Wayne Rossiter: If the first story was one a religious kid would trust because it involves a known biblical character (Joseph) and God’s miraculous work, that will affect subsequent stories about Joseph.
Month: March 2019
MIT prof was smarter than God
She smartened up when she realized she wasn’t that smart. In the world of Chaitin’s number, we hope people will start to be more careful. Onward!
Logic spaghetti: Who created God?
Tapscott: What are the most difficult questions to answer? Solid candidates are those which by virtue of how they are posed eliminate the only logical and correct answers. (Introducing mathematician John Lennox)
Kirk Durston: In defence of experimental science
I am not aware (and I’ve thought long about this) of a single conflict between faith in God and experimental science.
Did complex societies predate moral gods?
Sometimes an argument from Naturalism Inc. becomes too complex to follow. Here’s just such an argument: The appearance of moralizing gods in religion occurred after—and not before—the emergence of large, complex societies, according to new research. This finding upturns conventional thinking on the matter, in which moralizing gods are typically cited as a prerequisite for […]
Eating fat, not meat, led to bigger human-type brains?
Theories about the evolution of the human brain are basically a war of trivial explanations. It’s like blaming World War II on indigestion, only monstrously bigger.
Eric Metaxas interviews Michael Behe
Media personality and author Eric Metaxas talked to him in his university’s home town in Pennsylvania: Eric Metaxas interviews biochemist Michael Behe on “the new science about DNA that challenges evolution” as told in Behe’s book, Darwin Devolves Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,561 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) 9:50 am EST #1 in Developmental Biology (Books) […]
Researchers: Experiment turns up no evidence of theoretical particle, the axion
Is it theoretically possible that the axion is so small that it is not individually measurable by any foreseeable technique but the mass of axions has an enormous effect?
It is possible to demonstrate that AI will never think as humans do
Based on what we know of how algorithms work, it can be demonstrated mathematically that algorithms cannot deal with non-computable concepts: There is another way to prove a negative besides exhaustively enumerating the possibilities With artificial general intelligence (AGI), if we can identify something algorithms cannot do, and show that humans can do it then […]
Peter Woit on the quadrillion possible rescues for string theory: “pure, unadulterated hype”
“ infinitely far from having any connection to conventional science”? Wow.
Quadrillion possible ways found to rescue string theory! Physicist Rob Sheldon comments
Sheldon: It suggests that 30 years of string theorists have been searching in the wrong part of phase space. That promising solutions are not in the “weak interaction” swampland, but in the “strong interaction” wasteland. By limiting their search, they claim they have eliminated many previous solutions, and are closing in on “the solution” as one-in-a-quadrillion. Their track record would say otherwise.
Culture of Darwinism: He is their “homeboy” now?
A tee shirt for Dad proclaims Tee shirt: Darwin is my homeboy
Reality check: Darwin was homeboy to the rich and famous, not to the inner city, and early followers imported his and their prejudices into biology, not the inner city’s prejudices.
More “junk DNA” that actually does something
The technical term is functional pseudogene and what it does in this case (creating sensitivity to pain) could be a mixed blessing, depending on your circumstances.
“Thinking” computers? Some logical problems with the idea
If an algorithm that reproduces human behavior requires more storage space than exists in the universe, it is a practical impossibility that also demonstrates the logical impossibility of artificial intelligence, Eric Holloway argues. He engaged in a three-part debate on the subject. Here’s the first part: The most basic sort of algorithm that can mimic […]
AI is not the artist’s new “robot overlord”
Software engineer and musician Brendan Dixon thinks AI is the perfect tool for creating social noise: If you believe all you read, AI is once again nipping at the heels of our humanity, this time by “creating” music all on its own (lyrics included). Soon we must submit to our “robot overlords.” Or not. The […]