1. Do subatomic particles have free will?

Comment #231886 by snoov on August 17, 2008 at 9:18 am

If we follow the evidence where it leads,it seems to me that we don't have free will.

All our actions are produced by our genes and out experience.

2. An Irishman's Diary

Comment #208854 by snoov on July 11, 2008 at 10:06 am

yup

takea word like 'suicide'which used to have a quite noble meaning

not now

3. Origin of the Novel Species Noodleous doubleous: Evidence for Intelligent Design

Comment #205496 by snoov on July 7, 2008 at 11:25 am

'substantially the same'

giggled my ass of at that

although maybe people do say that, do they?

4. Rapture site sends unbelievers their last chance ... via email

Comment #195459 by snoov on June 18, 2008 at 9:08 am

For anyone who's interested, there's a good book about exactly this scam. An atheist buys a church and turns it into a metaphysical betting shop. You bet, say that you are the only person that has a direct link to god (in the case of the pope who turns out to be a heavy bet merchant). Eventually religion is on it's knees and the hero is feeding and educating everyone! And all the names or the characters are taken from the staff of some bank somewhere.

It's by Bo Fowler who writes like Vonnegut or PK Dick and it's called Scepticism Inc.

5. 85% of Americans Want a Presidential Debate on Science

Comment #180335 by snoov on May 14, 2008 at 3:53 pm

I think there's a problem with the question.

If 'personal'was substituted with 'christian' i'd bet the results would be different.

6. The Stupidity of Dignity

Comment #178979 by snoov on May 12, 2008 at 10:34 am

"(for example, the article by Kass claims that respect for human life is rooted in Genesis 9:6, in which God instructs the survivors of his Flood in the code of vendetta: "Whoso sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God was man made")"

What happens to the man who kills the first man? Surely this leads to an infinite regress, and we'd all be dead.

7. Gunk in T. Rex Fossil Confirms Dino-Bird Lineage

Comment #172226 by snoov on April 29, 2008 at 11:08 am

Maybe a simple analogy could be about dogs being decended from wolves. The assuption I am making, possibly in error, is that all pet dogs are decended from wolves. If that is the case then there are many breeds of dogs (like apes), but there are still wolves.

If all dogs are not decended (through human selection which seems to me to be almost the same as natural selection) from wolves, then a great number of them are.

We all have a grandmother or grandfather way back in our family tree that may not be like any extant ape but it is also the grandparent of all apes, monkeys and if you went far back enough every living organism so far found in the universe.

It's awesome.

Recently I saw a feature about a new breed of pig, bred for friendlyness, which is evolution to my mind. The environmental factors being natural agents who decide which individuals are to be reproductively successful.

8. Gunk in T. Rex Fossil Confirms Dino-Bird Lineage

Comment #169198 by snoov on April 25, 2008 at 3:47 pm

Ahem, surely an ancestor of T rex is alsoone of its decendents.

Maybe modern birds and T rex share a common ancestor, if not then the only way they can be linked would be if birds were indeed decended from T rex.

It's the first one.

EDIT

I am a dope :(

Got a bit mixed up.

Now I get it, some creature, has loads of decendents, including modern birds and T rex.

Doh

It's a great example of how getting something wrong and realising it helps one (me) understand something better. Off topic rhetorical - still havin trouble with relativity re if i'm moving towards a light source how come the light is still reaching me at the speed of light and not at c my speed? the wavelength changes ...

9. Potentially Habitable Planets Are Common, Study Says

Comment #129588 by snoov on February 19, 2008 at 10:52 am

All.

I agree with steve when he says something like what Paul Davies writes in 'Are we Alone?', that if we are to be taken as an example, there could be many many intelligent beings out there listening to nobody transmitting!

What I want to know is, how far away are these planets, how long does the light we see take to reach us and what is the probability of a mode of communication that can deal with these distances?

Is it not the case that light from our own sun takes between 3 and 4 minutes? Proxima Centauri is 4.3 light-years from the Sun, so at light speed a conversation is hard. I don't know if there is any way of doing it faster but both parties would have to share the method - I think so - would that mean someone would have to make the trip' deliver the technology?

I seems unlikely.

10. Stem cell breakthrough

Comment #90590 by snoov on November 25, 2007 at 5:17 pm

It may have been the case that stem cell research has been hindered or slowed by religious folks, but isn't it the case that these new discoveries might not have happened without them?

Just wondering ...