History, Evolution, and the Darwin Debate
Toward Making the Blind See: Gene Therapy Restores Vision in Mice
ScienceDaily (Mar. 31, 2010) — Scientists from Buffalo, Cleveland, and Oklahoma City made a huge step toward making the blind see, and they did it by using a form of gene therapy that does not involve the use of modified viruses
Ice Sheet Melt Identified as Trigger of ‘Big Freeze’
ScienceDaily (Mar. 31, 2010) — The main cause of a rapid global cooling period, known as the Big Freeze or Younger Dryas — which occurred nearly 13,000 years ago — has been identified thanks to the help of an academic at the University of Sheffield.
Comment on The New Spirit of Capitalism
Jim Buck said,
March 31, 2010 at 11:32 amhttp://www.law.upenn.edu/academics/institutes/ilp/200708papers/WolffFutureofSocialism
Robert Paul Wolff has a number of interesting books from the seventies, one on the labor theory of value.
I converted the file to a text document which you can read here: http://www.redfortyeight.com/2010/03/31/the-future-of-socialism-robert-paul-wollf/
Galaxy Zoo 60 Million Giveaway
by Galaxy Zoo
http://richarddawkins.net/articles/5352
Dear Galaxy Zoo
The Galaxy Zoo project (http://www.galaxyzoo.org) is about to achieve
something extraordinary – and we want to share the excitement with
you, the people that made it possible. The Zoonometer
(http://www.galaxyzoo.org/zoonometer) has been steadily ticking away
toward our target of 60 million classifications. We can hardly
believe it, but we’re nearly there! To say thank you, we want to give
away a series of prizes to the people providing the remaining clicks
that take us to our goal. In addition, the person that makes the 60
millionth classification will receive a special prize.
From dawkins site:
http://richarddawkins.net/articles/5343
Rather I was suggesting that science can, in principle, help us understand what we should do and should want—and, perforce, what other people should do and want in order to live the best lives possible. My claim is that there are right and wrong answers to moral questions, just as there are right and wrong answers to questions of physics, and such answers may one day fall within reach of the maturing sciences of mind. As the response to my TED talk indicates, it is taboo for a scientist to think such things, much less say them public
This lunatic project is not in principle wrong, but from the New Atheists we can expect only a new form of stupidity in action, complete with cult conversions to the new extreme.
If Harris is so smart let’s see a commentary on Kantian ethics and the question of transcendental idealism, instead of this macho brand of reductionist scientism.
The strange thing about modern science is the way it leads the very intelligent back into stupidity. Geek smartness disguising stupidity is dangerous.
Common House Ants Form Supercolonies, Prosper in Urban Settings
ScienceDaily (Mar. 31, 2010) — One of the most common house ant species might have been built for living in some of the smallest spaces in a forest, but the ants have found ways to take advantage of the comforts of city living.
Ancient Snakes Living on Madagascar
ScienceDaily (Mar. 31, 2010) — “Blindsnakes are not very pretty, are rarely noticed, and are often mistaken for earthworms,” admits Blair Hedges, professor of biology at Penn State University. “Nonetheless, they tell a very interesting evolutionary story.”
Ancient Fossil Flea-Like Creature: Rare Body Parts Find Provides Vital Clues to Identity
ScienceDaily (Mar. 31, 2010) — A geologist from the University of Leicester is part of a team that has uncovered an ancient water flea-like creature from 425 million years ago
Scientists Reverse Alzheimer’s-Like Memory Loss in Fruit Flies
ScienceDaily (Mar. 30, 2010) — By blocking the cellular signaling activity of a protein, a team of neuroscientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) has prevented memory loss in fruit flies caused by brain plaques similar to those thought to cause Alzheimer’s disease in humans.
Urine Sprays During Courtship Send Mixed Messages
ScienceDaily (Mar. 30, 2010) — Walking through urine drives crayfish into an aggressive sexual frenzy
Published on Wednesday, March 31, 2010 by Greenpeace
Wanted: Climate Denial Kingpins and Their Accomplices
by Mike Gaworecki
You might recall that a couple weeks ago our squad of climate crime scene investigators was on the hunt for a secretive billionaire named David Koch.
Well it turns out Koch has accomplices. Lots of them.
mxmail
Some asks….?
1. *Marginal
Revolution*
2. *Library of Economics and
Liberty
*
3. *Aretae
*
4. *occasional links &
commentary
*
Nemo: we can pick this up later today!
mxmail
http://www.solidarity-us.org/current/node/2036
Is Anti-Capitalism Enough? The New Crisis & the Left
— Howard Brick
The New Spirit of Capitalism
by Luc Boltanski and Eve Chiapello
translated by Gregory Elliott
Verso Books 2006, paperback edition 2007, 656 pages, $39.95.
