05.30.11
Darwinism’s bluff on human evolution
Descent of man revisited: it should be obvious that human evolution won’t fit into the Darwinism rubric, and yet the Big Science establishment knows it can get away with a bluff here.
Metaphysics of religion–and evolution
The metaphysics of evolution: it is strange but true that the evolution question is as metaphysical as anything in religion
Old Testament history and the Axial Age
Universal Histories: The Old Testament Enigma
The great irony to the Old Testament is its significance in light of the Axial Age, and the parallel emergence of the Buddhist stream in the same time frame.
Pinback to a ‘secular buddhist’ blog/post
We got a pingback today to this post, referencing our ‘secular buddhism’ discussion.
I was unaware that there is a blog devoted to secular buddhism. And the commentary here seems to be referring to our discussion. I am sorry if there is a conflict brewing here, so let me summarize the issues:
‘secualar buddhism’ refers to a usage of the term ‘secular’ that we reject here. There is no conflict between secularism and religion as such. Secularism simply means the era of modernity, which is a vast realm in a dialectical spectrum. To try and force secularism into scientism, and then force that on buddhism is hopeless confusion.
The attempt to find the origins of buddhism is laudable, but it doesn’t follow that that will be ‘secular’ in the sense of scientism.
Buddhism is the path to enlightenment. I fear the ‘secular buddhists’ won’t even be able to handle this the most basic tenet of buddhism, substituting gosh knows what. At that point the category is bogus and a disservice to debate.
Repost: more on Harris on buddhism
http://www.samharris.org/site/full_text/killing-the-buddha/
I am struck by the massive stupidity in Harris’ attack on Buddhism. I had originally thought, based on his statements in The End of Faith, that he was a closet New Ager, with an interest in issues of, viz. Vedanta.
But this attack on Buddhism shows that Harris has either changed his tune, or was always confused about New Age religious issues (who isn’t).
This article is beyond belief. I am not a buddhist, have been very critical of buddhism, and Tibetan buddhism, but nothing in that critique changes the reality (which can be restated in terms of the ‘Indic tradition’, Jainism, some branches of Hinduism, and/or ‘santana dharma’. The core legacy there is something of vital importance to mankind and human evolution, and the attempt by Harris to twist the Zen teaching of ‘killing the buddha’ to attack this essential content is puzzling for someone giving the appearance of inttelligence.
When a science dogmatist starts to negate the question of buddhist enlightenment in the name of reductionist neuroscience and/or the perspective of scientism, we should sound the alarm against ‘science gone stupid’.
The sad fact is that, however miuch we may love science, it goes haywire in this area, for good Kantian reasons.
The number of wrong ideas in this essay is staggering. Violence in religion? Fine. But recall that Jainism/Buddhism invented non-violence as a doctrine, vegetarianism as a spiritual diet, and world renunciation as a tactic against worldly involvement and its violence.
This kind of charge should be turned on science itself: what field has killed and tortured more animals and on the scale of science since the scientific revolution. Science is a desperately violent methodology. Etc,…
Two can play this game.
The question of violence in religion has to be put in the context of civilization as a whole. Do the accusers here renounce war? If not, then their acceptance of violence in civilization is on a par with violence in religion. I fail to see how these new atheists can think it logical to pursue this vein in all seriousness.
I should note that Harris’ purloined phrase ‘killing the buddha’ is itself skirting the violent, and there are plenty of communists who will be glad for this thinking as they exterminate buddhists in Tibet (with nary a protest from the new atheists).
Harris does a dangerous thing here: he makes science look stupid. Is it? I am getting worried.
Not so ‘bright’
http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2011/05/30/blackford-new-atheists-didnt-coin-brights/
I suspect that, like me, most readers don’t like the term “bright” when it’s used to refer to atheists, humanists, or naturalists (naturalists, that is, of the Grayling rather than the biological variety). I’m not sure that we need a epiphet, but even if we do, “bright” is simply the wrong one. Regardless of why it was coined, it simply smacks of arrogance, of we’re-smarter-than-you-are.
Good point, and the strange stupidity of ‘smart’ scientists is reflected in the new atheist group.
Scott on Darwin debate
Scott is uable to recount the real history, which shows the dissent coming from science, and picked up by religious groups in the void of scientific self-critique.
