Blogs

Interview with E. O. Wilson

Good interview with Edward O. Wilson.

There is another good double interview with Edward O. Wilson and James Watson on Charles Darwin here.

Unthinking academics and terrorism

Blaming men and masculinity for everything evil in the world has become such a commonplace prejudice that it has infiltrated academia.

Unthinking academics (of which there are many) are not able to escape this Zeitgeist and thus they cannot produce objective or nearly objective research nor conclusions.

All of the following quotations are from a Sunday Herald article called: Criminologists say London bombers were motivated more by masculinity than Islam.

Foreskin causes AIDS

According to many news sources today, new investigations conclude (whenever you see something along the lines of - new investigations conclude xxxxx, it is time to turn on your critical filter) that: Circumcision may stop millions of HIV deaths in Reuters Science and Circumcision 'could cut HIV risk' in BBC NEWS

User potential

Hi all users and guests of zenSCI,

Lately I have not had much time to write things here at zenSCI. I know, of course, that the rest of you people are probably as busy as me - so I understand perfectly why none of you are writing anything here.

But then again, as I looked through all the new profiles that had been made since my last visit here - I thought: So much knowledge, so many interesting subjects. In the profiles of course what you get is a keyword, which only sufices to trigger your appetite for more.

I am sure many guests and users here at zenSCI would love to know more about what lies behind subjects such as 'fire ecology' and 'space robotics'! I for one sure would. So do not be shy, write a blog, an article or whatever about your subject and your relation to it, put it into societal perspective if you want. Tell us about it :-)

Are men really just vain Demons mr. Robb Willer?

Welcome to the first issue of 'Popular Pseudo Science' in which we will undertake the unpromising feat of making sense of a study conducted by Rob Willer of Cornell University.

(willer's studies have been well recieved - though still unpublished in a peer-reviewed magazine - by the general media because it tells us what we want to hear - that men are pathetic creatures with fragile ego's. But, alas, the role of science is not to play up to the lowest common denominators of it's time. The role of science is to tell us something trhuthfull about the world.)

This study, allegedly about masculinity and overcompensation, has all of the characteristics of popular pseudo science and so will serve as a fine example here in this first issue. Characteristics are

Myopic Greenpeace

Organisations like Greenpeace often like to present their position and views as progressive, sustainable, and long-term wise. Not so in the case of the ITER fusion project in France. On their webpage the following title can be found:

Machines mimic life at Chicago's 'NextFest'

Battlesuits, drones, clones, and androids - anything to mimic, or improve upon, nature.

All of this can be found at Wired Magazine's annual NextFest, a carnival that showcases that latest in futuristic and sometimes lifelike technology.

Science according to Literature

From time to time we find really good descriptions of the proces of science in literature.

The following example by Robert M. Pirsig from the book "Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance" is one such good description.

Science Underpins Democracy

Science itself is not democratic. The idea that the earth is the centre of the universe, is not identical in value, to the idea that the earth revolves around the sun. Some descriptions of what reality consists of, and how it works, are more precise and adequate than other descriptions. Carefully collected and examined evidence from the world can often guide scientists in making proper conclusions, when deciding which descriptions are more precise representations of reality. The effect of this is that, in the long run at least, we move towards a more detailed and complete description and understanding of reality.

Relativism, Resignation and Arrogance

Today relativism is a highly popular doctrine in many circles. In the following essay I shall argue that relativism is a doctrine that is too often adopted because of resignation in the face of an extremely complicated reality. To many relativism offers a handy escape, albeit a dangerous one, as it allows its believers to turn their back on both natural and cultural problems. It gives the opportunity to deny the relevance of evidence and not to take opponents seriously in a dialogue. Hence relativism becomes arrogant. In the following I will focus on the fact that relativism is more at odds with universality and objectivity than it is with absolutism.

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