Philippa Foot (1920-2010) was one of the greatest moral philosophers of the 20th century, but she insisted that she was “not clever at all” and “very uneducated.” She was greatly influenced by the philosopher Elizabeth Anscombe, whom she described in an interview as “more rigorously Catholic than the Pope,” but she herself was a card-carrying Read More…
Month: October 2010
Clarification of the limits to self organisation
In the couple of weeks since I posted a summary of my work on self organisation, I’ve been hoping to receive criticism – none so far unfortunately. However, by trawling the web I did find some anonymous comments. While these were mostly of low quality, some recurrent objections have made me want to clarify a Read More…
Very Weak Anthropic Principle: Is the Principle going, going gone?
Friends tell me that British theistic evolutionist Denis Alexander of the Faraday Institute spoke at Baylor University recently on the “Very Weak Anthropic Principle.” I’ve heard of the Anthropic Principle, which essentially means that the universe appears fine-tuned for intelligent life. I’ve also heard of the Weak Anthropic Principle, namely, The weak anthropic principle states Read More…
Vid: The prequel to the Big Bang?
A friend points to a popular overview of current ideas in theoretical physics on pre-Big Bang cosmology, check out “What Happened Before the Big Bang?” a recent episode of the BBC’s Horizon series. It’s on YouTube in six parts, featuring Michio Kaku, Neil Turok, Lee Smolin, Andre Linde, Roger Penrose, and Laura Mersini-Hougton. What do Read More…
Finding: Bees Solve The Traveling Salesman Problem
It is a classic problem in the field of computer science: In what order should a salesman visit his prospects? The traveling salesman problem may appear simple but it has engaged some of the greatest mathematical minds and today engages some of the fastest computers. This makes new findings, that bees routinely solve the problem Read More…
Christian Darwinism: Now you see the “Creator” and now you don’t, but believe anyway
Well, believe something anyway, subject to rapid change. Once, years ago, I got a rather long phone call from a Christian evolutionist who wanted me to know that Darwin had added to the second edition of his Origin of Species the words “by the Creator” to imply that evolution was God-directed. That was supposed to Read More…
Theory of Everything: Putting failure to find such a theory to good use
Sure. Why waste a failure? In “The imperfect universe: Goodbye, theory of everything” (New Scientist, 10 May 2010, Magazine issue 2759), Marcelo Gleiser mourns, FIFTEEN years ago, I was a physicist hard at work hunting for a theory of nature that would unify the very big and the very small. There was good reason to Read More…
Which one is different: gravity, continental drift or evolution?
Newton’s theory of gravity, Wegener’s theory of continental drift and Darwin’s theory of evolution all have one thing in common: they have all been ridiculed as impossible at one time or another, because they lacked a plausible mechanism. So which theory is different from the rest? I shall argue that Darwin’s theory is unique, in Read More…
Extraterrestrials: They’re not there, but they must be !
Chris McKay, a planetary scientist at NASA Ames Research Center, reviews Paul Davies’s latest book, The Eerie Silence: Renewing Our Search for Alien Intelligence/Are We Alone In The Universe? , which argues that we should expand the hunt for intelligent life: McKay considers why we should look closer to home — perhaps even in our Read More…
No peace between “science” and “religion,” prof warns
The United States put men on the moon, mapped the outer planets, and generally leads in science. And it is more religious than other countries. So, if religion makes a difference, bring it on.
Prophet of Pointlessness sues Inventor of the Scarlet A
Richard Dawkins is known as the Prophet of Pointlessness because it was Dawkins who said: “[the universe] has precisely the properties we should expect if there is at bottom no design, no purpose, no evil, no good, nothing but pointless indifference.” Dawkins has something of a cult following and encourages his troops to wear a Read More…
Another Layer on the Information Story: Quorum Sensing
I was recently directed to a video lecture on the phenomenon of quorum sensing, the mechanism by which bacteria communicate with one another to establish the population density of micro-organisms of their own kind within their proximal environment. Bonnie Bassler, the lecturer in this video, does a masterful job of portraying fairly technical concepts and Read More…
Bacterial ‘High-Flyer’ Takes Center Stage In The Biotechnology Arena
The blogosphere is brimming with commentaries over the ever-visible changes that usher in the arrival of Autumn in the northern hemisphere (1). The beckoningly bright colors of the foliage on our trees and the seasonal appearance of pumpkins that adorn our porches and abound in the fields around our cities serve as reminders of a festive Read More…
Are machine-information metaphors bad for science?
According to Massimo Pigliucci and Maarten Boudry, the widespread use of machine-information metaphors is unfortunate and misleading. They complain about textbooks that develop metaphors to a considerable level of detail. As an example, they cite Alberts, who is often quoted for his analogy between a cell and a “miniature factory, complete with assembly lines, messengers, Read More…
It’s Amazing What Evolution Can Do!
This article here recounts the now documented ability of bees to solve the “traveling salesman problem” faster than computers. And to imagine that evolution has done this! My, what a wonderful thing it is!—-(he says with sarcasm dripping). By just doing something over and over again, with little changes accumulating, a ‘computer,’ better than any Read More…