Why Evolution is Difficult: An American Perspective
By GENIE SCOTT – YOUTUBE – NATCEN4SCIENCEED
Added: Friday, 27 May 2011 at 10:16 PMhttp://richarddawkins.net/videos/631620-why-evolution-is-difficult-an-american-perspective
Genie Scott explains to a British audience the genesis of the American anti-evolution movement, the rise of “creation science” and “intelligent design”, and how they’re spreading beyond American shores. Where: QED Conference, Manchester, Great Britain. When: 2/6/2011
Coral reefs and acidification
Ocean Acidification Will Likely Reduce Diversity, Resiliency in Coral Reef EcosystemsScienceDaily (May 29, 2011) — A new study from University of Miami (UM) Rosenstiel School of Marine & Atmospheric Science scientists Chris Langdon, Remy Okazaki and Nancy Muehllehner and colleagues from the Australian Institute of Marine Science and the Max-Planck Institute for Marine Microbiology in Germany concludes that ocean acidification, along with increased ocean temperatures, will likely severely reduce the diversity and resilience of coral reef ecosystems within this century.
Recycling Without Sorting
Recycling Without Sorting
Engineers Create Recycling Plant That Removes The Need To Sort
October 1, 2007 — Engineers use the term single-stream recycling for their plant that takes the sorting out of the public’s hands. Trucks dump an unsorted mess of paper, plastic, and metal onto a conveyor belt. Magnets, air blowers, and optical scanners separate the items, making it possible to recycle the different products.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2007/1002-recycling_without_sorting.htm
Deepwater Horizon Methane
Scientists Argue Against Conclusion That Bacteria Consumed Deepwater Horizon MethaneScienceDaily (May 29, 2011) — A technical comment published in the May 27 edition of the journal Science casts doubt on a widely publicized study that concluded that a bacterial bloom in the Gulf of Mexico consumed the methane discharged from the Deepwater Horizon well.
Obama’s Capitulation
Who’s Afraid of the Israel Lobby?
By ANDREW LEVINE
Seldom has any country been as dependent on another as Israel is on the United States, and never in American history has the United States been as servile towards another country as it is towards this beneficiary of its diplomatic, economic and military largesse. Are geopolitical considerations the decisive factor joining the United States and Israel or is American domestic politics to blame?
http://www.counterpunch.org/levine05302011.html
Don’t Blame America’s Debt Crisis on Social Security and Medicare
Published on Monday, May 30, 2011 by ThisCantBeHappening
Don’t Blame America’s Debt Crisis on Social Security and Medicare (Especially on Memorial Day)
by Dave Lindorff
Amid all the nonsense and gobbledegook that has been written about banking industry and about the economic slump during the last four years of the global financial crisis, New York Times reporter Gretchen Morgenson has stood out both for the clarity of her analysis, and for her willingness to go after the guilty parties in the political and especially the banking system, naming names and calling it as she sees it.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/05/30-2
The Sky Really Is Falling
Published on Monday, May 30, 2011 by TruthDig.com
The Sky Really Is Falling
by Chris Hedges
The rapid and terrifying acceleration of global warming, which is disfiguring the ecosystem at a swifter pace than even the gloomiest scientific studies predicted a few years ago, has been confronted by the power elite with equal parts of self-delusion. There are those, many of whom hold elected office, who dismiss the science and empirical evidence as false. There are others who accept the science surrounding global warming but insist that the human species can adapt. Our only salvation—the rapid dismantling of the fossil fuel industry—is ignored by both groups. And we will be led, unless we build popular resistance movements and carry out sustained acts of civil disobedience, toward collective self-annihilation by dimwitted Pied Pipers and fools.
Global climate change has made for freak storms and more intense weather. The result is Hurricane Katrina, this month’s devastating tornadoes and floods, and routine forest fires in California. Here, a tornado touches down in Iowa in 2008. (AP / Lori Mehmen)
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/05/30-5
Magical Tax-Cut Thinking
Published on Monday, May 30, 2011 by OtherWords
A Decade of Magical Tax-Cut Thinking
The 2001 Bush tax cuts added $2.5 trillion to the national debt and disproportionately benefited the wealthiest households. Have we learned anything?
