Pat Condell is right, as usual

via youtube.com

Is there anything more hateful than religion? If there is, I can’t think of it.

Posted via web from Sam Lewis

A good Apple parody advert for the Sun

via boingboing.net

Shame it’s for the Sun, and also that it’s supporting the wrong side in a losing battle (see buzzmachine.com for why), but I like this advert.

Posted via web from Sam Lewis

Intelligence Squared debate on the Catholic Church in full(?)

It seems that the videos I included in an earlier post on this subject were an edited version of the debate, not the whole thing. Here's an unedited (or at least, less-edited) version.

Posted via email from Sam Lewis

Intelligence Squared debate on the Catholic Church in full(?)

<param name="flashvars" value="config={"key":"$ec7491e47e3e3de060c","clip":{"url":"http://ec2-79-125-48-20.eu-west-1.compute.amazonaws.com/iq2-videos/Catholic_Church_is_a_force_for_good_19-10-2009.mp4","provider":"pseudo","start":"24","scaling":"fit","duration":0},"logo":{"fullscreenOnly":true,"displayTime":0},"plugins":{"pseudo":{"url":"http://www.intelligencesquared.com/__data/assets/file/0008/1034/flowplayer.pseudostreaming-3.1.3.swf"},"controls":null},"canvas":{"backgroundColor":"#000","backgroundGradient":"none"},"playerId":"iq2-video","playlist":[{"url":"http://ec2-79-125-48-20.eu-west-1.compute.amazonaws.com/iq2-videos/Catholic_Church_is_a_force_for_good_19-10-2009.mp4","provider":"pseudo","start":"24","scaling":"fit","duration":0}]}” />

via intelligencesquared.com

It seems that the videos of this debate that I included in an earlier post had been cut quite a bit. Here’s the thing in full, or at least with less missing.

Posted via web from Sam Lewis

‘The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution’ by Richard Dawkins

I’ve just finished this book, and on the whole enjoyed it. It does seem slightly lacking in structure, with a rather unfocussed stream parts of the overwhelming evidence in favour of the ‘theory’ of evolution. Those pieces of evidence are fascinating though.

One important point Dawkins makes at the start of the book is about the confusion over what the word ‘theory’ means, quoting from the Oxford English Dictionary:

Theory, Sense 1: A scheme or system of ideas or statements held as an explanation or account of a group of facts or phenomena; a hypothesis that has been confirmed or established by observation or experiment, and is propounded or accepted as accounting for the known facts; a statement of what are held to be the general laws, principles, or causes of something known or observed.

Theory, Sense 2: A hypothesis proposed as an explanation; hence, a mere hypothesis, speculation, conjecture; an idea or set of ideas about something; an individual view or notion.

Those who reject evolution often do so in the belief that evolution is a theory in the second sense, when it is in fact a theory in the first sense, just like the ‘theory of electromagnetism’ or the ‘theory of relativity.’

If you want to read the book, you can buy it here.

Posted via web from Sam Lewis

An interesting Radiolab episode on morality and how our brains work

Killing Babies, Saving the World

By Radiolab

November 17, 2009

To get this podcast started, Robert ambushes Jad with a question … a question we’ve all been dying to ask him since June 10th, 2009, when Amil Abumrad came into the world. But fear not, we didn’t do a whole podcast just to give the new dad a hard time. Robert talks to Josh Greene, the Harvard professor we had on our Morality show. They revisit some ideas from that show in the context of the big, complicated problems of today (think global warming and nuclear war). Josh argues that to deal with those problems, we’re going to have to learn how to make better use of that tiny part of our brain that handles abstract thinking. Not a simple proposition, but, despite the odds, Josh has hope.

Download MP3

Photo by: Flickr/ connieth

Comments [29] | Posted in: Podcasts | Shorts

via wnyc.org

Posted via web from Sam Lewis

Wow

via youtube.com

2012’s going to be an interesting year.

Posted via web from Sam Lewis

White collar crime and double standards

I strongly recommend you listen to the latest three episodes of Radio 4's Thinking Allowed programme, on the subject of white collar crime.

While you might be worried about being stabbed or robbed in the street, the crimes you should really care about are the ones committed by people wearing suits, not hoodies. These criminals affect the lives of everyone and yet they are rarely punished, let alone censured.

If you're not angry, you're not thinking hard enough.

Programme 1 | Programme 2 | Programme 3

Posted via email from Sam Lewis

Decline and fall

via boingboing.net

Posted via web from Sam Lewis

Book recommendations from the Book Seer

Read a book you liked and want to read other things like it? Want lots of recommendations but refuse to visit more than one site to get them? A fan of Victorian-style facial hair?

The Book Seer might be for you.

Posted via email from Sam Lewis