Life Without a Net
science
What Does Science Say About Porn?
Pornography. To be sure, it’s a controversial topic. More than a few non-believers feel that pornography is harmful or degrading to women, or that it increases sex related crime. On the other hand, many believe that it is healthy, normal, and even has positive effects on both individual and societal levels. Thankfully, there is a … Continue reading
According to science, people are mostly good.
A recent study gives us a fascinating look into how humans “naturally” behave. Scientists collected data from the online game Pardus, which has over 300,000 players, and crunched it through a series of analysis techniques for complex systems. The game is one where the players are free to behave in any way they choose, with no … Continue reading
Reader’s Question: Atheist, where’s your proof?
A reader writes: Reading some of your stuff and having a hard time understanding it. Are you saying there is positive proff for the things that you believe. Evalotion, the begining of the universe,and all the other things Athiests hold to be gospile.Prove to me that their is not something somewhere that may have created … Continue reading
Religious “shared reality” hinders acceptance of scientific reality.
One of the difficulties in discussing religion is that it is not a single phenomenon. It is a belief system, a social structure, a moral paradigm, a set of rituals and practices, and a sense of identity. Typically, when a critic of religion advances a hypothesis about something that religion “causes,” he is shouted down … Continue reading
Church vs. Evolution and Homosexuality: Nothing New Under the Sun
There’s nothing new about the struggle over gay marriage and evolution. Fortunately, there will also be nothing new about the resolution to either struggle. History has told us everything we need to know about how this will play out in the end. Both of these issues represent a continual pattern in which religious dogma … Continue reading
Anger at God: The Scientific Facts
Anger at God is a difficult phenomenon to quantify. There are several limiting factors, including dogmatic stigma against admitting anger, which has been prevalent among theists in past research. Additionally, there are definition issues when atheists and agnostics feel anger. Can we discuss anger about God in the same study as anger at God? Finally, there … Continue reading
Conspicuous Consumption
It’s very easy for some of us to jump on the anti-consumerism bandwagon. We look at soccer moms driving their 1.7 kids 2.4 miles to school in their Ford Excessives, and we smugly note that there is not so much as a deep pothole to test their off-road capability. We rail against the excesses of … Continue reading
Why Life After Death is Absurd.
One of my greatest joys as a blogger is when I encounter an argument that is so good — so refined and elegant — that I have nothing to add. I’ve found one at Scientific American. Sean Carroll, of the California Institute of Technology, has explained why it is philosophically inconsistent to remain agnostic about … Continue reading
Born Again Christians Have Smaller Brains. Literally.
The Templeton Foundation needs to quit funding scientific research of religion. It seems like they’re shooting themselves in the foot at every turn. First they proved that prayer doesn’t work. Now they’ve proven that the more radically religious believers — evangelicals, born-agains, and the like have smaller brains than the rest of us. They literally … Continue reading
Christians Deny Fourth Grade Biology in California.
If it weren’t a serious concern for all Americans, Christian denialism of basic science would be laughable. The latest attack on reality comes from Redwood Heights Elementary School, in Oakland, California. It seems the science teachers there have had the unmitigated audacity to teach 4th graders that the animal kingdom is full of gender diversity. The … Continue reading
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