Afarensis is a 3.5-2.8 million year old hominin from the Kada Hadar member of the Hadar formation in the Middle Awash, Ethiopia. He is approximately 41 inches tall, weighs approximately 60 pounds and has a cranial capacity of a whopping 410 cc (approximately). Afarensis is currently considered to be transitional between apes and humans and displays some traits of both. Since he spends a lot of time on the couch watching monster movies, some observers question whether he is an obligate biped (although no one has observed him climbing a tree). He also has a blog called 
I just finished reading Carl Sagan's The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (great book, everyone should read it). I don't plan on reviewing here, but I would like to mention a few paragraphs that I particularly admired.
We will always be mired in error. The most each generation can hope for is to reduce the error bars a little, and to add to the body of data to which the error bars apply. The error bar is a pervasive, visible self assessment of the reliability of our knowledge. You can often see error bars in public opinion polls... Imagine a society in which every speech in the congressional record, every television commercial, every sermon had an accompanying error bar or its equivalent.
Sounds good to me...
But Hess's just criticism [referring to the book Science and the New Age - afarensis] promptly deteriorates into complaints that parapsychologists "have had their careers ruined by skeptical colleagues," and that skeptics exhibit "a kind of religious zeal to defend the materialistic and atheistic world view that smacks of what has been called 'scientific fundamentalism' or 'irrational rationalism.'"
This is a common but to me deeply mysterious - indeed occult- complaint. Again, we know a great deal about the existence and properties of matter. If a given phenomenon can already be plausibly understood in terms of matter and energy, why should we hypothesize that something else - something for which there is as yet no other good evidence - is responsible. Yet the complaint persists: Skeptics won't accept that there's an invisible fire-breathing dragon in my garage because they're all atheistic materialists.
In its modern form this might be the "Dawkins is wrong because he hasn't studied my particular brand of theology" argument.
Part of the duty of citizenship is not to be intimidated into conformity. I wish that the oath of citizenship taken by recent immigrants, the pledge that students routinely recite, included something like " I promise to question everything my leaders tell me." ... "I promise to use my critical faculties. I promise to develop my independence of thought. I promise to educate myself so I can make my own judgments."
I also wish that the Pledge of Allegiance were directed at the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, as it is when the President takes his oath of office, rather than to the flag and nation.
Unfortunately the last person who took the oath of office had his fingers crossed behind his back, but that is still a good idea.
Now it's no good to have such rights if they're not used - a right of free speech when no one contradicts the government, freedom of the press when no one is willing to ask the tough questions, a right of assembly when there are no protests, universal suffrage when less than half the electorate votes, separation of church and state when the wall is not regularly repaired. Through disuse they become no more than votive objects, patriotic lip service. Rights and freedoms: Use 'em or lose 'em[emphasis mine - afarensis].
That is just a small taste of Sagan's book. I would strongly recommend that you read it - if you haven't already. I must say that I miss Carl Sagan. I have yet to read a book of his that I didn't like...
On an unrelated note - and I don't know how I could have missed this - Yesterday ScienceBlogs had a birthday! Yes, we are now a year old. Imagine the tantrums we will throw as we head into our terrible two's! Go visit the ScienceBlogger of your choice and wish them a Happy Birthday. Oh, and we ate all the birthday cake already, sorry!
Comments
Indeed, Demon-Haunted World is outstanding - I just finished reading it myself last week. It really is a fine example of why Sagan was such a potent popularizer of science.
I'm told Cosmos and Pale Blue Dot are good books too.
Posted by: Daniel | January 11, 2007 12:05 PM
Posted by: Mustafa Mond, FCD | January 11, 2007 12:19 PM
No, it's been awhile since I read Broca's Brain. I'll have to reread that chapter...
Posted by: afarensis, FCD | January 11, 2007 12:22 PM
Daniel - I have not read Pale Blue Dot yet. I have read Cosmos and recommend it.
Posted by: afarensis, FCD | January 11, 2007 12:28 PM
Mustafa,
I just finished reading Broca's Brain and completely agree with you!!
Happy belated birthday!!!
Posted by: Scott Little | January 11, 2007 2:51 PM