rabble rabble Republican fearmongering rabble TSA rabble rabble rabble THE TERRORISTS HAVE WON.
You know the spiel. Fortunately for you, I have a presentation tomorrow I need to prepare for, so I'll spare you the rehash.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Easter eggs redubbed "spring spheres"
While the school administration's solution is clearly ridiculous, they're right at a very simple and fundamental level: religious ritual has no place in public schools. As innocuous as it might seem to the 25 Christian kids in the class, little Avi and little Ibrahim are going to feel pretty out of place in the corner, wondering silently to themselves what's wrong with them.
Anthony Kiedes shoots down gLee
Anthony Kiedis, frontman for Red Hot Chili Peppers, is refusing to let Glee sterilize RHCP songs with their antiseptic pantomime of real art. Kiedis says "It just seems emotionally displaced".
Integrity.
Integrity.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
When real life is so awesome, it looks fake
A rocket breaks the sound barrier in a cloud of ice crystals. Fast-forward to 1:50 if you're impatient.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Monday, April 4, 2011
Read this article in his voice
Morgan Freeman opposes the idea of Black History Month. He "notes there is no 'white history month', and says the only way to get rid of racism is to 'stop talking about it'"
He also flies planes, if that wasn't cool enough.
He also flies planes, if that wasn't cool enough.
Random Thoughts I
I've found that if a person is prone to accusing others of X, then that person is probably guilty of X on a regular basis.
Of course, by that logic, I've just proven myself a hypocrite*. Which is true!
QED
*and also bad at logic
Of course, by that logic, I've just proven myself a hypocrite*. Which is true!
QED
*and also bad at logic
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Order and Chaos
If you've ever heard me spouting off excitedly about fractals, this is what I was talking about! Besides the beautiful image, make sure you read the caption.
Cognitive neuroscience and the wrong perspective
The position of cognitive neuroscience today is to watch this video and conclude that the school of fish has a mechanism for drawing circles around sharks.
Saying that the brain has evolved a mechanism for performing some particular cognitive function is missing the same point: such functions emerge from the interactions of millions of tiny interacting elements. These functions persist, phylogenetically speaking, because they serve an adaptive purpose. Cognitive neuroscience has fallen into the bad habit of starting with macroscopic function and seeking the mechanism, when we should be starting with the microscopic mechanisms and seeing what they can do on a global scale.
Edit: I just read about what John Dewey (1894) called the psychologist's fallacy: "to confuse the standpoint of the observer and explainer with that of the fact observed". Couldn't have said it better myself.
Powerful Piece on Senseless Murder
PZ Myers' latest post is an immensely powerful invective against senseless murder. It's an uncompromising condemnation of last week's attack at a UN compound in Afghanistan, and of murder in general. Be forewarned, this is harrowing material - it will alter your mood and make you want to write, or just think.
I don't fully agree with his black and white stance on taking human life (see the 2nd-to-last paragraph of the essay), but to his credit, Myers acknowledges his position at the far left of this particular moral spectrum.
Incidentally, this is a good blog that I read regularly (and occasionally reblog here). His posts are full of vitriol, usually against religious institutions causing more harm than good in this country and around the world. I don't share his staunch hatred for religion (my problem is more with the institutions that propagate it, but that's a topic for another day), nor his contempt for the pious. Still, he usually comes down on the right side of an issue, and what he lacks in tact he makes up for with a powerful command of the language.
I don't fully agree with his black and white stance on taking human life (see the 2nd-to-last paragraph of the essay), but to his credit, Myers acknowledges his position at the far left of this particular moral spectrum.
Incidentally, this is a good blog that I read regularly (and occasionally reblog here). His posts are full of vitriol, usually against religious institutions causing more harm than good in this country and around the world. I don't share his staunch hatred for religion (my problem is more with the institutions that propagate it, but that's a topic for another day), nor his contempt for the pious. Still, he usually comes down on the right side of an issue, and what he lacks in tact he makes up for with a powerful command of the language.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Daily Hate V: Special GOP Edition
Today's Daily Hate is dedicated to recent concerted efforts by the Grand Old Party to undermine scientific thinking, destroy the economy, and undermine the quality of life for disabled citizens.
- A Tennessee bill to protect teachers who question established scientific facts - the bill specifically mentions global warming and evolutionary theory - has passed the Tennessee House Education Committee and will now go before the House itself. Although the bill, as worded, sounds like a good idea (who wouldn't want to promote critical thinking?), it's pretty clear how it would be used - to protect individual teachers pushing dangerous agendas. Otherwise, it wouldn't be necessary.
- A proposed Constitutional amendment, limiting government spending to 18% of the GDP, seems too irresponsible to be true.
- Florida Governor Rick Scott (you know, the one who defrauded the government out of millions as CEO of a chain of for-profit hospitals) has cut the spending power of the Agency for Persons with Disabilities by 15%. The agency helps some 30,000 Floridians survive with such debilitating conditions as cerebral palsy.
Friday, April 1, 2011
The effect of fear on beliefs
A new study in PLoS ONE shows that irrational beliefs are susceptible to clever manipulations of one's existential fears. The results are very cool, but sure to be controversial (if anyone notices).
Abstract:
The present research examined the psychological motives underlying widespread support for intelligent design theory (IDT), a purportedly scientific theory that lacks any scientific evidence; and antagonism toward evolutionary theory (ET), a theory supported by a large body of scientific evidence. We tested whether these attitudes are influenced by IDT's provision of an explanation of life's origins that better addresses existential concerns than ET. In four studies, existential threat (induced via reminders of participants' own mortality) increased acceptance of IDT and/or rejection of ET, regardless of participants' religion, religiosity, educational background, or preexisting attitude toward evolution. Effects were reversed by teaching participants that naturalism can be a source of existential meaning (Study 4), and among natural-science students for whom ET may already provide existential meaning (Study 5). These reversals suggest that the effect of heightened mortality awareness on attitudes toward ET and IDT is due to a desire to find greater meaning and purpose in science when existential threats are activated.
Death and Science: The Existential Underpinnings of Belief in Intelligent Design and Discomfort with Evolution
Citation: Tracy JL, Hart J, Martens JP (2011) Death and Science: The Existential Underpinnings of Belief in Intelligent Design and Discomfort with Evolution. PLoS ONE 6(3): e17349. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0017349
Abstract:
The present research examined the psychological motives underlying widespread support for intelligent design theory (IDT), a purportedly scientific theory that lacks any scientific evidence; and antagonism toward evolutionary theory (ET), a theory supported by a large body of scientific evidence. We tested whether these attitudes are influenced by IDT's provision of an explanation of life's origins that better addresses existential concerns than ET. In four studies, existential threat (induced via reminders of participants' own mortality) increased acceptance of IDT and/or rejection of ET, regardless of participants' religion, religiosity, educational background, or preexisting attitude toward evolution. Effects were reversed by teaching participants that naturalism can be a source of existential meaning (Study 4), and among natural-science students for whom ET may already provide existential meaning (Study 5). These reversals suggest that the effect of heightened mortality awareness on attitudes toward ET and IDT is due to a desire to find greater meaning and purpose in science when existential threats are activated.
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