John Wilkins
evolvingthoughts
Posts by this author
January 3, 2008
Some press releases get the right money quote:
"The bottom line is that the world is round, humans evolved from an extinct species and Elvis is dead," Weissmann said. "This survey is a wake-up call for anyone who supports teaching information based on evidence rather than speculation or hope;…
January 3, 2008
Some bloggable items not worth a post on their own:
George MacDonald Fraser died. The author of the Flashman series, which I loved. Creating one of the best rogues in literature, Fraser also managed to get the history right.
Peter Hare died. Hare was one of the leading moral philosophers of…
January 3, 2008
The previous Australian junta introduced a "citizenship test" for those wanting to become naturalised Aussies. It includes such gems as who Don Bradman was, who wrote a song that isn't even officially our anthem (Waltzing Matilda - Tom Wait's version is way better), and other fluff. About one in…
January 2, 2008
For some time now I have told anyone who didn't get away fast enough that I am a Darwinian Gardener: any plant that survives my total lack of care deserves to be there until it gets in my way. After the fact, I justify it that I am letting native plants flourish, but really, I'm just lazy and don'…
January 2, 2008
I'm going to have to start a "freedom watch" thread, I can see.
Australia, under the ALP government, is to impose an "opt-out" internet filtering system on all lSPs, leading to the question asked by IT-Wire: what happens if I do opt out? Will I be listed somewhere as a potential child porn user…
January 1, 2008
Since I am divesting myself of the occasional political whine, here's another.
The US-based Electronic Privacy Information Center and the UK-based Privacy International have assessed over 70 countries for their protection of privacy, both online and generally. The worst nations are Russia, China…
January 1, 2008
Today I received my copy of COSMOS (not Cosmo, you perves!) in which my article appeared. I have to say (and not just because they showed the good taste to print me) that this is one of the better science magazines I have seen. It reminds me of OMNI at its height. OK, it's Australian, but you…
December 31, 2007
The Grauniad has a puff piece on what has changed the minds of "the intellectual elite". It seems Alan Alda is one of them in virtue of his screen roles... still I have to like his comment:
Until I was 20 I was sure there was a being who could see everything I did and who didn't like most of it…
December 31, 2007
OK, so the next door party finished about 1.30, but the family disputes finished about 5 am, so instead of thinking, I'm going to let others think for me, and round up a few New Years Day links...
Wesley Elsberry at Austringer has a nice piece on why creationists use the conflict model for the…
December 31, 2007
It is midnight on January 1 here in Australia. There's a loud party next door (young folks, heh). So I hope you all have a good year and thanks for reading me in 2007.
December 30, 2007
This is a field in which I am largely ignorant, so I will just report it and leave the commenters to interpret.
Collider blog has a discussion of an idea reported by Charm &c. in a paper at arXiv by Bruce Knudsen, proposing that experiments should be assessed using Shannon entropy based on…
December 29, 2007
The New York Times has a long overdue article on the stupidity of airport security measures for those flying to, within or in markets affected by the United States post-9/11. Pointing out that the security screening at airports in no way reduces any threats (but screening luggage does considerably…
December 29, 2007
Henry Gee reviews the Golden Compass, and comes up with largely the same conclusions I would have had I been as insightful as he. A quote:
It’s a long time since I read the book, The Northern Lights, on which the film is based, so perhaps it’s a problem with the script. The bottom line is this…
December 29, 2007
One of the things about being a Mac user, for 20-odd years now, is that you just like your corporate hero. Sure, they stuffed up on a number of hardware releases, and their delay in getting a multitasking OS out the door is only redeemed by the quality of the OS they did release, but by and large…
December 28, 2007
Found in an old manuscript in the ruins of an old university:
Well this year has been pretty much the same as those that went before. We planted crops, most of which failed because we only had the poverty of seeds we could find by the side of the now-decayed roads. Out children died of diseases…
December 27, 2007
Just to demonstrate that it is not only the Christians who have their religious fundamentalists opposing science, here's a piece that claims that the Vedas are the source of all true scientific knowledge. OK, guys, inventing zero was cool, but what have the Vedas done for us lately (apart from…
December 27, 2007
Greg Laden is reporting that Rwanda is taxing companies that use gorillas in their advertising, in order to pay for their conservation. Unfortunately, or fortunately if you are an albino silverback in Australia, this only applies to Rwandan companies. Or maybe I would happily pay a tax to the…
December 27, 2007
The online journal Episteme has a special issue out on conspiracy theories. Examples include God as a conspiracy theory, the 9/11 WTC "controlled demolition" theory and questions of rationality of those who engage in them.
Late note: This is a subscription journal.
December 27, 2007
Benazir Bhutto has been assassinated, probably by Islamist extremists. While no saint, she clearly stood for democratisation in Pakistan, and all hell is likely to break out there now.
Today, I saw The Golden Compass, after reading the book a couple of days ago. It, too, portrayed religious…
December 25, 2007
It is the default opinion of those who accept evolution and those who deny it, that before Darwin, or Lamarck at any rate, everyone was a special creationist. Even Darwin implies in the Origin that if one is not a transformist with regards to species, one is a special creationist. Is it true, and…
December 24, 2007
OK, so today is Christmas day, December 25. On this day* a man was born who changed the world. He affected a growing tradition that has left no part of the world untouched, for good or ill. He revealed the workings of the universe. He spent his life teaching us to understand ourselves, and was…
December 22, 2007
Okay, so the Eighth Day Inventism calendar as rolled around to coincide our Holy day with one of yours. We Inventists are open minded people and often try to reach out to you heathen irreligious puppy grinding moral monsters. Because that's what you are, you know, if you don't exactly believe and…
December 21, 2007
Well the mills of God and the justice system grind exceeding fine, but they sometimes come up with the right conclusion. Haneef has been given back his visa, as was obviously going to happen from the beginning. Ex-minister Kevin Andrews did a bad thing, knowingly, I warrant, and has been shown to…
December 20, 2007
The previous Australian government, in its ongoing quest to out-mediocre the rest of the world, had instituted a "research Quality Framework", liberally taken from a failed exercise in Britain. Now, the new government has declared it dead. It will not be missed.
December 20, 2007
Philosophy isn't one of those things that makes great breakthroughs that are recognised at the time. Generally something is thought of as a significant development much later, after it becomes obvious that people are engaging with it, like the Chinese Room of John Searle. So instead I will simply…
December 19, 2007
Janet and Shelley have opened up the question of whether students and others should use drugs to enhance their cognitive performance. Janet thinks one shouldn't, and Shelley thinks that, in the absence of bad side effects, one might as well. So lacking any particular knowledge, a prerequisite for…
December 19, 2007
A little while back I published an article on species concepts in Reports of the National Center for Science Education, and I just discovered that it is available on the web. This is actually abetter format than the published version, which has weird columns and layout. The citation is
Wilkins,…
December 19, 2007
As I mentioned earlier, I love a good book review if it excoriates a stupid book. Norman Levitt, of Rutgers University, has an absolutely lovely piece of critical invective for Steve Fuller's defense of Intelligent Design here. Fuller is a sociologist philosopher* of science who seems to dislike…
December 18, 2007
I received an email telling me I'm number 20 on the list of influential science blogs, according to Wikio, a European site that ranks according to links and readership, I gather.
The irony of a philosopher being a high ranked science blogger is not lost upon me, I can tell you. Even moreso given…
December 18, 2007
PZ Murghl has challenged me to explain why there are theology departments in universities. Of course, most universities lack theology departments, and some, like the Princeton Theological Seminary, have been hived off their home institution. Back when I actually did theology, at Ridley College at…