[Links]
[links] Link salad in the laneways
A rather thorough report on my Au Contraire writing workshop
Vintage ad: Universal Food Chopper, from 1890s
Nasruddin and Road Rage — A Sufi teaching story that touches on how we drive.
Microwave-Powered Rocket Ascends without Fuel — A scale model is further proof that beamed-energy propulsion works. Shades of Project Orion?
Is Believing In God Evolutionarily Advantageous? — Hmm. (Via garyomaha.)
Hitchens Replies With Wit and Logic — Christopher Hitchens has a new piece at Vanity Fair about his fight against cancer and the craziness it is inspiring in others. He cites this blog post by one of the righteous…
Noted anti-global-warming scientist reverses course — The liberal conspiracy claims another victim, thanks to those pesky facts biased against conservative beliefs.
Republican Runs Street People on Green Ticket — This is how you run elections when you’re a morally and intellectually bankrupt party. If Republican ideas and policies could stand on their own, this stuff wouldn’t be needed. Are you proud of your Republican party?
?otD: Have you ever seen a wallaby?
9/8/2010
Writing time yesterday: 0.0 hours (AussieCon 4)
Body movement: tourism walking to come
Hours slept: 9.25 (solid)
This morning’s weigh-in: n/a
Yesterday’s chemo stress index: 3/10 (fatigue, peripheral neuropathy)
Currently (re)reading: The Judas Rose by Suzette Haden Elgin
Posted: 3:04 pm Tue September 07 2010 |
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You are reading the blog of Jay Lake, speculative fiction writer and author of hundreds of short stories, many novels, and winner of the John W. Campbell Award.
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Cora
September 7th, 2010 at 8:17 pmThe “religion as an evolutionary adaption” article strikes as yet another variation on the old chestnut “But without religion, how can we have morality?” I have always disliked that argument intensely, because it basically assumes that all atheists are thieving, lying, cheating, murdering bastards and that all religious people would be, if they weren’t afraid of their deity of choice punishing them. Which is unfair towards both religious people and atheists, because I believe that the overwhelmingly majority of people are not bastards.
My main issue with the currently trendy evolutionary psychology is it’s used to give new credibility to some very old prejudices. Mostly, evolutionary psychology is used as an explanation to explain that sexist stereotypes and clichés are all right (“Of course, all men want to bang as many 20-year-old blonde and buxom supermodels as possible – it’s evolution. Of course, women are too dumb to do math and science and navigate – it’s evolution.”). And the evidence offered by its proponents usually is a whole lot of speculation with very little basis in fact.