Around the internet- Margin Call - No one wants the system to be fair.mpeg October 28, 2011 (author unknown)
- The Student Loan Meltdown October 27, 2011 Jason (Frugal Dad)
- Defender of Free-Markets October 27, 2011 Markham Gross
- ‘I Am The 1%’: Wall Street CEO Debates #OccupyWS October 27, 2011 Larry O'Connor
- Does Stimulus Spending Work? October 26, 2011 Markham Gross
- BBC London radio interviews William Lane Craig October 25, 2011 Wintery Knight
- Blind eyes won't see October 25, 2011 [email protected] (Vox)
- Economists: Jobs outlook the worst since January 2010 October 25, 2011 Wintery Knight
- Occupy Wall Street and the Virtuous Society October 25, 2011 John Mark Reynolds
- Christian demoted for expressing disagreement with same-sex marriage October 24, 2011 Wintery Knight
Category Archives: science
Thomas Sowell on Intellectuals and Society – Or why central planning is intrinsically flawed
Posted in philosophy, polemics, politics, science
Tagged central planning, Economey, economics, intellectuals, krugman
The elusive gay gene
[HT A Queer Thing Happened to America]
It was pointed out 11 years ago how time and again scientists have claimed that particular genes or chromosomal regions are associated with behavioral traits, only to withdraw their findings when they were not replicated. Findings linking specific genes to complex human behaviors all were announced with great fanfare; all were greetedwithout skepticismin the popular press; all are now in disrepute. Nevertheless, considerable grant money has been available in this country for research seeking to show a genetic basis for homosexuality. Researchers now openly admit that after searching for more than 20 years, they are still unable to find the gay gene.
The McGurk effect and what it tells us about our noetic faculties
Here is an excellent example of the McGurk effect:
My interpretation of this effect is based on the physics of both sound and light waves. Based on Shannon’s theorum, light carries more information than sound so it makes sense that our minds would, when presented with conflicting information. So it is understandable why many people operate on the principle of “seeing is believing”. However the McGurk effect should serve as a warning to us that when faced with problems of interpreting information, what we are seeing may be masking the truth of what we are perceiving.
Posted in apologetics, philosophy, science
Tagged body, epistemology, information, information theory, mcgurk, mind, philosophy
An illustration of counterfactuals
In the movie, Next, Nicholas Cage plays a man who has the ability to perceive future events.
Here is a section of the movie where Cage’s character is attempting to thwart a future event (don’t worry, this isn’t a plot spoiler, the movie is still worth watching) by examining all the possible outcomes of his actions in space and time.
This provides a pretty good approximation to the philosophical concept of counterfactuals which are used in the theological concept of Molinism/middle knowledge.
Posted in philosophy, science
Tagged counterfactuals, molinism, paralell universes, possible worlds, quantum mechanics
Language and Social Ontology – John Searle
In this talk I attempt to explain the distinctive features of human civilization. Animals have forms of social organization and communication but they do not have money, property, government, and marriage. Why not? Human institutional facts are created and maintained by a specific type of linguistic representation that I call a “status function declaration.” This operation can be performed over and over again on a wide range of subjects. It creates and maintains systems of deontic power: rights, duties, obligations and empowerments of various kinds. These provide the glue that hold human society together. They do that by providing humans with desire independent reasons for action, that is, reasons for doing things that are independent of their immediate inclinations.
John Searle in Oslo (the whole lecture) from Speldosa on Vimeo.
Posted in apologetics, philosophy, polemics, science
What it means to “teach the controversy”
Here is a textbook example of how to discuss what it means to “teach the controversy”. Casey Luskin does a great job of diffusing the “anything other than accepted Darwinist dogma is religious in nature!” argument that is rather common among the high priests of Darwinism.
Posted in apologetics, polemics, science
Tagged creationism, darwinism, evolution, intelligent design, science, unguided evolution