April 25, 2012
Published by admin at April 25, 2012
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Get a Brain

Life extension by using stem cells or cybernetics to fix or replace organs is all very well, but it doesn’t help us if our brain decays. Our memory of who we are and the processes that result in our consciousness all reside in our brains. Brain goes, we go. So […]
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April 6, 2012
Published by admin at April 6, 2012
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The One True God

I was travelling along the road to Helensvale the other day when a bright light did shine upon me from Heaven and a voice as thunder spoke to me: “Hear the words of the One True God!” Then I was surrounded by fiery beings whose countenances shone upon me like […]
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March 18, 2012
Published by admin at March 18, 2012
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Lies, Damned Lies, and Creationism

This is the gist of my recent reply to a post on Objectivism Online about debating creationists, which thought might be of interest to others who encounter those pesky creatures: Arguing with creationists – that way lies madness. Many years ago I had an extended argument with a creationist (by mail – […]
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October 27, 2011
Published by admin at October 27, 2011
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A Theist Review

I came across an interesting review of The Australian Book of Atheism recently, from a Catholic perspective by Frank Mobbs. The review is thoughtful (he actually read the book!) but naturally critical. My fellow contributors can answer for themselves, but the comments on my chapter “Good Without God” raise some issues […]
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October 9, 2011
Published by admin at October 9, 2011
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Life Extension Progress

Two recent advances have brought life extension closer to reality. First, on the cloning front, scientists have finally succeeded in generating viable human embryonic stem cells from cloned cells (nuclear transfer). There is a way to go yet as the technique relied on retaining the recipient egg’s own haploid nucleus […]
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October 9, 2011
Published by admin at October 9, 2011
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Yay for Us!

At school we learn about the epochs of geological time where for whatever reason, the character of the Earth changes: the Cambrian, the Jurassic, the Pleistocene etc. Some scientists are now saying that we have entered a new epoch, the Anthopocene: The Age of Man. “Humanity, they contend, can be […]
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September 2, 2011
Published by admin at September 2, 2011
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Rational Rioting

A recent Scientific American article on the British riots claimed that “contrary to popular wisdom, mobs are not mindless. In fact, they act rationally—a characteristic that suggests ways to prevent riots.” If you go through the reasoning, what it amounts to is: we need to stop rioting, but rioting is […]
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August 16, 2011
Published by admin at August 16, 2011
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Suicides, iPhones and Numbers

A recent New Scientist article mentioned the problem the company that makes Apple’s iPhones etc had a while ago, where they got into trouble because of a “spate” of suicides among their workers, blamed, of course, on the company. It went on to say that the number of suicides in the year […]
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August 14, 2011
Published by admin at August 14, 2011
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Scientific Myopia

Science reports: Figuring Out What the Debt Agreement Means for Science As the ink dried last week on the hard-fought budget agreement between the Obama Administration and Congress that raised the U.S. debt ceiling to avert a government default, federal science agencies, universities, and researchers were left wondering what it […]
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