Promoting Science and Critical Thinking
Science within the early Islamic world flourished, and in many respects did not simply rival what was happening elsewhere, but it some aspects surpassed it, and yet today right across the Islamic sphere of influence superstition and ignorance generally prevails. What happened, what went wrong, and are there lessons we can perhaps learn from that decline? … Read more
So I attended a great talk last night that took place at Reading Skeptics in the Pub by Matt Parker, a mathematician, stand-up comedian, and skeptic. It sounded fun, and even if the maths went zooming over the heads of all, the standup comedy would still make it worth attending. It was indeed great fun, and Matt … Read more
If you are not sure what these new improved ten commandments are or where they came from, then you can read the posting I wrote about them here. Many “Christian” responses to them are what you might indeed anticipate and expect, and fall into categories that are best described as either “unthinking” and/or “impolite”, but I have come across one … Read more
Nobody ever thinks to themselves, “I believe in things that are simply not scientific or true”, but rather we all hold positions that we are sure are correct. If this is indeed the case, then why is there a prevailing confidence in some minds regarding ideas and thoughts that have been truly discredited? … now that actually is … Read more
Salon rang up Jonathan Sacks, interviewed him, and managed to spin some truly absurd religious claims into an article they have published. How much of what comes up is actually the thinking of Mr Sacks, and how much is actually the Salon author’s agenda via a bit of quote mining, I honestly don’t know, but either way it … Read more
If you happen to have a twitter account, then how do you decide who you will stalk follow? It can only ever be a subjective personal preference, and so when Science publishes a list of the Top 50 science stars on Twitter, I can’t help but ponder the thought – “how precisely do you measure … Read more