Comments by Steve13

noneoftheabove

Richard really didn't propose a hypothesis, he was really just pondering whether it was the case and proposed that the only way to find out would be through an empirical test.

The Richard's premise you propose is clearly not his own he remains agnostic about this. He clearly states he doesn't know and that he is not sure and this is what scientists usually do when talking about fields they are unfamiliar with.

3. Interview with Richard Dawkins on fairy tales and retirement

Comment #272620 by Steve13 on October 27, 2008 at 4:36 pm

ColdFusionLazarus

I totally agree with you I wasn't going for a all encompassing argument for or against was just recommending the article on some of the work done on this subject.

Its also interestingly finds that children are not fundamentally different from adults in distinguishing fantasy from reality, which could be quite an interesting finding, if its true with regards to religious belief.

4. Interview with Richard Dawkins on fairy tales and retirement

Comment #272558 by Steve13 on October 27, 2008 at 3:27 pm

ColdFusionLazarus

I think is does tell us something, if children do have a good sense of what is make believe or not then it rules out or at least weakens one hypothesis of how fantasy could be pernicious, there may be other ways but I can't think of any of them.

5. Interview with Richard Dawkins on fairy tales and retirement

Comment #272551 by Steve13 on October 27, 2008 at 3:04 pm

A review on some of the literature on this problem was done by Jacqueline Woolley in the journal Child Development she talks specifically children's abilities to distinguish between fantasy and reality.

# Jacqueline D. Woolley
# Child Development, Vol. 68, No. 6 (Dec., 1997), pp. 991-1011

Also see Pascal Boyer's follow up to the article.

Might be a bit out of date but its a good start if you are interested in this.

6. Mapping a clan of mobile selfish genes

Comment #269545 by Steve13 on October 23, 2008 at 6:00 am

I think people are getting proximate and ultimate causes mixed up.
Yes altruism seems to have evolved because of our selfish genes but that does not mean that we only do altruistic acts for this reason any more than we only eat to survive and pass on our genes.

Also I think with scooter's definition of a truly altruistic act, the only thing that could meet it would be a totally uncaused altruistic act.

7. UCSB study finds physical strength, fighting ability revealed in human faces

Comment #269525 by Steve13 on October 23, 2008 at 5:33 am

Remember this doesn't mean it has to be able to pick out the good fighters perfectly all them time just enough to be on average a good strategy. Also if true it will be only one of many ways that people read other people, and they don't make that claim anyway.

8. The soul? It may all be in your mind

Comment #267529 by Steve13 on October 20, 2008 at 4:14 pm

Yes this article doesn't set out his views very well. The view is not that the soul/mind is separate from the brain but that we intuitive think we and others have minds, like we intuitively think of objects a solid rather than atoms we vast spaces between them.

He expounds his views here better
http://edge.org/3rd_culture/bloom04/bloom04_index.html

9. The soul? It may all be in your mind

Comment #267502 by Steve13 on October 20, 2008 at 3:48 pm

This article is in the spiritual life section of the Boston Globe that is probably why it comes of a bit apologetic towards the religious.

Oh and if Paul Bloom's theories sound familiar they feature quite prominently in The God Delusion, the section entitled "Psychologically Primed for Religion"

10. Origins - The BIG Questions: 2008 Skeptics Society Conference

Comment #242222 by Steve13 on September 3, 2008 at 1:27 pm

"Anyone watched/listened to this? I'm interested in some of the names (Miller, Shermer, Stenger) but I want to know if it's actually interesting, and I'd appreciate some feedback from those who have seen it."

It's only happening in October

11. Monkeys Enjoy Giving To Others, Study Finds

Comment #237194 by Steve13 on August 26, 2008 at 7:18 am

Isn't this just kin selection and reciprocal altruism?

12. Why Dawkins is right and his critics are wrong

Comment #235043 by Steve13 on August 22, 2008 at 11:32 am

Professor Dawkins even says that he would hate to be seen as making them believe something and that he's just asking them to look at that evidence (for evolution not atheism). The only reason the subject of atheism and religion came into the discussion is that the children have obviously been taught in church that evolution = atheism.

13. VOICES OF SCIENCE - Available Now on DVD

Comment #229208 by Steve13 on August 13, 2008 at 8:18 am

Will the David Buss talk be put online?

14. VOICES OF SCIENCE - Available Now on DVD

Comment #211423 by Steve13 on July 16, 2008 at 2:05 am

Just one thing in the heading you call David Buss, Davis Buss

15. Decades Later, Still Asking: Would I Pull That Switch?

Comment #204640 by Steve13 on July 5, 2008 at 12:23 pm

Here's some footage from the experiment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLP6eg8X13s&feature=related

And here's Derren Brown reproducing it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6GxIuljT3w

16. From Big Bang to Us - Made Easy

Comment #192602 by Steve13 on June 13, 2008 at 2:24 pm

Hi this is a little off the topic but why is there no link to James Randi's site in the link pages

http://www.randi.org/joom/

17. Complex Synapses Drove Brain Evolution

Comment #191243 by Steve13 on June 10, 2008 at 1:03 pm

I think i can clear up what my fellow Steve is saying if i may be so bold, by drawing on his analogy to sculpting the brain. Genetic predispositions can be seen as potentials much like a piece of clay without the environmental stimulus nothing happens. With clay you are limited by the quality and how much clay you have this is analogous to gentic predispositions limit intelligence,personality and other things. I think Blank Slate is a bad word for it its more like a scaffolding where the building being built plans are constantly being change by the environment stimulus but its always gonna be affected by the postions of the scaffolding. Or at least thats how I've come to understand it

18. Logical Proof of the Existence of a Divine Creator, Why Atheism is Not Logically Sound

Comment #190554 by Steve13 on June 9, 2008 at 8:52 am

Anthony Flew is a deist now and he didn't even write that book if i'm not mistaken

19. Logical Proof of the Existence of a Divine Creator, Why Atheism is Not Logically Sound

Comment #190550 by Steve13 on June 9, 2008 at 8:49 am

Somebody should tell this author that Paley's watch stopped a long time ago

20. Logical Proof of the Existence of a Divine Creator, Why Atheism is Not Logically Sound

Comment #190537 by Steve13 on June 9, 2008 at 8:41 am

Hi i'm new
Wow this article is bad but i did find out something new the bible attests for the 2nd law of thermodynamics apparently

21. Complex Synapses Drove Brain Evolution

Comment #190520 by Steve13 on June 9, 2008 at 8:19 am

Hi this is my first post

In my cognitive pyschology course we were just looking at some of the theories for the evolution of big brains. This research doesn't clear up what enviromental pressures drove the evolution of big brains but i wonder what effect it will have on theorizing in this area