08 NOV 2019 by ideonexus
Inculcating a belief is like charging a battery
Inculcating a belief is like charging a battery. The battery is thenceforward disposed to give a spark or shock, when suitably approached, as long as the charge lasts; similarly the believer is disposed to respond in characteristic ways, when suitably approached, as long as the belief lasts. The belief, like the charge, may last long or briefly. Some beliefs, like the one about Hannibal, we shall probably retain while we live. Some, like our belief in the dependability of our neighborhood cob...Folksonomies: belief
Folksonomies: belief
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notes09 AUG 2014 by ideonexus
Dan Nerren Secular Invocation
Let us open our hearts to the welfare of all people in our community by respecting the inherent dignity and worth of each person, and realize our differences of race, religion, and party affiliation are merely superficial. Our common humanity unites us all, and may we recognize that through our interdependence we share a common fate.
In order to achieve the greatest good as citizens of Tulsa, it is important for us to maintain an open mind, and honor and respect the human rights of each othe...Folksonomies: secularism
Folksonomies: secularism
1 notes
notesDan Nerren, founder of Atheist Community of Tulsa, made history by being the first atheist to give an invocation at the Tulsa City Council Meeting on August 30, 2012.
13 APR 2012 by ideonexus
How Scientists Differ from Clerics
When more evidence is garnered, whether through the analysis of additional characters, through the discovery of new specimens, or by pointing out errors and problems with the original data sets, new trees can be calculated. If these new trees better explain the data (taking fewer evolutionary transformations), they supplant the previous trees. You might not always like what comes out, but you have to accept it.
Any real systematist (or scientist in general) has to be ready to heave all that... 1 notes
notesThey must discard incorrect beliefs when facing new evidence.
31 JUL 2011 by ideonexus
Activities With Children
After my children turned 3, I employed some fun activities to improve executive function, roughly based on the canonical work of Adele Diamond. I would tell them that today was “opposite day. When I held up a drawn picture of the night, an inky black background sprinkled with stars, they were supposed to say “day.” When I held up a picture with a big blue sky inhabited by a big yellow sun, they were supposed to say “night.” I would alternate the pictures with increasing rapidity ...
1 Some activities the author engages with his children to teach them self-control.
08 JUL 2011 by ideonexus
John Locke VS Babies
Another great English philosopher, John Locke, posed another classical epistemological problem. What would happen if you miraculously restored the sight of someone who had been blind from birth? Would that person recognize all the objects he had known so intimately through touch, or would he have to painstakingly learn that the smooth, hard, curved surface looked like a porcelain teacup, or that the familiar, soft, yielding swells and silky hairs translated into a visual wife? Locke thought t... 1 notes
notesLocke wondered if a blind person given sight would need to learn how to associate this new sense with the others, but babies make these associations instinctively.
06 JUL 2011 by ideonexus
Experimental Methods for Understanding Babies
But why should you believe us instead of those benighted experts who thought babies couldn't really see? How can we say we actually do know what babies think? With the help of videotape, scientists have developed ingenious experimental techniques to ask babies what they know. One whole set of techniques has been designed to answer two simple questions: Do babies think that two things are the same or different? And if they think they're different, do they prefer one to the other? You can prese... 1 notes
notesMethods for knowing what's going on in a babies brain when exposed to various stimuli.
08 MAY 2011 by ideonexus
Science is an Equal-Opportunity Critic
Again, the reason science works so well is partly that built-in error-correcting machinery. There are no forbidden questions in science, no matters too sensitive or delicate to be probed, no sacred truths. That openness to new ideas, combined with the most rigorous, sceptical scrutiny of all ideas, sifts the wheat from the chaff. It makes no difference how smart, august or beloved you are. You must prove your case in the face of determined, expert criticism. Diversity and debate are valued. O...Science's error-correcting mechanisms hit everyone equally, but all ideas are welcome for scrutiny.
