New York, New York!!!
Wow! We’re here at last. I’ve successfully navigated the airports to get here, and the subways and sidewalks to get from my new home to work. It is quite different from the small college town life, that’s for sure.
We flew all night. I absolutely understand the meaning of red-eye now. I think I missed the entire cabride from the airport to our West Village flat because I couldn’t keep my eyes open. So, what did our first day in New York City consist of? Late breakfast and sleeping. I remember unpacking at some point in there between bed and food.
Filed under Esoterica | Comment (0)Thanks, Dad
My dad sent me an essay by an historian named Paul Johnson that was published in Forbes magazine, entitled “Thoughts on the existence of God.” Fine, I thought, fun to read. My dad usually sends me interesting tidbits. I noticed that my dad had written a note on the page… “’God’ is interjected in those explanations that are incomplete.” I was intrigued and went on to read the essay, which basically summed up why the author believed that there had to be a God.
Suffice it to say that the first paragraph made me rabid, and the rest of it whipped me into a frenzy. Why dump on science to prove that you believe in God? It is not necessary!!!
So, Mr. Johnson says that Darwinian evolution is “becoming increasingly vulnerable as the progress of science reveals its weaknesses.” Is that supposed to be a bad thing? I thought science was about change, and revising your theories as new evidence appears. I loved his next statement. “One day, perhaps soon, it will collapse in ruin.” Don’t be so melodramatic, Mr. Johnson. How about scientists agreeing that Darwinian evolution, or natural selection, is not the only process leading to change over time. Oh, hey, wait! They already pretty much do. Sorry to defeat your main thesis, but I don’t know that just because natural selection can’t explain all of evolution that automatically means God is involved.
I think my dad was right.
Tags: Science, Radio, technology, Podcast, Podcasting, News, Media
Filed under Esoterica | Comment (0)All in the Mind?
I’ve recently started reading Steven Pinker’s book, The Blank Slate. He begins by tracing the history of the philosophical and psychological arguements for human nature being a product of nature vs. nurture. While we now consider the debate to be fairly moot, Pinker argues that it is the history of the debate that has shaped our current social system. Interesting idea.
However, I got to thinking when he brought up the issue of the Ghost in the Machine. It’s the concept that we are in essence a duality of Mind and Body. Each existing separately; the mind as the ghost and the body as the machine. To believe in the ghost, it seems to me that one would have to lump the brain in with the body, everything physical should make-up the machine. The Mind then is an independent factor that exists separately from, yet in conjunction with the corporeal existence.
Tags: Science, Radio, technology, Podcast, Podcasting, News, Media
Filed under Esoterica | Comment (0)Sex-volution
This week I have spent some of my time (a lot, really) reading and replying to posts on the TWIS forum relating to evolution and religion. It is amazing how fast the discussion turns into mudslinging as soon as a creationist steps into the fray. It’s mean on both sides; the evolution proponents who berate the short-sightedness of the creationists, and the creationists, who defensively attack evolution like cornered animals. It eventually turns into name calling if no one steps in to create rules for the discussion. I hope that I can foster the forum to be based on open inquiry of science, not dogma, with a focus on observable, testable, and repeatable evidence.
Anyway, with all this evolution talk on my brain, I can’t help but look for evidence in everything I read. Recently, it seems to be all about love and sex in the science headlines, and the stories raise some interesting questions about the evolution of human sexuality and love. Are we hard-wired to experience love and romance? Is this wiring something that developed in an ancestor of most modern-day mammals? What controls the ability to experience these intense feelings? Are some individuals better able maintain close relationships simply as a result of their genes? While these questions may not have been answered, there is some interesting evidence and debate on the topic.
Tags: Science, Radio, technology, Podcast, Podcasting, News, Media, Sex
Filed under Esoterica | Comment (0)A little learnin’
So, I’m spending a few days in DC for the orientation to the AAAS Mass Media Fellowship that I received. It’s hot and humid. In fact it just started storming… like thunder and lightning kind of storming. WILD!!!
I have a hard time believing that I’m just a block away from the White House, and mere miles away from the Pentagon. It’s pretty neat to be so close to where so many important decisions and deals are made.
I spent the day in the AAAS headquarters with 19 other students from around the country. Every one with visions of science and writing in their futures. While most of the other students will be heading out to their fellowships immediately following this orientation. I just get to go home. I’m getting all excited, only to put it all on hold until my fellowship starts in the fall. Someone get me a cold shower.
Filed under Esoterica | Comment (0)General Consensus
In the world of the stem cell, the only consensus that may ever be reached is that its discovery opened a great big can of worms. On the christian right, we have George Bush our president threatening to veto any bill giving more federal funding to stem cell research. In the research sector we have South Koreans making amazing advances in the development of stem cell technologies. Will ever the twain they meet? Here’s a brief overview.
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