David on Charlie

A BBC program in which David Attenborough discusses Charles Darwin and The Tree of Life. (available in HD)




. playlist url .

It boggles the mind that people should ignore all these wonders and prefer to live in fear of eternal retribution (except that they believe that we, and not they, will suffer thus).

The Yawning Chasm

The NYT, in Evolution Book Sees No Science-Religion Gap, had the following to say of the National Academy of Sciences' third book on evolution and the creationist mythologies:

"But this volume is unusual, people who worked on it say, because it is intended specifically for the lay public and because it devotes much of its space to explaining the differences between science and religion, and asserting that acceptance of evolution does not require abandoning belief in God."

Unfortunately, the yawning chasm between rationality and creationism necessitates such a footbridge.

What's left once a person reconciles evolution with religion?

Plenty.

Deism, or moderate theism, or Catholicism, or Judaism, or Buddhism, or whatever other religious tradition of choice is compatible with science. There's also nonliteral interpretation of the best bits of the Bible as moral allegory, religious ritual, religious community, music, art, literature, and, most wondrous of all, the fabulous world of opening one's eyes to . . . understanding and appreciating the world.

Imagination is much better stimulated by recognition that modern theories of biological evolution offer the best explanation for the observable fact of biological evolution. Yes, Virginia, there really is a chimp ancestor in your family tree! Grounds for rejoicing. Yes, you really can count bacteria not only as your distant ancestors but also as the power houses of your cells and the photosynthetic machines that capture Ra's munificence. More grounds for rejoicing.

In an ideally rational world, it would not be necessary to pander to religious sensibilities so that some might open their closed minds to the wonders of reality. In an ideally rational world, there would be no need for supernatural mythologies or fantasies of special creation. In an ideal world, the nation whose Founding Fathers considered it expedient to entrench separation of Church and State would have honored and protected that prescient ethos by providing an educational system commensurate with the nation's wealth. In an ideally rational world, the wall would have been built higher rather than ignoring the fundamentalist sappers who were tunneling under the wall.



Brochure from NAS (pdf)





atheism, biological evolution, creationism, deism, education, fundamentalism, intelligent design, religion, science, supernatural, theism,

Tour d'Ivoire

I've been listening to the interesting discussions at the Beyond Belief 1 conferences. Several speakers have, I think correctly, identified current anti-science attitudes as not merely stemming from religion per se, but also from poor education in science and in critical thinking. The recently released PISA test results certainly confirm this for 15 year olds in America.

One speaker seems to believe that people are merely confused about whether or not to believe scientific findings, and consequently that better conveying rational information about science will enable these people to assess scientific claims for themselves.

This led me to wonder what planet this fella lives on. Earth obviously, but that segment of Earth referred to as the ivory tower*:

"a sheltered, overly-academic existence or perspective, implying a disconnection or lack of awareness of reality or practical considerations."

How do otherwise intelligent people come to be so oblivious of the mental machinations of the average person? Academics are protected from the guy in the street, that's how.

I don't recall which scale was used for the report in which I read that the average IQ of university graduates is 110 (Wechsler, 74th percentile; Stanford-Binet, 73rd). Harvard medical students averaged 135 (W, 99th; S-B 98.5th). There's lots of controversy about IQ tests, yet they are good predictors of academic performance. The scales are standardized with a score of 100 for the 50th percentile. Most people clump around the hump at 100.

Extrapolating, I assume that most graduate students average somewhere between 110 and 135. This would mean that most professors probably come into close contact with students who are brighter than at least 70% of the population, and who are motivated to think and to learn. No wonder this professor had an inflated estimation of the level of science-interest of the population-at-large. He certainly must not have taught science to reluctant, hormone-obsessed teenagers.

The members of religious congregations are quite capable of learning "we do not believe in evolution because goddidit." Not a difficult concept to master, particularly since goddidit requires no comprehension of complicated mechanisms – virtually no comprehension of any kind, really.

In most Western countries, the average person may understand little about the mechanisms of evolution, but at least they were officially taught that there is abundant evidence that biological evolution occurred. However, in America, the teaching of creationism in high schools has only been illegal since 1987, so the bulk of the population has been taught only misinformation. No wonder science in America is in some trouble.

