An irregular exploration of the struggle between the power of rational discourse and the scientific method on one hand, and the forces of superstition and dogma on the other.
James Hrynyshyn is a freelance science journalist based in western North Carolina, where he tries to put degrees in marine biology and journalism to good use.
The Demon-Haunted World:
Science as a Candle
in the Dark,
by Carl Sagan
(A
review)
The Doubter's Companion:
by John Ralston Saul (Excerpts)
Skeptic Magazine: www.skeptic.com
Committee for the Scientific Investigation of Claims of the Paranormal: www.csicop.org
A poem by Yehuda Amichai:
The
Place
Where We Are Right
The Meaning of the
Island of Doubt
By doubting we come to inquiry; and through inquiry we perceive truth.
--- Peter Abelard
Undisguised clarity is easily mistaken for arrogance.
-- Richard Dawkins
As for evolution, it happened. Deal with it.
-- Michael Shermer.
September 29, 2006
Category: hard science
One of the biggest weaknesses with string theory, as an explanation for the way the universe is the way it is, and a possible way to bring together relativity and quantum physics, is the paucity of testable aspects. And if...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 12:37 PM • 20 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 28, 2006
Category: politics
There aren't too many cabinet positions in a modern parliamentary democracy that don't require a modicum of respect for the scientific method. But in an era of climate change, bioengineering and species depletion, the politicians charged with overseeing environmental policy...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 9:53 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 27, 2006
Category: Sci-culture
My first post after moving the Island to ScienceBlogs was a list of science-themed popular songs. Not too surprisingly, there really wasn't much from which to choose. But it now gives me great pleasure to introduce to you a new...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 9:38 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 23, 2006
Category: religiosity
Nature offers a publicly accessible summary of a new study that suggests a physiological explanation for, among other things, out-of-body experiences, ghosts, alien surveillance and "the creepy feeling that somebody is close by." This is yet another example of how...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 10:26 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 21, 2006
Category: politics
Anyone not already furious with the Bush administration's attempt to legalize torture as a general interrogation practice, rather than a case-specific emergency tactic, should first read this. Then, if you still think torture works, go back and read it again....
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 12:58 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: science culture
As a freelance journalist, I don't have the luxury of turning down too many assignment offers. I was sorely tempted a few months back, though, when the potential client kept suggesting I use Wikipedia as the primary source for a...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 8:53 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 20, 2006
Category: pseudo-science
Anyone tried to watch the new USA Network series Psych? The one in which a sharp-eyed guy pretends to be psychic in order to get paid investigation gigs with the local police department? Well, don't bother. For one thing, the...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 10:07 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 19, 2006
Category: science culture
Former Boston Globe science columnist and college prof. Chet Raymo has written a stirring ode to the value of ignorance in his latest Science Musings. Pascal, Priestly and Popper -- he covers them all. What he's done is put his...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 11:48 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 18, 2006
Category: punditry
Something is very wrong at Amazon.com. Maybe whoever programs the software that matches purchase patterns with new releases has a strange sense of humor, but the recommendation that showed up in my email box this morning suggests remedial action is...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 9:39 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 14, 2006
Category: climate
Canada's federal government, under the newly elected Conservative Party of Stephen Harper, seems to have adopted the dishonest propaganda techniques of the Bush administration as part of an attempt to wiggle out of past governments' commitments -- weak as they...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 3:42 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: climate
Much has been made of a good-journalism award handed by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists to Michael Crichton for his science-fiction novel, State of Fear. I wrote back in pre-Scienceblog days that the AAPG had gone off the deep...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 6:02 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 13, 2006
Category: evolution
At long last: scientific proof for intelligent design. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you, the banana!...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 1:52 PM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
And now, a guest post from a regular reader, Pierre in D.C.: Sci-Fi channel. Its name evokes Star Trek reruns, Battlestar Galactica cliffhangers, a forum for sometimes innovative television but also mediocre low-budget series shot in Vancouver. But for some,...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 10:36 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 11, 2006
Category: politics
Permit me to stray from the realms of science to briefly bring your attention to the results of a Discovery Channel/TIME magazine poll released last night, a poll that every decent American should be embarrassed to acknowledge. I can't find...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 8:52 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 9, 2006
Category: science culture
I've only read the few pages that Amazon offers on its website, but I'm convinced Frederick Crews' "Follies of the Wise" is the science book of the year. Jerry Coynes reviews it in The Times Literary Supplement. How can anyone...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 8:48 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 8, 2006
Category: science culture
And now, a little self-promotion. I have a piece up on Seed's online magazine, "The Anthropogenic Trap," in which I examine the warnings of some scientists who say we're taking the whole guilt thing too far. Here's the opening. This...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 7:52 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 7, 2006
Category: religiosity
I suppose it wouldn't be polite to celebrate the pending extinction of an entire culture, but what the heck? According to the New York Times, Zoroastrianism is about to go the way of Baal-worshipping. With "perhaps as few as 124,000"...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 2:12 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 6, 2006
Category: pseudo-science
Today's time-waster while I wait for the first coat of sky blue to dry in what used to be the study is reader-baiting. The targets are citizens of the U.K. The subject is the paranormal. I ask you, what's with...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 11:05 AM • 13 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 5, 2006
Category: cetacea
I'm a little late to this particular debate, but it's long been one of my favorite subjects, ever since I had a most intriguing encounter with a wild member of the species Tursiops truncatus, in Australia 16 years ago. More...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 1:50 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 2, 2006
Category: climate
Trust the gang at deSmogBlog to draw our attention to the latest discoveries in climatology:...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 10:20 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
