software engineering professor tells us why that’s not a realistic goal.
Ethics
The problem of anti-conscience, anti-theistic prejudice driving opinion, views and policy
In a current thread on the morality or otherwise on the Pagan practice of infanticide, frequent, objecting commenter BB gives us a summary of a common prejudice of our time: BB, 69: ” The fact that we no longer blindly accept discrimination based on the justification of freedom of conscience or freedom of religion is […]
Why neither weak nor strong scientism can ground ethics
Paul Copan: Science has built-in limitations, but some moderns have placed a burden on science that it cannot—and was never meant to—bear. Theology, philosophy, and other sources of knowledge not only help supplement what science can show, but they can also enrich our study of science.
Scientific quest for morality ends in moral nihilism
One outcome of morality becoming an uninspiring talkshop is that massive breaches of ethics are more difficult to address except in terms of the commotion they create, as opposed to the truths they violate or the individuals they harm.
The junk science of the abortion lobby
Pediatric neurosurgeon Michael Egnor : Fetuses not only experience pain but experience it more intensely than do adults: “Much of pro-abortion advocacy is science denial—the deliberate misrepresentation of science to advance an ideological agenda. Mary Ziegler, a law professor at Florida State University, wrote a misleading essay on that theme in the New York Times, […]
Logic and First Principles, 10: Knowable Moral Truth and Moral Government vs. Nihilistic Manipulation
One of the issues we must face is whether there is enduring moral truth that can be warranted to such a degree that it rightly governs our thoughts, words (especially in argument) and deeds. Where, given that we have an inner voice (conscience) that testifies to duty under moral law, as well as an inescapable […]
Darwinian Jerry Coyne muses on hashtag hate
These are deeply sick media. They no longer care about getting stuff right. I read recently about a thousand journalists losing their jobs and I wonder, how much worse is that than a thousand bartenders losing their jobs? Will society really be worse off?
Maybe “genetic superbabies” is the junior version of the Fountain of Youth
The CRISPR babies scientist has been fired. (If not worse.) From the news: “CRISPR-baby scientist fired by university” Investigation by Chinese authorities finds He Jiankui broke national regulations in his controversial work on gene-edited babies.” “He provoked international outcry last November when he revealed that he had used the gene-editing technique CRISPR– Cas9 to modify […]
But if humans are meat machines, how do ethics come into the picture?
Montanez: The AI and ML systems we have in place today are not sentient, but they are still dangerous. I am not worried about the future of AI, but I am concerned about the dangers artificial learning systems currently pose.
Science op-ed: Humans should get over the idea we are exceptional
Op-ed here. Further to the benefits of human extinction, there is the need to see humans as nothing special: Environmentalism is growing darkly anti-human. That misanthropy has also seeped into science. Vivid case in point: Science, one of the world’s most prominent scientific journals, just published a screed directed against human exceptionalism. The author, Eileen […]
Human extinction as collateral damage
Recently, Clemson U philosopher Todd May whistled through the system on the pros and cons of human extinction: May’s reasoning is fascinatingly nihilistic. He argues that human extinction would be tragic because we have a tragic flaw – our shortsighted use of the environment – which would be recitified by our extinction. “Humanity,” he says, […]
Is salad murder?
If we think plants are “equal organisms” with respect to humans, it’s not clear whether salad is or isn’t murder. Or whether murder is even a serious ethical problem. One may have the right precepts but defending them is awkward.
The Darwinians’ cowardice before SJW mobs explained in detail
They thought the mob was coming for someone else. Amid the dead silence in the combox following “The perfect storm: Darwinists meet the progressive “evolution deniers” — and cringe…, , EDTA pipes up 1, Well, how does it feel now that the universal acid shoe is on the other foot? And who on the evolutionist side […]
Naturalism and ethics: an inevitable contradiction?
Ken Francis, author, with Theodore Dalrymple, of The Terror of Existence: From Ecclesiastes to Theatre of the Absurd, writes to tell us of an effort to account for objective moral laws and duties form the perspective of pure naturalist atheism. He thinks it doesn’t work but you, the reader, shall judge: From Reasonable Faith: And […]
Michael Ruse update: “Morality is just an aid to survival and reproduction…
. . . And any deeper meaning is illusory.” Reader Ken Francis, author with Theodore Dalrymple of The Terror of Existence: From Ecclesiastes to Theatre of the Absurd, read our piece on Darwinian philosopher Michael Ruse explaining why he is not a new atheist. He thought other readers might be interested to know of something […]