I’ve mentioned that I find skepticism and critical thinking to be slightly different concepts to a large extent, this is in perception only, where many people consider skepticism (or being skeptical or a skeptic) to mean cynical, disbelieving, dismissive, and so on. In current
Category: Reference
How to bake a human
Walkabout podcast – How to bake a human
I probably shouldn’t ever look at the searches that get linked here because of that title. Be patient, and it will become clear what it means.
I have, on numerous previous occasions, examined the various drives and emotions that we have from an evolutionary perspective – for instance, that morality is (almost certainly) an offshoot of inherent
Marvel of design
Walkabout podcast – Marvel of design
I delayed this one slightly to serve as my Darwin Day post ;-)
I freely admit that there are some really stunning things to be found in nature – in fact, that’s what many of my ‘Too Cool‘ posts are intended to highlight. Predator/prey relationships, highly
What’s not in a word?
Not too long ago, I picked up a book that I’d had, not exactly in my childhood, but in my earlier adulthood (which may yet be my childhood, at least if you ask some people, including me.) Tortured sentences aside, I’m finding it quite interesting to note how differently I react to the content now, two decades after my first read-through.
The book is called Mysteries of the Unexplained,
An open letter
This post was fostered by an exchange on Panda’s Thumb and simply needs to be said. This is an open letter to everyone who might call themselves devoutly religious, creationist, conspiracy theorist, new age or alt med supporter, paranormal or psychic believer, and so on. Or anyone that has ever used the phrase, in any form, “Science doesn’t know everything.”
It’s simple.
On the plus side
I apologize for being away so long, to all of those who noticed – to the rest of you, yeah, love you too. I’ve been busy with two online courses, a few different projects, and a minor illness. This is partially why I’m glad I’m not on any kind of posting schedule, even a self-imposed one: I’d be obligated to produce something that, more likely than
But how? Part nine: Agnosticism
Walkabout podcast – But how? Part 9
So, once again we depart a little from the typical structure of the ‘But How?’ series of posts. Most of the others examined how various aspects of life work without religious influence, but this one is going to delve
Two hooked at once
At the moment (at least as I type this,) two prominent atheists are tossing forth and back about the old question of what would, or could, constitute evidence for god. Michael Shermer at Skepticblog and Jerry Coyne at
Like we mean it
This is an extension of a much earlier post on meaning, or the universe’s apparent lack thereof, as well as Sean Carroll’s presentation from The Amaz!ng Meeting 2012. Both of those are virtual prerequisites for making the most out of this post, primarily because I don’t feel like reiterating a bunch of stuff.
So, given that there is no meaning to life, the universe, & everything
Intolerance will not be tolerated!
Walkabout podcast – Intolerance will not be tolerated!
Among a collection of concepts that are poorly understood and almost completely mismanaged in our current culture sits intolerance. Ask anyone if intolerance is good or bad, and I bet you’ll garner ‘bad’ as an answer the majority of the time. This is an indication