stevebowen58.blogspot.com
Atheist MC: February 2015
http://stevebowen58.blogspot.com/2015_02_01_archive.html
Don't just sit there: THINK SOMETHING! Thursday, 26 February 2015. Free speech in the balance. In a recent survey. Of 1000 British Muslims conducted on behalf of the BBC it was found that 80% of those asked found cartoon depictions of their Prophet Mohammed “deeply offensive”. It’s easy to forget that blasphemy was a crime in this country. There illustrates. Neither is it possible to legislate for offense generally as we are all occasionally offended by something. And while it’s unfortunate that as...
stevebowen58.blogspot.com
Atheist MC: March 2015
http://stevebowen58.blogspot.com/2015_03_01_archive.html
Don't just sit there: THINK SOMETHING! Tuesday, 3 March 2015. John Gray strawmans new atheism.again. Philosopher and polemicist John Gray has a lengthy piece in the Guardian. Titled “What Scares The New Atheists” which in his usual straw manning style attempts to argue against his own cartoonish concept of secular humanism. I am certain that Dawkins, arch new atheist and author of the selfish gene. Gray, like many New Atheist bashers, also misses the point about our beef with religion. Ignoring the first...
stevebowen58.blogspot.com
Atheist MC: August 2014
http://stevebowen58.blogspot.com/2014_08_01_archive.html
Don't just sit there: THINK SOMETHING! Friday, 29 August 2014. Is there something about Islam? The panel at WHC Oxford with moderator Jim Al-Khalili. Earlier in August I attended the World Humanist Conference held in Oxford. Among the many interesting sessions and presentations one of the most thought provoking was a panel discussion called “Is there something about Islam? 8221; in which Alom Shaha. Debated whether Islam is peculiarly prone to violence and fundamentalism. Radical Islam however is buildin...
thewarfareismental.net
Emendations Re: Competing Models Of Consciousness | TWIM
http://www.thewarfareismental.net/b/2009/11/competing-models-of-consciousness
Emendations Re: Competing Models Of Consciousness. November 19, 2009. In the past weeks we’ve devoted a couple of discussions to exploring consciousness. Here. We’ve discussed what I then called the. But the more I think about it, the more I realize those words are insufficient and flawed. I want to begin with as few assumptions as possible. Using the word. We’ve already biased our research. So, what do we do when we don’t necessarily know what we’re looking for? And in that regard I intend to do my best...
thewarfareismental.net
Asteroids, Cathode Rays & Requisite Knowledge, II | TWIM
http://www.thewarfareismental.net/b/2009/11/asteroids-cathode-rays-requisite-knowledge-2
Asteroids, Cathode Rays & Requisite Knowledge, II. November 18, 2009. Image source: tutornext.com. As far as the accuracy of the experiment allows, we can conclude with certainty that no electrostatic effect due to the cathode rays can be perceived. Proceeding on faith that the results were in fact accurate. Scientists were able to justifiedly conclude the absence of an electrostatic effect. Was insufficient, this time in the form of insufficient technology, which led to a false negative result. Today, i...
thewarfareismental.net
More Attempts At Defining Consciousness | TWIM
http://www.thewarfareismental.net/b/2009/10/more-attempts-at-defining-consciousness
More Attempts At Defining Consciousness. October 28, 2009. Well, I’ve run into some unexpected difficulty getting my hands on a certain article, so the article I wanted to post yesterday is going to have to wait some more. This afternoon I’d just like to offer the following to see how people of varying worldviews react, and if anybody can add anything or make any other valuable suggestions. A few posts back I took a stab at defining. While I hesitate to speculate on what consciousness is. We find the abi...
stevebowen58.blogspot.com
Atheist MC: Panpsychism: cosmic consciousness and the entropic elephant.
http://stevebowen58.blogspot.com/2015/01/panpsychism-cosmic-consciousness-and.html
Don't just sit there: THINK SOMETHING! Friday, 30 January 2015. Panpsychism: cosmic consciousness and the entropic elephant. The hard problem of consciousness. Is, well…hard. It is very difficult to reconcile self-awareness, and experience of qualia. With the squishy materialistic brain stuff that appears to produce it. From a naturalist perspective the usual solution is emergence. 8220;Consciousness is how information feels when being processed”. Us with the brain a mere vessel. That this is not the...
stevebowen58.blogspot.com
Atheist MC: One of our own?
http://stevebowen58.blogspot.com/2015/02/one-of-our-own.html
Don't just sit there: THINK SOMETHING! Tuesday, 24 February 2015. One of our own? By self-avowed atheist Craig Hicks is causing such consternation and debate among the atheist community. Deah Barakat, his wife Yusor Abu-Salha and her sister Razan Abu-Salha were gunned down last Tuesday in a condo about two miles from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. On a Facebook page in his name, Hicks shared a number of anti-religion posts. A banner about 'anti-theism' is prominent on his page. So far t...
stevebowen58.blogspot.com
Atheist MC: March 2014
http://stevebowen58.blogspot.com/2014_03_01_archive.html
Don't just sit there: THINK SOMETHING! Tuesday, 11 March 2014. The birds are singing to Yahweh according to Rabbi Sacks. Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks. Has fallen into the “Darwin was wrong about some things” trap to deliver a puerile homily about taking . Yes, once again Radio 4’s Thought for the Day. Well, Lord Sacks has decided that the account of a revised understanding of the sexual mores of birds in a new book The Wisdom of Birds. Being developed around the same time. This is both understandable an...
stevebowen58.blogspot.com
Atheist MC: On Charlie Hebdo
http://stevebowen58.blogspot.com/2015/01/on-charlie-hebdo.html
Don't just sit there: THINK SOMETHING! Tuesday, 13 January 2015. Myself included) have never read it. But it’s inevitable since this attack, aimed directly at the most treasured values of liberal democracy, has ramifications far beyond the limited circulation of one Parisian publication. Charlie Hebdo post attack cover. Should be salutary enough to deter us from pursuing that path. Nearly a week on from this tragedy, as the remaining staff of Charlie Hebdo are about to release a defiant new issue. 8220;M...