Why Evolution is True is a blog written by Jerry Coyne, centered on evolution and biology but also dealing with diverse topics like politics, culture, and cats.
by Grania
Neil deGrasse Tyson has at times been a little testy about the attention his atheism gets when he spends so much more time as a science educator; so when I saw this on Twitter yesterday:
At first I was all like:
But he was clearly on a roll, and now the story has gone viral being reported all over the place.
My verdict: he’s funny and he’s right. So, bro fist!
by Grania
In the wake of recent ponderings about whether AI is on the verge of becoming dangerous; here is a heartening story about a kangaroo punching a drone right out of the sky.
And I for one, welcome our new marsupial overlords.
by Grania
An Irish High Court has ruled that the clinically dead pregnant woman who has been kept on life support against the wishes of her family may be removed from those machines. Fortunately no-one wishes to appeal this decision, so her family, who already have suffered the trauma of losing a loved one will now be able to grieve in privacy.
However, much as I am relieved that this grisly case has ended this way, the pronouncements of the court give no comfort or reassurance. This appalling situation, and others like it, will happen again. The Irish government has stated that they do not intend to do anything about the state of abortion law in Ireland, and therefore a teenager raped by an uncle will be forced to bear his baby unless she can find a way out of the country to secure a termination; and a suicidal rape victim will be restrained until she can be delivered by C-section. A woman whose fetus is diagnosed with a severe abnormality will likewise be compelled to bear it or find the means to leave the country.
The outcome in the court is largely thanks to the testimony of the doctors, all seven of whom agreed that there was no prospect for the baby to be born intact. This is in no small part because the body is starting to decompose and infections are setting in. It is almost unthinkable that in a modern country medical staff have to actually contemplate doing something as absurd as maintaining a decomposing corpse for fear of prosecution under the country’s abortion law.
What the lawyers had to say gives one pause:
“Lawyers instructed to represent the interests of the woman argued the treatment should continue. It was argued, given she was a full-time mother devoted to her children, she would have wanted to allow every opportunity for the unborn to get to a position where it would be viable.”
Unless the lawyers managed the world’s first ever successful seance, one can only wonder at how they arrived at that conclusion.
“Lawyers representing the interests of the unborn also argued, given the woman is clinically dead, the unborn’s right to life surpassed her right to a dignified death.”
As grotesque and inhumane as this sounds, legally they are correct. Ireland will continue to be a country where pregnant women can expect the most bizarre, obscene and brutalizing treatment should anything happen that makes them wish to obtain a termination.
This is exactly what happens when a government legislates not for the benefit or well-being of its people, but to conform to religious ideology.
by Grania
A year ago, Seventh Day Adventist pastor Ryan Bell decided to spend a year living as an atheist, in his own words,
“I will not pray, read the Bible for inspiration, refer to God as the cause of things or hope that God might intervene and change my own or someone else’s circumstances.”
He’d apparently already had issues with his church over their homophobic campaigning against same-sex marriage causing him to resign his position. Hemant Mehta over at The Friendly Atheist set up a fundraiser to help him financially during the year.
After a year, a lot has changed. He has a new job teaching life skills to the homeless, has a new girlfriend and claims he is a ‘weak atheist’ and says he is “comfortable with not having all the answers about the meaning of life and why we are here”.
He officially announces on 1st January whether he will continue as an atheist or return to being a Christian. I can’t really imagine why anyone who self-describes as an atheist would go back to religion, unless perhaps they miss the community that goes with it. The community he left may not be particularly welcoming to him, but I have no doubt that there are probably many others who would be. Welcoming newcomers with love and happiness is pretty standard fare for any cult, whether it is of a benign or predatory predisposition.
There are plenty of reasons one can use to convince oneself that belief is the better option, as Dan Dennett noted in his 2007 AAI talk, but you can’t pretend to believe in something that you don’t. I wish Ryan Bell well, his choice is his own business and I hope it brings him happiness.
It’s Friday, but somehow it doesn’t quite feel like a Friday. I’m guessing today is Leftovers Day in many homes, which means plenty more yummy food. And on the subject of food, Hili has some thoughts on the merits of various items.
A: Would you like some gingerbread?
Hili: As bait a piece of cheese is better.
In Polish:
Ja: Chcesz piernika?
Hili: Na przynętę ser jest lepszy.
by Grania
From the European Space Agency’s Youtube channel comes this video showing timelapses of sunrises, auroras, docking sequences and city flyovers.
The notes say: Often while conducting scientific experiments or docking spacecraft Alexander would set cameras to automatically take pictures at regular intervals. Combining these images gives the timelapse effect seen in this video.
You can find out more about Gerst’s Blue Dot mission here.
by Greg Mayer
For Christmas, Peyton got a laser tower– a device that shines a randomly moving laser off a mirror. Peyton has long enjoyed playing with a laser mouse (hand held device, in the shape of a mouse). In fact, she seeks us out to play with it at about 8 PM each day, which is our regular time to play with the mouse. She let’s us know it’s time to play by assuming a crouched, hunting, stance in the living room, waiting like that till we get the laser mouse. Here’s her first reaction to the new laser tower.
She seems to be interested not just in the light, but in the device itself. She also notices that the device produces more than a single reflection, and she pays attention to the fainter reflection as well.
Here she is playing laser mouse.
Peyton’s holiday message to the world: “Meow.”