Category: General
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Some speculation on the Simulation Argument
If you haven’t read Nick Bostrom’s simulation argument, read it first. I’ll wait. Done? Now, for some unfounded speculation: 1) How would you trick the scientists? Nick proposes two ways to fake the environmental details of the simulation: 1) calculate the details on-demand and 2) mess with the agent’s minds to hide glitches. To me,…
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expression versus communication
It is far easier to express oneself than to communicate. You can express yourself to a rock just as well as to a human being. But to communicate, you must understand how your words will be processed by another mind. You must estimate their level of knowledge, their potential for misunderstanding, their emotional response to…
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chance
There is no such thing as “chance” or “randomness” in nature. Chance is just what we say when we don’t know why. There is only causality.
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The double standard of creationism
Let’s consider the double standard posed by Creationists. They insist that we must see something directly for it to exist. Since we did not see the origin of the universe (actually we can still see it today, but never mind that), the formation of the earth, or of life, they insist that we cannot know…
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On infinite causal chains
I wrote a One Minute Case Against the Cosmological Argument in 2007, but looking back, I would put it simply as: Infinities do not actually exist. Each specific set of entities is discrete. But the causal chain itself is not an existent. It is the set of all entities that have ever existed. That is a theoretical…
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On stardust & entropy
Stellar nucleosynthesis is entropic because the proton-proton reaction radiates 0.7% of the original mass as 26.73 MeV energy. Additional reactions produce heavier elements until finally supernova nucleosynthesis produces everything up to uranium in the last few seconds of a star’s life. We can calculate the entropy cost of the elements to create planets and life…
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We are informational beings in the eternal now
What are we? What sets us apart from the universe? We believe that we exist in limited time and space. We believe that we are defined by hereditary and environmental influences, leaving room for only a nebulous core of individuality. There is some truth in this perspective. But there is more. What is time? The…
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Bob the Intelligent Designer creates the Universe
People who claim that the earth is younger than it is (4.54 ± 0.05 billion years) tend to do so for two reasons: either because they claim the evidence points to it or because it was created recently but made to look as it were old. Considering that all the evidence shows the universe to…
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Warning: relying on magic and anecdotes is bad for your health
In my post on evidence-based medicine, I said that “when valid scientific principles are not followed, no valid conclusion can be reached.” Why not? Why don’t anecdotal claims (such as personal experience) count as evidence? Here is an example of what I mean: A young woman who was a Christian Scientist told me that various relatives of hers…
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On modesty
The popular notion that sexual acts should be performed in the dark and under the sheets is derived from the Judeo-Christian dogma that human beings and thus human sexuality are fundamentally corrupt, shameful, and evil. Because this dogma is still widespread throughout secularized Western societies and in secularized equivalents of original sin, it is now…