Happy Darwin Day!

Today is Charles Darwin's 203rd birthday. I am grateful for his contributions to science, though I was once very much against them. Now I accept the fact of evolution and see how interesting and elegant this theory is.

Sam Harris: The Fireplace Delusion

Sam Harris has written a wonderfully enlightening and remarkably relatable piece on how the mind reacts when cherished beliefs are challenged by outside sources. He likens the love of a burning wood fire to the love of whatever religious beliefs one may have, and notes that we often react similarly if either idea is attacked. He asks his readers to be honest with themselves and pay attention to how their own mind behaves while they read his summation of wood fires. Then they can more accurately understand how the religious mind works when challenged.

Read it for yourself here.

How Open-Minded Are You?

Nearly all of us think that we are open-minded, rational, unbiased, thoughtful people. We follow the evidence wherever it leads, and we listen to reason. When new evidence comes to light about something that we already hold an opinion on, we believe that we will process it in an unbiased way. This is hardly the case.

Review: A Universe From Nothing by Lawrence Krauss

I just finished “A Universe From Nothing,” by Lawrence Krauss. I found it intensely interesting and enlightening. From a purely scientific perspective, I found it engrossing and understandable, even for a lay-person like myself. There were definitely some points that I did not completely understand, but it helped me to also watch his lecture about this topic online for clarification.

Christopher Hitchens' Last Interview

In the Christmas issue of the New Statesman, guest editor Richard Dawkins interviews Christopher Hitchens for what turned out to be the last time. It is a fascinating, edifying read, and Christopher still manages to surprise me even when I feel like I know what he thinks about most things. What a mind.

A Universe From Nothing: Preview of a Review

Today I received my copy of Lawrence Krauss' new book, "A Universe From Nothing." I am excited to get started reading it, as his lecture at AAI 2009 about this very topic brought up many questions in my mind.

Christopher Hitchens: I Will Miss You.

I haven't posted anything in over a year. With the death of Christopher Hitchens, I have been inspired to again watch all the videos I can find of him on youtube and other sites. It is powerfully clear to me that the world is now, without him, greatly diminished. Luckily, his writings and spoken words remain, and many people can still benefit from them. He has played an important role in my life, and I will miss him immensely.

I thought I would include a transcript of his closing remarks in a debate he had with William Dembski in 2010, as I think his words here are especially poignant.

"The discussion about what is good, what is beautiful, what is noble, what is pure, and what is true could always go on. Why is that important, why would I like to do that? Because that's the only conversation worth having. And whether it goes on or not after I die, I don't know.  But I do know that it's the conversation I want to have while I'm still alive. Which means that to me, the offer of certainty, the offer of complete security, the offer of an impermeable faith that can't give way, is an offer of something not worth having.

I want to live my life taking the risk all the time that I don't know anything like enough yet. That I haven't understood enough, that I can't know enough, that I'm always hungrily operating on the margins of a potentially great harvest of future knowledge and wisdom - I wouldn't have it any other way. And I'd urge you to look at those of you who tell you - those people who tell you, at your age, that you're dead till you believe as they do - what a terrible thing to be telling to children.  And that you can only live by accepting an absolute authority.  Don't think of that as a gift - think of it of a poisoned chalice, push it aside however tempting it is, take the risk of thinking for yourself.  Much more happiness, truth, beauty and wisdom will come to you that way.  Thank you."

If you want to watch this bit, click here.