WHETHER OR NOT the current economic crisis and a historic
presidential election open up hidden potentials for renewed
popular protest and collective action, it is obvious that the
radical Left has lost a great deal of its size, visibility, élan
and influence since the 1970s.
gnxp
The majority of Americans say it is fair to ask people with unhealthy lifestyles to pay more for health insurance. But personal responsibility is a complex notion
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/30/health/30risk.html
gnxp
With The Female Brain, Brizendine was attacked for shoddy science—and her follow-up should receive no less criticism. The author makes vast claims about male biology without really delving into the science, which leaves you with a manual for excusing every crappy thing your man has ever done
http://www.newsweek.com/id/235664
gnxp
The giggling sounds of a hyena contain important information about the animal’s status, say scientists
http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8593000/8593789.stm
gnxp
Scans show that people who are better at having new ideas have brains that pass information around more slowly
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20527535.500-a-slow-mind-may-nurture-more-creative-ideas.html
gnxp
Blocking the birth of new neurons helps hook rats on cocaine
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=can-newborn-neurons-prevent-addiction
RG mail
http://solveclimate.com/blog/20100324/greenpeace-says-climate-denialism-20-year-industry
Greenpeace Says Climate Denialism a 20–Year Industry
Internet, Monckton-Style Deniers Changing the Game, Report Says
by Stacy Feldman – Mar 24th, 2010
Current efforts to deny climate science are part of an organized campaign that dates back 20 years, when the fossil fuel industry first formed a lobbying apparatus to stifle action on global warming, the environment group Greenpeace said on Wednesday.
RG mail
http://www.socialistproject.ca/relay/relay29_albritton.pdf
Let Them Eat Junk: Capitalism and Food
An Interview with Rob Albritton
RG mail
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1974927,00.html
Monday, Mar. 29, 2010
Ready for Your Biometric Social Security Card?
RG mail
True Patriots: Tea Bag Leaders Say They Want to Abolish Social Security
RG mail
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/mar/30/us-oil-donated-millions-climate-sceptics
The Guardian March 30, 2010
US oil company donated millions to climate sceptic groups, says Greenpeace
RG mail
http://www.alternet.org/story/146206/
Health reform bonanza
… for the Insurance Industry and Other Monied Interests
by Bill Moyers and Michael Winship, Bill Moyers Journal
AlterNet (March 28 2010)
That wickedly satirical Ambrose Bierce described politics as “the
conduct of public affairs for private advantage”.
Bierce vanished to Mexico nearly a hundred years ago – to the relief of
the American political class of his day, one assumes – but in an eerie
way he was forecasting America’s political culture today. It seems like
most efforts to reform a system that’s gone awry – to clean house and
make a fresh start – end up benefiting the very people who wrecked it
in the first place.
Why ‘The Universe Is Perfectly Set Up For Life’ Is a Terrible Justification for God’s Existence
If you think the Universe is so perfectly fine-tuned to allow life to come into being so therefore life must have been created this way on purpose — think again.
March 30, 2010 |
“But the Universe is so perfectly fine-tuned for life. What are the chances that this happened by accident? Doesn’t it seem like the Universe had to have been created this way on purpose?”As I’ve written before: Many arguments for religion and against atheism are so bad, they can’t even be considered arguments. They’re not serious attempts to offer evidence or reason supporting the existence of God. They’re simply attempts to deflect legitimate questions, or ad-hominem insults of atheists, or the baffling notion that “I want to believe” is a good argument, or attempts to just make the questions go away. Or similar nonsense.
The design argument is not one that I can accept, but at the same time it does remain a challenge for those who think that Darwinist is the rival answer.
It is equally ridiculous to propose that Darwinism explains away what design thinking attempts to explain.
In any case, the use of the term ‘god’ is so vague as to be useless for this discussion.
Laws Of History And Popper On Historicism
The discussion of the question of scientific history and Popper’s critique can be found at the link above: you can follow the rest of the links to the whole construct which results in a Kantian perspective.
This is an email commentary sent to History and Theory re: a question on ‘scientific history’ (cited at the end).
We have discussed this issue here many times, and the various essays at history-and-theory.com explore the ideas of Popper at length.
The issue of evolution, post-darwinian, in the context of Kant can resolve this confusion over causality and freedom in historical analysis.
From John Landon admin@history-and-evolution.com
Subject: Scientific History?Your points are fundamental, and I think I was trying to proceed along these lines with my posts on the ‘causal mechanics of history’. Popper was my starting point along these lines. Popper (and also Isaiah Berlin with his essay on historical inevitability) critiqued the legacy of Marxism here, but his critique applies as well to the idea of scientific history. Read the rest of this entry »