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.
April 30, 2007
Category: biology
No one should ever be granted a degree in science without being able to finishing this little gem of an aphorism: "It ain't what you don't know that gets you into trouble......
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 2:22 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: evolution
Evolution is not, in philosophical terms, teleological -- heading for some ultimate goal.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 9:51 AM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 28, 2007
Category: biology
Get ready for a big fracas among oncologists: "In June, U.S. researchers will announce the first direct link between cancer prevention and the sunshine vitamin. Their results are nothing short of astounding." (Globe and Mail, April 28). A lot of...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 10:10 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 26, 2007
Category: climate
Uncertainty does not, and never has, preclude action.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 4:48 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 25, 2007
Category: climate
A lot of us had forgotten how poorly the Clinton Administration scored on the environmental front.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 1:13 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 24, 2007
Category: religiosity
PZ seems to have swallowed an apocryphal report to the contrary.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 4:21 PM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: biology
Not that we understand everything about been neurophysiology, behavior and navigation. It's theoretically possible that cell phones are the problem, but it doesn't seem to me like there's enough science there to justify elevating it to a working theory.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 10:03 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 21, 2007
Category: religiosity
The cover of the latest issue of Maclean's magazine, which is the Canadian equivalent of Time or Newsweek, asks "Is God poison?" The secondary headline to the feature, which is online, says "a new movement blames God for every social...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 6:29 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 20, 2007
Category: science culture
People aren't stupid. At least they aren't all stupid all of the time. And then they can understand numbers, contrary to what the advocates of science framing would have us believe.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 7:18 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 17, 2007
Category: misc
I don't really care if those power lines, which are at the moment tangled in a tree lying across the street a few hundred meters from our house, can deliver a megawatt of power for a nanosecond. What I need is one or two kilowatts for several hours at a stretch.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 1:53 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 13, 2007
Category: biology
This is scary: The Independent has a story on research that hints at a way for women to produce their own sperm, from their bone marrow, and thereby take men out of the reproductive cycle entirely. Yikes....
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 10:39 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: climate
Jeremy Bruno, one our newest ScienceBloggers, hit the nail on the head with a post about the folly of assuming that we can do about something climate change by planting more trees, at least in the non-tropical regions. This is...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 10:15 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 12, 2007
Category: philosophy
We live in something resembling a sea of certainty, one that champions absolute truth, rewards those with the strength of their convictions, and dismisses anyone who dares challenge the dogma of the day.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 6:40 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 11, 2007
Category: ecology
In response to the news that the US Fish and Wildlife Service is even thinking about downlisting the Florida manatee from "endangered" to "threatened," I make this modest proposal: boycott Florida....
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 8:45 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 10, 2007
Category: superstition
I probably shouldn't get bent out of shape over this, but the intrusion of superstitious nonsense into the culture I have chosen to embrace just makes me so angry sometimes that I just have to exploit my blog pulpit to vent.
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 10:09 AM • 16 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 8, 2007
Category: climate
The effects are usually subtle, but almost always unnecessary and serve only introduce in the reader's mind more doubt that actually exists among the scientific authors
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 1:13 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 7, 2007
Category: science culture
We have to remember not to get carried away with the tools of rhetoric. In our zeal to tell our story, we have to stop short of making stuff up
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 7:22 AM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 6, 2007
Category: climate
"A lot of authors are not going to engage in the IPCC process any more. I have had it with them."
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 8:21 AM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 5, 2007
Category: politics
Every campaign it's the same thing. The editors and their reporting staff vow to pay more attention to the issues and focus less on the horse race. And every campaign that promise turns out to be as hollow as the...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 6:49 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 4, 2007
Category: ecology
Remember Chrissy Hynde? Maybe if you're old enough to have some Pretenders CDs in your collection. Otherwise, probably not. But she has enough name recognition to convince the editors of Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper to let her weigh in...
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 9:28 AM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
April 2, 2007
Category: climate
The U.S. Supreme Court says the Environmental Protection Agency has offered "no reasoned explanation" why it shouldn't regulate carbon dioxide, just like every other pollutant spewing from tailpipes and smokestacks. You'd think that would be a no-brainer, but ......
Posted by James Hrynyshyn at 11:38 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
