In “Dark matter found at last? WIMPS in space might hold the crucial clue, experiment finds” (Mail Online, September 19, 2011) , Rob Waugh reports, Scientists working on the Cryogenic Rare Event Search with Superconducting Thermometers (CRESST) experiment may have recorded evidence of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) – a crucial step towards solving the mystery of “dark matter”, a material thought to make up the huge majority of the matter in the universe, but which is extremely difficult to detect. The experiment is run from under the Gran Sasso massif in Italy. WIMPs are bodies which are the most popular current theory to account for “dark matter” – so-called because they are thought to react with normal matter, but Read More ›

Those who don’t get the two-or-more reference should look it up. For those interested in the more-than-three reference, check out the following from CBS news about the Capistrano home Bible-study dustup. MISSION VIEJO (CBS) — An Orange County couple has been ordered to stop holding a Bible study in their home on the grounds that the meeting violates a city ordinance as a “church” and not as a private gathering. Homeowners Chuck and Stephanie Fromm, of San Juan Capistrano, were fined $300 earlier this month for holding what one city official called “a regular gathering of more than three people” that requires a conditional use permit, according to Pacific Justice Institute, the couple’s legal representation. The Fromms also reportedly face Read More ›

(Photo of a gnu or wildebeest in the Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania. Courtesy of Muhammad Mahdi Karim and Wikipedia.) Do sapient beings deserve respect, simply because they are sapient? An affirmative answer to this question seems reasonable, but it also imperils the Gnu Atheist project of basing morality on our shared capacity for empathy. My short parable about two machines illustrates why. Let’s call them Machine 1 and Machine 2. Since this post is a parable written for atheists, I shall assume for argument’s sake that machines are in principle capable of thinking and feeling. Machine 1 is like HAL9000, in the movie 2001. It has a fully human psyche, which is capable of the entire gamut of human emotions. It Read More ›

To the modern student Aristotle’s physics and cosmology are likely to seem bizarre. His final causes, geocentrism, and sublunar and superlunar realms seem to have no correspondence with reality. But Aristotelianism makes more sense when one understands the historical context of ancient Greek thought. In fact Aristotle’s physics and cosmology describe and explain what we observe in nature. This is attested to by the fact that it was well accepted and influential for a millenium and a half. Eventually, however, as scientific understanding progressed, the Aristotelian explanations became increasingly strained. Aristotelianism became more of a tautology, as whatever was observed was described according to the ancient system. Fire, for example, had the quality of dryness and heat. But is this Read More ›

From here: EVENT DESCRIPTION In October 2011, William Lane Craig, arguably the world’s leading Christian academic apologist, will once again visit the UK for a series of lectures and debates. Following his highly successful Reasonable Faith Tour in 2007, Bill will again present the case for the truth of the Christian faith, responding both to Stephen Hawking’s recent book The Grand Design as well as to Richard Dawkins’ The God Delusion, which will then have just seen its 5 year publication anniversary. Richard Dawkins has thus far declined a debate, but the door is open to him defending his book The God Delusion on 25th October 2011 at the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford. PROVISIONAL SCHEDULE The details of the tour are Read More ›

  The inherent unpredictability of future scientific developments—the fact that no secure inference can be drawn from one state of science to another—has important implications for the issue of the limits of science. It means that present-day science cannot speak for future science: it is in principle impossible to make any secure inferences from the substance of science at one time about its substance at a significantly different time. The prospect of future scientific revolutions can never be precluded. We cannot say with unblinking confidence what sorts of resources and conceptions the science of the future will or will not use. Given that it is effectively impossible to predict the details of what future science will accomplish, it is no Read More ›