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/05/30-4
America Should Honor Her Troops …
Published on Monday, May 30, 2011 by The Nation
On Memorial Day, America Should Honor Her Troops by Bringing Them Home
by John Nichols
It is unfortunate but true that on this Memorial Day — when we pause to honor those Americans who have fought the good fights against British colonialism, the sin of slavery and the menace of fascism — U.S. troops are currently bogged down in a quagmire of George Bush’s creation in Afghanistan and an continuing mission of Bush’s creation in Iraq.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/05/30-6
Worst Ever Carbon Emissions
Published on Monday, May 30, 2011 by The Guardian/UK
Worst Ever Carbon Emissions Leave Climate on the Brink
Exclusive: Record rise, despite recession, means 2C target almost out of reach
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/05/30
Germany’s Nuclear Phaseout
Published on Monday, May 30, 2011 by Der Spiegel/Germany
Germany’s Nuclear Phaseout Is an ‘Historic Moment’
by David Gordon Smith
“This is nothing more and nothing less than a revolution in energy supply,” said Chancellor Angela Merkel. It was September 2010, and she was referring to her government’s newly minted energy strategy. That plan included extending the operating lives of Germany’s 17 nuclear plants, which had been scheduled to go offline by 2021. All of this had been intended to help Germany meet its ambitious goals for reducing climate-killing CO2 emissions.
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/05/30-2
Fukushima May Become Graveyard …
… for Radioactive Waste From Crippled Plant
by Shigeru Sato
bloomberg.com (May 26 2011)
Japan’s atomic energy specialists are discussing a plan to make the
Fukushima Dai-Ichi nuclear plant a storage site for radioactive waste from
the crippled station run by Tokyo Electric Power Company.
The Atomic Energy Society of Japan is studying the proposal, which would
cost tens of billions of dollars, Muneo Morokuzu, a professor of energy
and environmental public policy at the University of Tokyo, said in an
interview yesterday. The society makes policy recommendations to the
government.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-26/fukushima-may-become-graveyard-for-radioactive-waste-from-crippled-plant.html
05.29.11
In search of history, and of evolution
In search of history, and of evolution.
The existence of a higher process acting in world history is obvious to inspection, and should be a warning to those who attempt to apply social darwinist thinking to human culture in the name of evolution.
The confusion between ‘god’ and ‘evolution’ springs from this complexity of history/evolution. That should ask us to stop using the term ‘god’ in historical discussions, since its usage has been corrupted (next to the Darwinian corruption of the term ‘evolution’)
Nietzsche and nazism
Nietzsche, Prophet of Nazism: The Cult of the Superman–Unveiling the Nazi Secret Doctrine
Abir Taha
Eric MacDonald comments here, and is indignant about charges against atheists in terms of fascism/nazism. I don’t make such charges, as such: I merely point to the complicating context of Nietzsche, atheism, ethical nihilism, darwinism, genocidal eugenics. The charges here, by Xtians, for example, are often off the mark, but the general context of the rise of the Nazis has also been whitewashed. the book cited above has been discussed here many times, and should be a point of reference in a situation where the whitewashing of the history in endemic.
Booknotes: Bad Samaritans
http://sentenceofdave.blogspot.com/2011/05/back-by-popular-demand-more-ha-joon.html
Check out ‘Bad Samaritans’, by the Korean economist. We discussed his work here before, and this blog links to that.
Eric MacDonald paranoid about pingbacks!?
http://darwiniana.com/2011/05/29/dawkins-on-atheists-and-evil/comment-page-1/#comment-357939
Eric MacDonald shows up to inform us that he won’t even allow pingbacks. This is comic, sad, and beyond belief. The charge that we don’t provide evidence for our statements is ridiculous. We have hundreds of posts on these issues, granting that some posts tend to be summaries.
I can’t think of anything more ridiculous than to censor pingbacks. Poor windbag, sir.
This is a good example of the way the new atheists/darwinists et al. live in a closed universe and are afraid of dissent. Their small universe will collapse under the stress of reality. The absolute control of opinion is crypto-totalitarian and is obvious to dissenters who, as here, are treated to extreme forms of the ‘wall of silence’, disallowing pingbacks.
More on Harris on buddhism
http://www.samharris.org/site/full_text/killing-the-buddha/
I am struck by the massive stupidity in Harris’ attack on Buddhism. I had originally thought, based on his statements in The End of Faith, that he was a closet New Ager, with an interest in issues of, viz. Vedanta.
