Posted by Jonathan Pearce on Friday, March 30, 2012,
In :
Philosophy
In reading Steven Pinker’s How the Mind Works, which has
been a slow burner (both in terms of time taken to read it and time taken to
get into the really interesting stuff), I have just started to read about the
importance and ontology of emotions. I came to a realisation, explicitly, that
emotions are fundamental to our lives. Fundamental by way of giving us the
reasons and desire to do all that we do. In fact, without emotion, we wouldn’t
get anything done, and would undoubtedly not exi...
Posted by Jonathan Pearce on Wednesday, March 28, 2012,
In :
Science
By
Jonathan Amos
Science
correspondent, BBC News, Manchester
There
could be many billions of planets not much bigger than Earth circling faint
stars in our galaxy, says an international team of astronomers.
The
estimate for the number of "super-Earths" is based on detections
already made and then extrapolated to include the Milky Way's population of
so-called red dwarf stars.
The
team works with the high-precision Harps instrument.
Posted by Jonathan Pearce on Sunday, March 18, 2012,
In :
Philosophy
Here is an excerpt from my first book, Free Will? I have always been interested in consciousness and it remains a fertile battleground for many philosophers:
We have touched lightly
on naturalism and the soul, so it would be rude, and a little short-sighted, to
forget to mention consciousness. Consciousness is another sticky bog that perhaps
potentially undermines any concept of determinism. Unlike the soul, we know
consciousness, at least in some way (and possibly...
Posted by Jonathan Pearce on Friday, March 16, 2012,
In :
Religion
Can religion be destroyed?
I was involved in a little discussion over at Advocatus
Atheist the other day with regards to whether a secular and sceptical approach
can spell the end of religion. I found this to be interesting. Even if the
evidence 9does it not already) overwhelmingly ruled in favour of the disbelief
in a personal god, would religion still tenuously hang on to the threads of
desperate hope or ritualistic comforts that humanity seems to endure?
One has to wonder why, if travelling from
the East, the star does not lead the magi directly to Bethlehem
but to Jerusalem and then to Bethlehem. What becomes even more implausible
is that Herod decided not to follow the star himself, but to task the itinerant
wise men with going themselves and ...
Posted by Jonathan Pearce on Thursday, March 8, 2012,
In :
Religion
When thinking about subjects like the fine-tuning argument
it becomes apparent that the theist loves to have their cake and eat it. They
thrive off a “heads I win, tails you lose scenario”.
What I mean by this can be exemplified as follows:
In the fine-tuning argument when a sceptic argues:
The universe is more fine-tuned for death than life.
The size of the universe is so unbelievably and
unnecessarily massive that it appears that it is not designed for human life.
Posted by Jonathan Pearce on Sunday, March 4, 2012,
In :
Politics
Call me a liberal leftie socialist (actually, I wasn't always. When I first studied economics I was pretty conservative) but....
It has become highly newsworthy recently that due to austerity measures in the UK, and due to slashed budgets in the police finances, certain UK police forces are considering outsourcing police work to private companies.
Now correct me if I'm wrong, but private companies are answerable to stakeholders (shareholders) who demand profit. First and foremost, companies ar... Continue reading ...
Posted by Jonathan Pearce on Friday, March 2, 2012,
In :
Religion
As a fan of much of Richard Carrier's work, I am looking forward to watching this debate on whether Jesus was the Son of God or a mere apocalyptic prophet.