1. Good News: Both our Foundations are now Officially Recognized as Charities

Comment #70262 by NotWithoutMyMonkey on September 14, 2007 at 3:46 pm

Funny, I'd just commented on charitable giving in the discussion below this one. Perhaps this might be a third to add to my list along with Medecins Sans Frontieres and WSPA.

2. A Response to Jonathan Haidt

Comment #70258 by NotWithoutMyMonkey on September 14, 2007 at 3:38 pm

Really we shouldn't dismiss outright any study which claims the religiously inclined tend to be more charitable. Rather as the critical thinkers we atheists are meant to be, we should weigh this study against all other available evidence. The willingness for some here to derisively dismiss this study concerns me a little. For all our claims to upholding the virtue of critical thought, perhaps we need to be more willing to be self critical? If it turns out that the study has some validity then perhaps it's time to ask ourselves whether we can contribute more to the welfare of others and the planet.

I formerly donated to two secular charities - Medecens Sans Frontieres and WSPA. After moving country and changing jobs I let them lapse. Perhaps now that I'm stable again, I should reconsider.

3. Artificial Intelligence, With Help From the Humans

Comment #29142 by NotWithoutMyMonkey on April 1, 2007 at 9:27 pm

I'm not an expert on neuroscience but you know all for this talk about the limitations of the naturally evolved human brain when stacked up against the inevitability of Moore's Law (raw computing power outstripping the capabilities of the human brain), the fact is we haven't even begun to tap the brain's inherent potential (and incidentally for all the almost religious certitude expressed by some here I remain skeptical that an exponential growth in raw computing power will ever be enough to reach some theorized mininal requirement for artificial intelligence without some fundamental paradigm shift - who is to say that these future computing systems however powerful in raw number crunching capability will necessarily be intelligent in any meaningful sense?

Considering the untapped potential of the human brain I stumbled across this pertinent documentary. Some of you may well know the subject:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3372301236664593143

As alluded to in this documentary it's theorised that in cases such as this increased cross-talk between regions of the brain dedicated to certain functions occurs - far more than within in a 'normal' brain. So this capacity is dormant within each and every one of us imagine what would be possible if we could replicate this in a controlled way within ourselves upon understanding what exactly is happening here?

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The likes of Kurzweil forget one important thing. The motivation behind change and improvement in our society should always be human-centric (it should serve humanity foremost). To advocate that humans must radically alter or adapt to their creations in order to compete or even survive is absurd and abhorent.

4. The questions science cannot answer

Comment #21598 by NotWithoutMyMonkey on February 10, 2007 at 3:57 am

If articles like this reflect the thrust of McGrath's arguments in his new book, then I think I'll give it a wide berth. I have one life - a mortal life - and I don't intend wasting any of it on feeble rubbish like this.

It might impress his Theological colleagues at Oxford but i suspect the Tea Leaf Readers and Tarot Card Readers would be equally impressed if you replaced the word 'God' with Tea Leaf Reading or Tarot. Consequently such arguments are built on a house of cards and McGrath finds himself resorting to ad homimen attacks in a vain attempt to give his pathetic non-arguments some much needed weight.

Methinks the man is obsessed with Richard.

5. Do stop behaving as if you are God, Professor Dawkins

Comment #21502 by NotWithoutMyMonkey on February 9, 2007 at 2:26 pm

I always find the veracity of the claims made by those asserting they were once an atheist highly dubious. Once an atheist the door is forever closed to irrational faith.

It seems to me that McGrath was never an atheist but rather became quite rightly disillusioned with organised religion of his upbringing borne from his observations and experiences in Northern Ireland. His disillusionment lasted until he found a warm and fuzzy Christianity in which to belong to while at Oxford. Here was a cosy, friendly, country vicar with tea and scones kind of Christianity that he could feel comfortable with rather than one fostering sectarian hatred and violence.

There is nothing in his piece that suggests that he found skepticism to be the only rational stance to take on matters supernatural until he rediscovered Religion. Consequently, he associates atheism with the kind of disillusionment he personally experienced rather actually comprehending what atheism actually is. I'm almost certain that he never stopped believing that 'something' divine existed even if it was no longer framed by the doctrines of his upbringing. Upon encountering a group of nice, charming, and quietly spoken Christians he again found a framework for his belief.

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What I find surprising is that even intellectual lightweights such as McGrath can become Professors at Oxford, but then it is a Professorship in Theology - which is about as worthwhile as a Doctorate in Tea-Leaf Reading (Capitalised of course). Anyone even remotely persuaded by his 'arguments' would be severely limited in their capacity for rational thought. The arguments are neither cogent nor well presented (window-dressed to sound authoritative if you like). The man likes to compare himself to Dawkins, he's clearly obsessed by him, but he is in no way, his intellectual equal.

6. Some stars and planets in scale

Comment #19444 by NotWithoutMyMonkey on January 27, 2007 at 8:34 am

I'ts absolutely mindboggling trying to comprehend the relative sizes of these celestial bodies. Now trying to comprehend the distances between them (as opposed to them lined up in a row as in the demonstration) is truly mind-blowing.

I feel deeply humbly and privileged to be an infitessimally tiny part of this majectic (natural) cosmos. Videos like this should be compulsory viewing for our children - what better way to foster a broader perspective and an awareness of our precious life and this planet is.

7. How Old is the Grand Canyon? Park Service Won't Say

Comment #15295 by NotWithoutMyMonkey on December 30, 2006 at 7:52 am

I hope in the interest of fairness and in avoiding offence that they're also prepared to publish the creation stories of the local indigenous population.

*edit* I should say that I would hope that the creation myths of the local indigenous population were presented to park visitors - they difference is, there would not be any demand to have these presented in place of scientific explanations, and certainly they wouldn't be presented as truth.

Perhaps I should write my own account of the canyon's creation, presenting as a 'different view' and seek it's publication. After all, post-modernist political correctness outweighs the scientific method then surely then surely all opinions should be equally accomodated?

8. God's Enemies Are More Honest Than His Friends

Comment #15176 by NotWithoutMyMonkey on December 29, 2006 at 10:09 am

If anyone cares to respond to Muehlenberg, his personal blog can be found here:

http://www.billmuehlenberg.com

It seems that Dawkins has really gotten under his skin- the man seems truly rattled. The tone of his reply to Singer is highly inventive and spiteful especially given the reasonable and measured tone of her opinion piece. They really don't like Atheists being more assertive and they really do expect that their delusions should be unassailable. Richard and Sam were right, and the response, if it weren't so serious, is almost humorous to watch with their ad-nauseum regugitation of the same old straw-men, and their flailing attempts at logic (they do seem to get themselves into all kind of bother).

Methinks these Christians charging forth to post opinion pieces in the newspapers of the world do protest a little too much. We are chipping away at that barrier, at least with Christianity (time to turn the blowtorch on Islam more fully as well). The fear I have is that some of these people might react violently.

9. 20 Million Years and a Farewell

Comment #13403 by NotWithoutMyMonkey on December 17, 2006 at 1:06 pm

Deeply, deeply saddened by this. Of course there are many unsung species becoming extinct on a daily basis but the case of the baiji serves to highlight this tragedy.

This has to stop, somehow, we humans have to change our ways - make room for other species who share this planet.