*Apparently the term "ivory tower" takes its current meaning from a poem by Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve.




biological evolution, critical thinking, education, religion, science, IQ

Accounting for Accountability Accounts

I lost count of the number of times that Jeffrey Dahmer and his father Lionel say 'accountable' during the MSNBC interview below (top video).

Unemotional Jeffrey Dahmer and his repressed father are interviewed by Stone Phillips. Dahmer says of his murdering young men, "My relatives had no knowledge of what I was doing."
Dahmer avoids explaining his killing young men and boys (during blackouts) by answering a question concerning any abuse (violent arguments in the home) that Dahmer might have suffered by stating, "I wonder about those things, but as far as I'm concerned they are all excuses. . . they didn't know I was doing it, so they are not accountable for what I did." (Not knowing about someone's actions does not equate to total lack of responsibility.)

Jeffrey describes becoming accountable for his behaviors after his father sent him creation "science" material that convinced Jeffrey that he was accountable to God. "Evolution cheapens "life" because we die."

Lies in Genesis can usually be relied upon for more stupidity than the juxtaposition of dinosaurs and hominids. Here's their contribution to 'discussion', a quotation that they probably fondly imagine says it all:

‘If a person doesn’t think there is a God to be accountable to, then—then what’s the point of trying to modify your behaviour to keep it within acceptable ranges? That’s how I thought anyway. I always believed the theory of evolution as truth, that we all just came from the slime. When we, when we died, you know, that was it, there is nothing…’ Jeffrey Dahmer, in an interview with Stone Phillips, Dateline NBC, Nov. 29, 1994.

What rot! Death makes life all the more precious because death is permanent. Jeffrey's parents 'disciplined him' and he felt accountable to them, but sought control of his own life once he had left home. Once free of observation, he set about his cannibalistic spree. Father, Lionel, whom Jeffrey has verbally exhonerated of accountability, says that he "feels guilty".



How very moving (to nausea) when Jeffrey and his father say that they came back to God after the events and Jeffrey's imprisonment.

The religionist fundamentalists will no doubt interpret this interview as a sign that only religious belief can confer a sense of moral . . . accountability.

Let's take a look at the likeliest mechanisms at play when Jeffrey repeatedly "woke up" beside the dead bodies of boys and young men he had killed. When Jeffrey says that he woke up to events for which he was amnesic, he was describing dissociation. Most serial killers come from severely abusive childhoods, typically suffering physical/sexual/emotional abuse in the home or extended family. This man was not merely a conscience-deficient sociopath, Dahmer admits to losing time during which he was dissociated and not in executive control of his actions.

Why? Young children cope with repeated traumas by repressing conscious memory of the events, but the experiences dramatically affect their psychological development. Ultimately, traumatized elements of the dissociative personality system emerge to reenact the sexual/physical activities that generated those aspects of the personality. The chief personality may not be consciously aware of the activities that culminate the sequence initiated under the influence of uncontrollable urges.



Considering the fact that Jeffrey Dahmer's pattern fits the typical profile, it struck me that he was evasively providing a well rehearsed account of his supposedly God-found accountability. What a fecolith that is! It's was so convenient to claim to obey God once he'd been imprisoned.



Contrary to what creationists on Creation 'Science' Evangelism may want to believe, the fact is that a boy from a family in which his "disciplinary" parents 'lost religion' around Dahmer's crimes, suggests that they were religious while Dahmer was growing up. And look at the result!

"Here's what makes that really funny: Dahmer's father is a creationist who has lectured widely on creationism and raised him as a creationist. Oops." Ed Brayton

Exposure to religion during his childhood (whether or not Jeffrey ever accepted the fact of biological evolution or was merely lying about this too) did not leave Jeffrey acting accountably. Religion failed. Creationism after the fact is merely pandering to the interviewer, and probably to prison authorities, and probably to God so that he can avoid Eternal Damnation. Dahmer was beaten to death in prison on November 28, 1994.

