This is where I put things that I think might be of interest.
You can see what I'm listening to here.
If you want to buy me something, have a look here or here.
If you want to buy yourself something, I recommend the things I've listed here.
Pat Condell is right, as usual
via youtube.com
Is there anything more hateful than religion? If there is, I can't think of it.
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A good Apple parody advert for the Sun
via boingboing.net
Shame it's for the Sun, and also that it's supporting the wrong side in a losing battle (see buzzmachine.com for why), but I like this advert.
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Intelligence Squared debate on the Catholic Church in full(?)
It seems that the videos I included in an earlier post on this subject were an edited version of the debate, not the whole thing. Here's an unedited (or at least, less-edited) version. If you've already seen the shorter version, I think this one's still worth watching.
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'The Greatest Show on Earth: The Evidence for Evolution' by Richard Dawkins
I've just finished this book, and on the whole enjoyed it. It does seem slightly lacking in structure, with a rather unfocussed stream parts of the overwhelming evidence in favour of the 'theory' of evolution. Those pieces of evidence are fascinating though.
One important point Dawkins makes at the start of the book is about the confusion over what the word 'theory' means, quoting from the Oxford English Dictionary:
Theory, Sense 1: A scheme or system of ideas or statements held as an explanation or account of a group of facts or phenomena; a hypothesis that has been confirmed or established by observation or experiment, and is propounded or accepted as accounting for the known facts; a statement of what are held to be the general laws, principles, or causes of something known or observed.
Theory, Sense 2: A hypothesis proposed as an explanation; hence, a mere hypothesis, speculation, conjecture; an idea or set of ideas about something; an individual view or notion.
Those who reject evolution often do so in the belief that evolution is a theory in the second sense, when it is in fact a theory in the first sense, just like the 'theory of electromagnetism' or the 'theory of relativity.'
If you want to read the book, you can buy it here
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An interesting Radiolab episode on morality and how our brains work
Killing Babies, Saving the World
By Radiolab
November 17, 2009
To get this podcast started, Robert ambushes Jad with a question … a question we’ve all been dying to ask him since June 10th, 2009, when Amil Abumrad came into the world. But fear not, we didn’t do a whole podcast just to give the new dad a hard time. Robert talks to Josh Greene, the Harvard professor we had on our Morality show. They revisit some ideas from that show in the context of the big, complicated problems of today (think global warming and nuclear war). Josh argues that to deal with those problems, we’re going to have to learn how to make better use of that tiny part of our brain that handles abstract thinking. Not a simple proposition, but, despite the odds, Josh has hope.
Photo by: Flickr/ connieth
via wnyc.org
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White collar crime and double standards
I strongly recommend you listen to the latest three episodes of Radio 4's Thinking Allowed programme, on the subject of white collar crime.
While you might be worried about being stabbed or robbed in the street, the crimes you should really care about are the ones committed by people wearing suits, not hoodies. These criminals affect the lives of everyone and yet they are rarely punished, let alone censured. If you're not angry, you're not thinking hard enough.Programme 1 | Programme 2 | Programme 3
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