With real evidence, we are all better placed to communicate the truth behind the news.… Read the rest
All entries by this author
Statistical Errors in a Serial Murder Case 
Apr 7th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
If you multiply p-values together, then harmless incidents rapidly become dangerously unlikely. … Read the rest
Hard Wordes in Plaine English
Apr 7th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Scott McLemee on a new edition of the first English dictionary, published in 1604.… Read the rest
Grayling’s Question Time: What is Time?
Apr 7th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
There has never been a time when philosophers were not interested in time.… Read the rest
Simon Blackburn on Baudrillard
Apr 7th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
No sooner has the real moment gone than the work of memory begins, selecting, massaging, spinning.… Read the rest
PrayerFlight
Apr 6th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
What a special weekend for our airplanes to be in the air, interceding on behalf of the people of Ohio.… Read the rest
Jesus and Mo Test Dawkins’s Truth Claim
Apr 6th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
And triumphantly falsify it, so ha.… Read the rest
Sharia Gangs Bully and Threaten in Islamabad
Apr 6th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Creeping campaign to Talebanise Pakistan has spread from the Afghan border to the capital.… Read the rest
Human Rights Activists Rally in Islamabad
Apr 6th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Protesters urged authorities to curb the rise of extremist forces promoting intolerance and violence.… Read the rest
The New Humanism Yet Again
Apr 6th, 2007 | By R. Joseph HoffmannAt the end of April 2007 a “gala celebration” is being staged at America’s oldest University – the one in Cambridge, Massachusetts – to honor thirty years of the Harvard Humanist chaplaincy. The event designs to bring together friendly but competitive visions of the unruly congeries of ideas we call, for simplicity’s sake, “humanism.” To spice things up, the Harvard organizers have decided to use the sexy phrase “New Humanism” to describe the agenda. and while I do not know at the time of this writing precisely what will be said by the wise and wizened who attend the conference, I can guess, and I can guess I’ll be right.
The new humanism will be called a bright and bold … Read the rest
The universal enemy
Apr 6th, 2007 9:29 am | By Ophelia BensonOh good. What a relief. How kind of Walter Isaacson to reassure us all on this very material point – Einstein hated atheists! Oh, whew! Hooray hoorah kaloo kalay, I was so afraid he might have thought atheists were okay but no, no, no, hallelujah, he made sure to say otherwise so that we in 2007 would not be put off our feed with worry.
… Read the restBut throughout his life, Einstein was consistent in rejecting the charge that he was an atheist…And unlike Sigmund Freud or Bertrand Russell or George Bernard Shaw, Einstein never felt the urge to denigrate those who believed in God; instead, he tended to denigrate atheists…In fact, Einstein tended to be more critical of debunkers, who seemed
Just the questions, ma’am
Apr 5th, 2007 12:59 pm | By Ophelia BensonAnd, not for the first time, there’s Howard Gardner.
‘In his new book Five Minds for the Future, he argues that the 21st century will belong to people who can think in certain ways.’ One of the five is ‘the respectful mind, which shows an appreciation of different cultures.’ Why is that called the respectful mind? Why isn’t it called the appreciative mind? Or why isn’t the explanatory phrase ‘which shows respect for different cultures’? (Because minds can’t show things, for one reason. Okay but besides that.) I don’t know for sure, but my guess is that it’s because unconditional respect for (undefined, unspecified) different cultures is slowly but steadily being made mandatory. Which is stupid, in a … Read the rest
Parting of the ways
Apr 5th, 2007 12:40 pm | By Ophelia BensonMatthew Parris is amusing.
During Holy Week we are treated to a variety of decent-sounding people in print and on the airwaves explaining that religion – or “faith” as they now prefer to call it – is basically all about shared moral values, making the world a better place and gaining a proper sense of awe at life’s mystery…Such faith sounds so reasonable. Churlish nonbelievers like me are made to feel it is we who are being arrogant, dogmatic, closed-minded. How can we be so sure?
Beeeeecause (as Parris of course goes on to point out) that’s not in fact what religion or ‘faith’ really is all about, that’s how.
… Read the restYou are living, dear reader, at a watershed in
Happy Cruciversary
Apr 5th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
It is the culmination of a plan set in motion at the dawn of time. And what a plan it is.… Read the rest
Walter Isaacson on Einstein and ‘Faith’
Apr 5th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
He did believe in God – not the usual God, but – um – er – well he had a sense of awe.… Read the rest
Not Fashionable to be Christian
Apr 5th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Christians depicted as zealots or people who haven’t caught up.… Read the rest
Block Your Ears to Cooing Voices
Apr 5th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
After 2,000 years of a bad marriage, faith and reason must agree to part, citing irreconcilable differences.… Read the rest
Howard Gardner on the Need for Five Minds
Apr 5th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Disciplined, synthesising, creating, respectful, ethical. Respectful? Yes.… Read the rest
Ugandan Adultery Law Thrown Out
Apr 5th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Because it treated women and men unequally; sections of inheritance law also void.… Read the rest
Dutch Philosopher Spending a Week in a Barrel
Apr 5th, 2007 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Parts of a week anyway. Well, a few hours most days.… Read the rest