"The FBI gave the standard profile of a serial killer, He is a person with few friends. He became much more religious just before he started murdering people. After reading all the available studies I could find and studying all the articles in the newspapers for over 30 years, I find what is most outstanding is Serial killers were sexually inhibited by their strong religious upbringing. Nearly all serial killers are very devout men who were raised by members of Pentecostal sects, fundamentalist Catholics or were 'hard-shell' Baptists and Methodists." Studies after study show serial killers are a product of this environment, not genetics. You can find much information on serial killers being sexually inhibited and there views on sex and religion at http://www.crimelibrary.com/serials/what/whatlust.htm." P.O. Brian, Serial Killers

Elsewhere Jeffrey Dahmer: "Darwin made me do it." : Dumbest Anti-Evolution Screed Ever? : Jeffrey Dahmer and Answers [Lies] in Genesis . 'Creation Science' Makes a Difference (indeed it does, Dahmer was raised by a creationist).

Theidiotic comments: That Darwin made serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer do it : Can America Survive Evolutionary Humanism? :

On Conversions : Captive Conversions :

Google videos on Dahmer : YouTube videos on Dahmer :

* From the Lies in Genesis website, in a typical fallacious argumentum ad verecundiam: "Some modern scientists who have accepted the biblical account of creation: Dr. Lionel Dahmer, Analytical Chemist




audiovisual, biological evolution, creationism, darwinism, DID, religion, videos, Jeffrey Dahmer,

A War on Science

Here's a BBC Horizon examination of the culmination of the Scopes 1925 Monkey Trial in the Kitzmiller vs Dover School Board case. Well worth watching if you can understand those with a Scottish accent.

Lawyer and born-again Christian fundamentalist Phillip E. Johnson reveals his motivation in the power conferred by teaching of the selected creation mythology. Stephen Meyer, a CSC lackey, reveals the search for stooges for IDiocy, including irreducibly deceptive Michael Behe and 'filter' mathematician William Dembski. These perfidious, creationist associations resulted in the reworking of Paley's Blind Watchmaker argument that has been repackaged as the sleight of mind dubbed 'intelligent design'. Dawkins correctly states that IDiocy is only finding a place amongst those "who don't know anything."







audiovisual, biological evolution, creationism, intelligent design, science, David Attenborough, Richard Dawkins, Kenneth Miller, Michael Behe, William Dembski, Phillip Johnson, Stephen Meyer, BBC,

IDiocy on Trial

By "IDiocy", I refer to "intelligent design" creationism.



Yes, after careful consideration of the evidence, I have already reached the conclusion that intelligent design creationism is religiously motivated, pseudoscientific mumbo-jumbo.

November 13, on PBS's NOVA: Watch Online : Nova : Darwin's Predictions : Defining Science : In Defense ofEvolution : Fossil Evidence : WGBH's EvolutionWeb site : Teachers' Domain Resources : Board vs. Teachers : Senior ExecutiveProducer's Story : The Judge Speaks : Video & Audio Extras : In Defense ofIntelligent Design :

h/t Pharyngula: "Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial".




atheismaudiovisualbiological evolutioncreationismeducationfundamentalismintelligent designsciencevideos

Kevin Padian

On FORA.tv, a conversation with Kevin Padian, one of the witnesses for science at the Dover trial. Kevin Padian is a University of California Berkeley professor and curator of the Museum of Paleontology. This is not a particularly exciting conversation because both the interviewer and Padian have a very calm style, but it is an interesting conversation nontheless.

Audiovisual INDEX

AVs are slow to load, so use this menu to choose the presentation that interests you:

Atheism:
□ Atheism in Canada :
□ Atheist Call to Arms :

□ Atheism 101 :

□ Atheism: Debunking Sociopolitical and Biblical Misrepresentation :

□ A War on Science : BBC Horizon examines 'intelligent design'.
□ Ayaan Hirsi Ali at the AAIC :

□ Creationist Distortions : the faked video that so delighted science-ignorant creationists
□ Creationist Hoax Exposed : how the Australian creationists faked a video in an attempt to discredit Richard Dawkins

□ Dan Dennett at AAIC '07

□ David Attenborough on Atheism :

□ BBC Profile of Richard Dawkins :

□ Dawkins: CNN interview :

