals, Donald Prothero
Unweaving the Rainbow, Richard Dawkins
Darwin’s Dangerous Idea, Dan Dennett ++
Why Darwin Matters, Michael Shermer
Genome, Matt Ridley
The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins ++
Darwin – The Power of Place, Janet Browne
Darwin – Voyaging, Janet Browne
The Extended Phenotype, Richard Dawkins
Smithsonian Intimate Guide to Human Origins, Carl Zimmer
River Out of Eden, Richard Dawkins
Missing Links, Robert Martin
His Brother’s Keeper, Jonathan Weiner
Origin of Species, Charles Darwin ++
The Ancestors Tale, Richard Dawkins ++
The Great Influenza, John Barry

Some that I intend to get to: Phantoms in the Brain: Probing the Mysteries of the Human Mind, V.S. Ramachandran
(Reading now)

The Diversity of Life, E.O. Wilson
Climbing Mt. Improbable, Richard Dawkins
Intelligent Thought, John Brockman
Breaking the Spell, Dan Dennett
Next Of Kin, Roger Fouts
Facing Up: Science and Its Cultural Adversaries, Steven Weinberg Death by Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries, Neil deGrasse Tyson
Hiding in the Mirror: The Quest for Alternate Realities, Lawrence Krauss
Primate and Human Evolution, Susan Cachel
After Eden: The Evolution of Human Domination, Kirkpatrick Sale

The Making of the Fittest, Sean Carroll

It’s summer – grab a couple and do some reading. I'm not suggesting my reading ideas are the best. If you don't care for science or even any non-fiction, then get a couple of good works of fiction. Just read. Television is ruining us. Revolt by Reading!