When Does Human Life Begin
Careful and reproducible observations and measurements in the bbiosciences have similarly forced us to repeatedly refine our traditional ideas about what life itself is and when it begins. Is a human being first a life when it emerges from the birth canal? Does it have any legal rights is as a person before then? Or is it a life at the stage of development where > it is able to survive independently outside of the womb even if it is removed from there early, as can happen naturally with pr...
notesIs it at fertilization, implantation, or after birth?
1973 Humanist Manifesto II - World Community
World Community
TWELFTH: We deplore the division of humankind on nationalistic grounds. We have reached a turning point in human history where the best option is to transcend the limits of national sovereignty and to move toward the building of a world community in which all sectors of the human family can participate. Thus we look to the development of a system of world law and a world order based upon transnational federal government. This would appreciate cultural pluralism and diversit... notesSection on World Community from the Humanist Manifesto.
1973 Humanist Manifesto II - The Individual
The Individual
FIFTH: The preciousness and dignity of the individual person is a central humanist value. Individuals should be encouraged to realize their own creative talents and desires. We reject all religious, ideological, or moral codes that denigrate the individual, suppress freedom, dull intellect, dehumanize personality. We believe in maximum individual autonomy consonant with social responsibility. Although science can account for the causes of behavior, the possibilities of indiv... notesSection on the Individual from the Humanist Manifesto.
Memes and Genes in Conflict in Modern Child-Rearing
Let us suppose that women who have many chidren are far too busy to have much social life, and spend most of their time with their partners and family. The few other people they do see are likely to be other mothers with young children who already share at least some of their child-rearing memes. The more children they have the mor eyears they will spend this way. They will, therefore, have little time for spreading their own memes, including the ones concerned with family values and the ple...
2 Women who have lots of children have less memetic influence, while women who are career-oriented have more memetic influence, but less genetic.
Notes from the "Defending Science Online" session
No direct quote for this meme. notesSummaries of important points and comments made by the speakers and audience for this session:
Chris Mooney
· How do we correct misinformation?
· “How I Started Worrying and Learned to Doubt the Blog”
· Internet is second only to TVF as source of information about Science and Technology
· Brendan Nyhan – people did not change their minds when presented with corrections that challenge their ideological point of view
· Cultural Cognition of Scientific Facts (Kahan et al): conservative libertarians were more likely to accept an article on reducing pollution when it included headline about nuclear power.
· “What Happened on Delibaration Day” Case _____
· Correcting George Will: “no global warming for more than a decade” bloggers tar and feathered him, Washington Post recognized the outrage and WMO wrote letter correcting him, but Will did not apologize or correct himself.
· Message First, Facts Second
Joshua Rosenau
· Blogs can’t correct Texas Textbooks.
· School Board science standards 1998 review “strengths and weaknesses” but they only wanted to review weaknesses of evolution.
· Texas Freedom Network, texasteachers.org, Teach them Science, NCSE
· Reach people with documentaries about Kansas, and convince them to speak at meetings.
· Audience Research: talk about medical advances from evolution, compatibility of faith and evolution
· Start Online, Move Offline.
· Make it hard to be dismissed: state why your opinion matters (member of the community, scientific background)
· If you’re in a coalition and you’re comfortable, you know it’s not a big enough coalition. – Bernice Johnson Reagon
Val Jones
· Science Based Medicine blog.
· 80% of Americans go online for health information, but only 20% consider the source.
· Case Study of Two Patients going to two different online sources for health information.
· True story: colon cancer survivor who found oncologist online, breast cancer who tried alternative medicines and died in six months
· Getbetterhealth.com
Comments:
· November 1963: Malcom X Black Revolution
· Margaret Sangers: planned parenthood
· Meam Goldman: talked about birth control when it was illegal
· George Will is into Toaster oven science, not real science. (look up article where George Will says he loves science)
· Van: academic centers need to set up social media centers. Shout down crazy people.
· Create peer-to-peer references that people can link to in response to people being wrong in comments sections.
· Van: Health Blogger Code of Ethics
· Astrology News: Astrologers said It’s true, but it doesn’t change any of the results. There’s a reason it doesn’t change any of the results.
· Mooney: quick heuristics to determine whether to engage someone, politely say, “I don’t want to have this conversation.”