□ Dawkins: God Delusion and Beyond :
□ Dawkins: Enemies of Reason

□ Dawkins: The Root of All Evil
□ Glad, glad, glad
□ Hitchens refutes McGrath
□ Hitchens vs McGrath
□ IDiocy on Trial : intelligent design creationism on trial; PBS, Nova, Nov. 13, 07
□ Jonathan Miller – The Atheism Tapes – Richard Dawkins
□ Jonathan Miller – Brief History of Disbelief
□ Jonathan Miller – Brief History of Disbelief II
□ Jonathan Miller – Brief History of Disbelief III
□ Julia Sweeney Sees the Light : An amusing reaction to a visitation by youthful Mormon "elders".
□ The Nonexistent cannot be Great
□ Ode on an American Turd
□ Of Blogrolls and Banners
□ Operation Spread Eagle
□ Pat Condell
□ Pray to Elvis : at least Elvis did exist.
□ Small Town, Small Minds, Big Problem : unChristian intolerance in rural America

Humor:

BritCom
□ Beyond Washoe – meet Gerald

Frasier :
□ Funniest Silent 5 Minutes
□ High Crane Drifter
□ Hoisted on his Own Sword
□ How do you say 'Fiasco' in German?
□ I Spy
□ Niles' influence?
□ Psycobabble Theme

People!
□ I don't know . . .

Religious Satire
□ These men died for us . . .

Vicar of Dibley
□ Alice in Everwonder Land

Miscellany
□ Hitler Rap
□ Pat Condell on Mitt mitt die üntergärmënts
□ You might have to be one . . .

Morality:
□ Dawkins on Scripture :


Miscellaneous:
□ deviantART animation of stick figure doing battle with Flash
□ Manikin Moonwalk a bird with da moves.

Music:
□ Allegri Miserere
□ Aranjuez
□ Laura Branigan Self Control
□ Kate Bush
□ Celine Dion & Barbra Streisand - Tell Him
□ Haris Alexiou Apopse Thelo Na Pio
□ Kitka Wintersongs
□ KD Lang, Lorretta Lynn, Kitty Wells, and Brenda Lee Honky Tonk Angels
□ Cindi Lauper, Celine Dion, Roy Orbison I Drove All Night
□ Lascia Ch'io Pianga
□ Loreena McKennitt & Leahy
□ Master Soundtrack
□ Sarah McLachlan Angel
□ October Song
□ Orinoco Flow
□ Beth Orton
□ Pokarekare Ana
□ Spem in Alium
□ Survivors' Songs
□ Tango
□ Wayfaring Stranger

Science:
□ A War on Science : BBC Horizon examines 'intelligent design'.
□ IDiocy on Trial : intelligent design creationism on trial; PBS, Nova, Nov. 13, 07
□ Kevin Padian on evolution

atheism, audiovisual, videos

Atheist Call to Arms

Richard Dawkins: An atheist's call to arms:

Dawkins has become controversial because he has spoken up against nonsensical religiopolitical propagandism. Religionists and Creationists have become accustomed to having the stage to themselves (with the too quiet exception of most who are in possession of a good education in science). Dawkin contends that it is no longer sufficient merely to reiterate scientific truths about the universe and biological evolution, but also to throw a critical light onto religious mythology.

Dawkins' pithy comments are too accurate not to have elicited an emotional backlash from religionists. This timely 2002 lecture was Dawkins' invitation to the intelligentsia in TED's American audience to join the OUT Campaign. As Dawkins' points out, atheism is on the rise in the US and is positively correlated with IQ and educational level.

"Let's all stop being so damned respectful!"

atheism

Creationist Hoax Exposed

The actual question was posed much later in the footage than the fake creationist overvoice suggests: The question was, "Can you give an example of a genetic mutation of an evolutionary process which can be seen to increase the information in the genome?"

This is a question that requests predictions from now to later. The genome has changed through evolutionary time, and we can see the traces of that change in accumulated differences, for example, in the genes coding for identically functioning but structurally modified proteins. We can see the traces, for example, in gene duplications that are present in organism higher up the evolutionary scale but absent in more primitive organisms.

The problem with the question is that we cannot know whether genetic variation that we observe now can be expected to lead to species diversification. Organisms display a range of genetic differences between individuals of the same species, yet only time will tell which of those genetic endowments might confer survival advantage to its bearer and hence persist and prosper in the future. That would be like looking at a newborn infant and speculating on the appearance of his or her great-great-great-grandchildren.

atheism

David Attenborough on Atheism

A gently expressed, logical rationale for believing that only natural forces have shaped life on this planet.

I have admired Attenborough since I first saw a very dated program called Life on Earth. He later went on to make and narrate some other wonderful documentaries on natural history.

atheism