Jonathan MS Pearce

Trump

Trump's CPAC Speech

I don't want to obsess too much about Donald Trump, but the man has lost the plot. Whether he ever had the plot is another discussion entirely… This video, although it admittedly edits for effect, does show him as being…well…completely unprofessional. Completely unpresidential. If I was

Trump

Psychiatrist: Trump's Pre-Dementia & Cognitive Decline Getting Worse

This is something about which we have laughed and joked to some time. However, this really may be a far more serious threat or issue than we have given it credit for. Donald Trump is the single most powerful man in the world, arguably. With great power comes great responsibility

determinism

Dan Barker's Free Will

Dan Barker's will Free Will Explained: How Science and Philosophy Converge to Create a Beautiful Illusion is a good read. These days, I love books that are short and easy to devour. This is certainly one of those books. Barker is essentially a free will illusionist who spends

China

Western powers using Christianity to 'subvert' China, says religious official

This is something I have been wondering about over the years. When I used to debate God's existence with my Tippling Philosophers buddies (we've moved past that now as the main Christian thinker has pretty much deconverted), my then hardcore Christian friend used to bring up

humanism

Humanist marriages 'least likely to end in divorce'

Humanist weddings are growing in popularity in the UK. Well, let's be accurate... Humanist weddings are growing in popularity in Scotland. David Cameron, in his infinite wisdom, and even though he fought for gay marriage in Parliament, put the kaibosh on humanist weddings for no discernible reason. Scotland,

brain

We Are All Meatbots

This is a guest post (reposting from his own website) from Wayne Borean for your delectation. A little Monday morning something. Hehe. OK, so I’m feeling crazier than usual, and I’m probably going to upset a lot of people with this, but humans are partially self-programming MeatBots. What

Personal

Off to Moscow for a Month

All this seems to have come about rather quickly! As many of you know, I was recently diagnosed with Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis for which there is no treatment on the NHS, unfortunately. It seems that, around the world, this version of multiple sclerosis is the forgotten relative. 85% of

Blasphemy

New Zealand scraps its blasphemy law

Well done NZ! Quite why any country would have such anachronisms is beyond me. From Humanists UK: New Zealand is set to become the latest country to scrap its blasphemy law, after a Bill on the law passed its third reading in Parliament today. The Bill now simply awaits the

determinism

Determinism and Moral Responsibility

Free will and determinism have been back on the blog menu over the last week or so. One commenter (Michael) asked me about morality/moral responsibility and determinism. I've written about this before and this piece is broadly taken from a previous blog article with a few additions.

determinism

Divine Foreknowledge and Free Will

So by knowing our actions, does God cause them to be? Depending on what you believe, yes and no, and here is the whole crux of the argument about whether we have free will or not in a religious context. There are a few ways in which it is claimed

determinism

Why the Free Will Argument Is More Important than the God Argument

As many of you know, I have a great interest in the free will debate, more specifically, the libertarian free will debate. I deny that an agent can really rationally and consciously choose to do otherwise in identical situations. What this means is that ever agent (you and I) will

determinism

Responding to Comments on Free Will/Determinism: Different Outcomes, Same Inputs.

I recently wrote an article that talked about how any research that finds a category of people are more likely to do some behaviour than the non-category (and this covers an awful lot of psychology, sociology and, well, scientific research and data) is necessarily negating libertarian free will. I would

secularism

Nonreligious Assert Religious Freedom in Invocations at PA House of Representatives

These small victories in terms of secularism and freedom of religion are important in reflecting trends and showing an overall change in US society. This is from the American Humanist Association: Attorneys at the American Humanist Association (AHA) have just filed an amicus, or friend-of-the-court, brief at the Third Circuit

Epistemology

What Is Rationality? How This Impacts Personhood and Other Debates.

We often see rationality popping up as a property that humans apparently exclusively have. This appears in several arguments, most notably those concerning personhood (and thus abortion) as well as famous arguments like CS Lewis' Argument From Reason. I am going to look at what rationality is and hopefully

AHA

Humanists Conclude Oral Arguments at the Supreme Court

From the American Humanist Association: American Humanist Association Senior Counsel Monica Miller has concluded oral arguments in defense of the First Amendment before the Supreme Court of the United States. Miller argued that the 40-foot-tall Christian cross in the center of a busy intersection in Bladensburg, MD is in violation

miracles

Some Religious Gullibility

These videos are remarkable. People can be really dumb. I love how in this first one, they are now properly mocking it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHyMAb-qsCA Here is the dead man eating, and being praised for it. I just can't, for the life of me,

determinism

How Any Behavioural Research Findings Negate Free Will

This is something that I've said many times in many places but I have never explicitly written it up in a blog post. Today, I am going to return to one of my favourite topics: libertarian free will (LFW). Data is a funny thing. Science seeks to understand

Economics

Tucker Carlson Gets Owned by Bregman

There is nothing particularly unusual about Tucker Carlson getting owned but this video is pretty fabulous. It never got aired, precisely because Carlson gets real pushback from Bregman. Luckily for us, Bregman recorded the exchange. You may recognise Bregman from his now viral outburst at the Davos conference. I will

Biblical Exegesis

Why Paul Didn’t Write More About Jesus - A Christian Rebuttal

Here is the latest Christian counterpoint piece from John Nelson (a Christian) in an ongoing conversation between an atheist (ex-evangelical, I believe) and a Christian theologian in training. The first and second guest posts (find them here and here) from Ed Atkinson of Wycombe Skeptics in the Pub, and occasional

COVID crisis

Pro-Life Argument from a Zygote's Internal Self-Organisation

Today, I want to look at a pro-life argument proposed recently by Vincent Torley. It looks at human development differing and being special on account of internal self-organisation. Let Vincent explain: Professor Condic goes on to explain (on page 11) that the embryonic development differs in one crucial respect from

extremism

Shamima Begum: On Returning Islamic Fighters

Anyone in the UK knows about the latest piece of divisive news (as in, everyone has an opinion, and they appear neatly split in two): Shamima Begum, a "Jihadi bride", who left the UK to join ISIS as a bride when she was fifteen, has just had a

Brexit

On Sovereignty: The UK

This is another guest piece from Rhys Chellow. He, like me, is very interested in politics, and in particular, the growing cluster...bomb that is Brexit. Over to him: Whilst Parliament has remained sovereign throughout membership of the EU, it has not always felt like that. (UK Government, 2017) Foreword

Economics

Trump and the Real Motivation for Wars

Modern wars for the arguably imperialistic United States have, according to many cynics, been about money. Yes, they cost a lot, but to offset the monetary costs of war (and the massive human tragedy they inflict), the possibility of bountiful spoils is truly influential. Indeed, the spoils of oil appear

Charles Darwin

Humanists Cheer Darwin Day Resolutions Introduced in the 116th Congress

This is from the American Humanist Association: American Humanist Association (AHA) leaders applaud the introduction of House Resolution 123 and Senate Resolution 63, also known as the Darwin Day Resolutions. Introduced by Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT) and Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), the resolutions commemorate the birthday of famed biologist Charles

AGW

Candace Owens, Climate Change and Motivated Reasoning

This Joe Rogan excerpt is well worth a watch: Motivated reasoning is a powerful thing: the impetus to believe something irrespective of evidence and often in spite of it, due to other influencing factors. Climate change is a prime example of this. People tend to "believe" in climate