science

A collection of 401 posts

Personal

It's My Birthday, My Stem Cell Birthday...

Well, it's about time I updated you all on what's going on over here in Russia. I have been here 16 days now and I am in fantastic hands. The hospital is superb, being very clean, exceptionally well-organised and full of equipment that appears to be

atheism

Hope: What Offers the Most? Theism or Atheism?

It is a word that can often get confused or conflated with trust and faith and other such terms. But in this context, I would like to her think about what worldview (and I know atheism isn't technically a worldview, but just the sake of argument let me

science

AOC on Fire! Environment on the Agenda.

This. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9F9NDWshLs

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

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

Philosophy

Theology and Black Cats

“Philosophy is like being in a dark room and looking for a black cat. Metaphysics is like being in a dark room and looking for a black cat that isn't there. Theology is like being in a dark room and looking for a black cat that isn'

Cosmology

Sean Carroll, the Multiverse and Fine-Tuning

Sean Carroll's excellent book The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself contains some great segments and thoughts. This excerpt, from a section on fine-tuning, is no exception. It talks about how the multiverse is not some kind of ad hoc theory that

Personal

What Shall I Read During My Treatment?

I am booked into a clinic in Moscow for my HSCT (stem cell transplant) treatment on March 12th. I will be an inpatient there, including in isolation, for 30 days. Indeed, I am still feverishly fundraising for the cost of the treatment. Thank you sooooooo very much for the many

anti-vax

WHO Adds Anti-Vaxxers to List of this Year's Challenges

The World Health Organisation (WHO) produces a list of things it will focus on and for this year they have added vaccine hesitancy - the polite way of naming anti-vaxxers as a healthcare worry: Vaccine hesitancy Vaccine hesitancy – the reluctance or refusal to vaccinate despite the availability of vaccines – threatens

cognitive dissonance

Why So Anti-Vegan? A Tale of Cognitive Dissonance

I have been a piscitarian (I've seen this spelled in every conceivable way!) vegan (I still eat fish for a decent source of omega-3 etc.) for health reasons, due to my progressive multiple sclerosis. I have long wanted to be a vegetarian for ethical reasons, and the natural

Personal

An Appeal to Your Good Moral Natures

Hi there, good peoples. I say you're good because I am buttering you up to be extra generous. As most of you know, I have Primary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis and there are no drug treatments for me on the NHS in the UK. As a result, I only

humanism

Non-Religious Pastoral Support Network now operating in 40% of hospitals

Stories like this may seem, in some senses, rather insignificant, but they reflect a growing trend and demand for things secular and nonreligious, at least in the UK. This is from the Humanists UK: Humanists UK is celebrating a year of success for the Non-Religious Pastoral Support Network (NRPSN), which

Cosmology

Why Did God Wait to Create the World?

Well, it depends what kind of Christian you are as to how you interpret what happened in the creation of this here universe. The young earth creationist will, of course, believe that the world that we live on and the universe that we live in are only 6000 or so

science

Update on What God or the Universe Has in Store for Me

It's the universe, silly. The last time that I spoke to you, I told you that I've been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Since then, I have had a further appointment and today even had a second MRI scan. It turns out that, from the last appointment,

medicine

Hospitals and Prayer

If prayer worked, there wouldn't be hospitals. Or medicine. Or science, really. They'd be too overworked and busy for this shit in the UK... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSju73vxMu0 Stay in touch! Like A Tippling Philosopher on Facebook: A Tippling Philosopher

Bernie Sanders

Bernie Sanders, the Tax Cut, The Deficit and Medicare

Bernie Sanders can see into the future. He predicted exactly what is happening. Watch this. It is a facebook video that I cannot find on YouTube, but turn off your facebook blockers and check the prescience. https://www.facebook.com/NowThisPolitics/videos/316817502451200/ Republicans, once fiscal conservatives, used to attack

Personal

My Experiences So Far

Just in case anyone wants to look at my craggy face, it's here for you. This is a video of my early experiences of multiple sclerosis diagnosis. https://youtu.be/CH5LslA9-PQ

Creationism

Earliest Known Animal Fossils Identified

I love news stories like this, partly because creationists can't really make any coherent sense of them. As the BBC reports: Scientists have identified the earliest known animal in the geological record. It's a 558-million-year-old oval-shaped creature that may have borne a superficial resemblance to a

DNA

My Ancestry and DNA Analysis

This recently came up in discussion so I thought I'd post results from my DNA analysis that took place a few years ago. When it was first analysed, I had ancestry that stretched across to Western Europe and beyond. Here was my analysis from a few years ago:

Brexit

My Current View on the Brexit Debate

I just gave a summary elsewhere on the internet to my views on Brexit. See what you think, if you care: Here is how I see the debate. There are five main reasons for voting Leave or Remain: (1) the economy. I cannot see the Leavers can winning this argument.

Creationism

How Australian biology students' views on evolution have changed over time

In the context of recently talking about creationism and evolution, I thought this would be of interest. As ABC News reports: A long-term study of Australian biology students reveals how attitudes towards creationism and evolution have shifted. The survey, published today in the journal Evolution: Education and Outreach, was started

Creationism

Half-Neanderthal Cavegirl

Although I haven't particularly looked into it closely, I do wonder how creationists deal with common descent in terms of different species in the genus Homo. Do they just bury their heads in the sand so as not to have to deal with problematic empirical data? This story

science

Some Tough News: A Diagnosis and a Challenge

I'm going to come clean in this piece on why I haven't been posting as often as I would like and why some of my articles have arguably been of less depth than they might otherwise have been. I will start by posting what I did

Creationism

The Second Law of Thermodynamics and Evolution

MrHsandsomeToad here at ATP is going to provide a few guest pieces, and he is here providing grist for the mill on something that creationists claim contradicts evolution: the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Their argument runs like this: * 1. Evolutionary theory contends that current species developed from earlier life forms.

Creationism

Creationist Argument Refuted: Biological Cells as Complex Machines

We have had a good insight into the workings of creationists from the last post. Here is the core foundation to Angelo's argument that I would like to take to task today: 1.  It is known that complex machines and factories are intelligently designed 2.  Biological cells are