Bonding and meaning revisited

Nov 25th, 2010 2:36 pm | By

To expand on that post about feelings and meaning and science can’t from a few days ago. Another counter-example occurred to me – one that was touched on by people who mentioned postpartum depression, but not (that I saw, or at least recall) in detail.

Suppose the perinatal hormones hadn’t worked, or had worked the opposite way. Suppose Scott had felt a surge of not love and protectiveness but disgust and loathing. I think it’s fair to say we know what she would have done; she would have 1) done something to ensure her infant’s safety and well-being and 2) tried to fix her own response, via drugs or counseling. Why? Because of scientific knowledge about infancy. Because of Harry … Read the rest



Coyne’s cat contest

Nov 25th, 2010 1:50 pm | By

Jerry Coyne is doing a cat contest, and I’m one of the judges, chiz chiz, so bring out your felids as long as they’re domestic.

It’s going to be agony, though, the judging. First of all, I don’t have the Latin.* Second, they’re all beautiful and winsome and hilarious, so how can I choose?! Third, there is a kind of knowing that is needed for judging betwixt cats, and I haven’t been trained in it. Fourth, despite solicitation, no one has bothered to bribe me. Fifth, I am warm and kind and compassionate and I can’t bear to hurt the feelings of any cat or human by not giving the prize to her/him/it/them. Sixth, I have some kind of … Read the rest



Kasha Jacqueline at Oslo Freedom Forum *

Nov 25th, 2010 | Filed by

“People complained at school that I was not behaving like a proper African woman.”… Read the rest



Who will stand up to the superrich? *

Nov 25th, 2010 | Filed by

“How can hedge-fund managers who are pulling down billions sometimes pay a lower tax rate than do their secretaries?”… Read the rest



Thor Halvorssen on that UN vote *

Nov 25th, 2010 | Filed by

The resolution voted on in the General Assembly is significant for its clarity of message: “It’s okay to kill the gays.”… Read the rest



Nick Cohen on that UN vote *

Nov 25th, 2010 | Filed by

Rival dictatorial ideologies – African Nationalist, Islamist, Communist, crony capitalist – will sink their differences and unite in opposition to liberalism.… Read the rest



How to be kool

Nov 24th, 2010 12:53 pm | By

Martin Robbins alerts us to a new exciting red-hot totally hip yeeha thing where scientists get their pitchas taken with rappers and everybody suddenly understands how rad science is.

So here we are again, witnessing the isochronal cavalcade of embarrassment that is GQ’s annual ‘Rock Stars of Science‘ feature. Like a puppy trying to hump a leg, the idea is simple, and probably a bit wrong.

The concept arises from the tedious modern worship of even the most minor celebrities, paired with the idea that standing next to somebody cool can make you cool – a hypothesis comprehensively debunked by Tony Blair in 1997. From that, GQ extrapolate that making scientists pose awkwardly in the background of

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Start early

Nov 24th, 2010 12:40 pm | By

Baher Ibrahim notes that making little girls bandage their heads is creepy and stupid.

In general, the age at which Muslim girls in Egypt begin to wear the scarf has dropped. Back when I was in high school, very few female students wore headscarves. Today, my younger brother (who is 15) tells me that almost all the girls in his middle school wear a scarf. It hasn’t stopped there either, having caught on in primary schools.

Which of course means that it’s almost impossible for female students in middle school not to wear the bandages. (That thing is not a scarf.) Primary schools will end up in the same place.

Some suggest that I am overanalysing, and that the

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Get us, we are the more devout

Nov 24th, 2010 12:19 pm | By

You know…if you’re going to use massive power over the minds of people, you ought to do so carefully and thoughtfully. You ought not to use that power to wreck people’s lives for the sake of your power and celebrity. Wouldn’t you agree?

You would, but the Catholic church wouldn’t.

Papal comments on birth control began in the early 20th century, spurred partly by the emergence of new methods and also by the decision of the Anglican Church to allow exceptions to its no-contraception rule and the subsequent acceptance of contraception by other Protestant denominations.

Apparently the Catholic church wanted to show off by making a display of being more abjectly obedient to an imaginary god and its imaginary … Read the rest



Theologians puzzle over pope’s meaning *

Nov 24th, 2010 | Filed by

Catholic church opposed contraception because Protestant churches didn’t, and it wanted to be Special.… Read the rest



Little girls wearing hijab *

Nov 24th, 2010 | Filed by

Getting a little girl “used to” the hijab effectively obliterates the “free choice” element by the time the girl is old enough to think.… Read the rest



Martin Robbins on “rockstars of science” *

Nov 24th, 2010 | Filed by

Oh look, a scientist standing next to a rapper. That will make everyone think science is cool, right?… Read the rest



Unmarried women banned from using cell phones *

Nov 24th, 2010 | Filed by

They might use them to arrange “forbidden” marriages for themselves.… Read the rest



It is good to deplore, but you can do more

Nov 23rd, 2010 4:07 pm | By

I was thinking today about the famous split at CFI (it came up in my dispute with Nathan at Facebook), and I looked again at the Affirmations of Humanism. At the first two of them, actually, because I stopped there. Check out the second one.

  • We deplore efforts to denigrate human intelligence, to seek to explain the world in supernatural terms, and to look outside nature for salvation.
  • Well exactly. This is what I take gnu atheists to be doing! But exactly. Deploring efforts to seek to explain the world in supernatural terms is what we’re doing. So what’s the problem?

    I asked Nathan that, but more civilly this time, and got a very civil reply. We have different … Read the rest



    Panorama part 2 *

    Nov 23rd, 2010 | Filed by

    Islamic and Evangelical schools were allowed to opt out of the inspection system.… Read the rest



    Panorama on Islamic schools *

    Nov 23rd, 2010 | Filed by

    Note the muffled girls in primary school. Note hobbled girls trying to play football.… Read the rest



    Islamic schools in the UK *

    Nov 23rd, 2010 | Filed by

    Many use a Saudi Arabian government curriculum that contains anti-Semitic and homophobic views, not to mention subordination of women.… Read the rest



    A message about same-sex marriage *

    Nov 23rd, 2010 | Filed by

    Timothy Scriven notes: “This is not a small issue and we should not be patient.”… Read the rest



    When O’Hair smiles

    Nov 22nd, 2010 12:26 pm | By

    Ho hum. The “help help those god damn pesky atheists are ruining everything” campaign keeps rumbling along. Christopher Stedman covers the “interfaith” outreach branch, and we already know who covers the “how is this helping?” branch; now we have a new branch, the “skepticism isn’t atheism” one, courtesy of Jeff Wagg.

    I can see how Vic Stenger’s talk could be appropriate for a skeptics conference, but this really looks like an atheist conference to me…In fact, it looks like an anti-Christian conference.

    Aha – the ever-popular move from atheist to “anti-Christian” – the ever-popular insinuation that disagreement with religion and religions is actually hatred of and aggression against religious people. The ever-popular pretense of superior niceness while in fact making … Read the rest



    Oh noes! Atheists at a skeptic conference! *

    Nov 22nd, 2010 | Filed by

    Atheism is “harming the cause.”… Read the rest