But this attack on Buddhism shows that Harris has either changed his tune, or was always confused about New Age religious issues (who isn’t).
This article is beyond belief. I am not a buddhist, have been very critical of buddhism, and Tibetan buddhism, but nothing in that critique changes the reality (which can be restated in terms of the ‘Indic tradition’, Jainism, some branches of Hinduism, and/or ‘santana dharma’. The core legacy there is something of vital importance to mankind and human evolution, and the attempt by Harris to twist the Zen teaching of ‘killing the buddha’ to attack this essential content is puzzling for someone giving the appearance of inttelligence.
When a science dogmatist starts to negate the question of buddhist enlightenment in the name of reductionist neuroscience and/or the perspective of scientism, we should sound the alarm against ‘science gone stupid’.
The sad fact is that, however miuch we may love science, it goes haywire in this area, for good Kantian reasons.
The number of wrong ideas in this essay is staggering. Violence in religion? Fine. But recall that Jainism/Buddhism invented non-violence as a doctrine, vegetarianism as a spiritual diet, and world renunciation as a tactic against worldly involvement and its violence.
This kind of charge should be turned on science itself: what field has killed and tortured more animals and on the scale of science since the scientific revolution. Science is a desperately violent methodology. Etc,…
Two can play this game.
The question of violence in religion has to be put in the context of civilization as a whole. Do the accusers here renounce war? If not, then their acceptance of violence in civilization is on a par with violence in religion. I fail to see how these new atheists can think it logical to pursue this vein in all seriousness.
I should note that Harris’ purloined phrase ‘killing the buddha’ is itself skirting the violent, and there are plenty of communists who will be glad for this thinking as they exterminate buddhists in Tibet (with nary a protest from the new atheists).
Harris does a dangerous thing here: he makes science look stupid. Is it? I am getting worried.
Dawkins on ‘atheists and evil’
MacDonald continues his attack on Orr’s review of Dawkins
Here is a quote from Dawkins, in that post:
What matters is not whether Hitler and Stalin were atheists, but whether atheism systematically influences people to do bad things. There is not the smallest evidence that it does.
I am not a theist trying to expose the evil ways of atheists, but Dawkins’ statement here is quite false. The term ‘systematically’ lets Dawkins off the hook.
But the reality surely is that people who become atheists often drift into moral confusions, often with not a little help from Nietzsche whose influence has probably destroyed atheism.
Dawkins’ statement should be examined in the light of the influence of atheist beliefs in rise of fascism and Nazism. Such complacency on the part of Dawkins is typical.
More on accomodationism
The (Lack Of) Conflict Between Science and Religion in College Students
Commentary: http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2011/05/29/another-study-supposedly-proving-sciencefaith-accommodation/
Let’s see Xtian accomodationists (who use the term ‘religion’ to refer to their own religion) try their tactics with Buddhism, with respect to Xtianity, and with respect to science.
Buddhists are the other problem for these accomodationists.
Spetner: ‘No evidence there is enough time for evolution’
No evidence that there is enough time for evolution
Lee Spetner
A Conversation with Leakey and Johanson
Human Evolution and Why It Matters: A Conversation with Leakey and Johanson
By – - YOUTUBE – AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
http://richarddawkins.net/videos/631857-human-evolution-and-why-it-matters-a-conversation-with-leakey-and-johanson
Pseudo-science and racism at Psychology Today
http://www.ukprogressive.co.uk/pseudo-scientific-attack-on-black-beauty/article12333.html
Psychology Today, an academic journal that examines emerging thought and literature in the field of psychology, published on its website blog an article with this title earlier this month. This is another demonstration of the importance of being ever vigilant in confronting assaults on the human dignity of Africans and African Americans. It is notions such as this that serve to justify thee subjugation of their sociological standing in society
.
Oceans in Ancient Global Cooling
Significant Role Played by Oceans in Ancient Global CoolingScienceDaily (May 28, 2011) — Thirty-eight million years ago, tropical jungles thrived in what are now the cornfields of the American Midwest and furry marsupials wandered temperate forests in what is now the frozen Antarctic. The temperature differences of that era, known as the late Eocene, between the equator and Antarctica were only half of what they are today. A debate has long been raging in the scientific community on what changes in our global climate system led to such a major shift from the more tropical, greenhouse climate of the Eocene to the modern and much cooler climates of today.
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