Thy Plague Doctor

By the way, do you think that speaking up against religion also “just strengthens the right”?

That depends entirely on the country and the religion being discussed. Criticizing religion (practices not people) is rather uncontroversial in most of northern Europe and society is so secular that right-wing parties wouldn’t have a hope of getting pra…[Read more]

@davis Great post. +1

Not another bloody outrage over false accusations of rape. Jesus fucking christ.

What is bullshit is obsessing about this problem solely through the lens of women accusing rape. There is a bias screaming out in most of these complaints and it focuses on three things. 1 Rape is a different kind of crime than other crimes. 2. Women often claims…[Read more]

yesterday is much less important.

Pity. I used to respect what you had to say and found your commentary, even stuff I disagreed with, useful. But you’ve jumped into the deep end of whatever this is called, and seem to take pleasure in ducking and dodging. I hope you aren’t up to the same trollish antics on other websites.

Tom, for the first time you have ducked and dodged questions and possible answers to your questions. First of all, this was an international effort and no the US taxpayers are not the only contributors. You’ve also totally ignored the fact that the entire project is well documented over the last several years in major respected journals. You’re…[Read more]

Hi Anth, welcome to Atheist Zone!  Thanks for posting your thoughtful story. I’m delighted you are now in such a happy space though.

There is life breathed into its cytoplasm.

Thanks Michael for the very clear and coherent response. Oh how I love reading your replies and trying to figure out how they answer my questions. So I take it as a no for Harry Potter? Is that correct?

there is a non-baryronic presence in the cytoplasm that imbues life which predates this universe.

That is so interesting Michael. So is this non-baryonic presence in cytoplasm, ahem, the realm where Harry Potter and the Easter Bunny dwell? Or is it only reserved for a one grand immense magical being?

A. It’s very probable that any serious and qualified researches would be given or sold the data from the telescopes, or collect their own data somehow…and confirm the results or come up with their own image.

B. The entire project has been documented in multiple journals over the last several years and in published literary books which have…[Read more]

Reg. There aren’t enough apologies in this world….

The thing that helped with mine, Asianne, was the realization that, tragedy notwithstanding, pretty much everybody suffers the loss of their parents at some stage, so when I looked around and saw that people carried on, it kind of helped – sort of like graduating to a new strata of life.

Funnily enough, I have a friend who is around 50ish and who…[Read more]

I’ve read of research saying plants communicate externalia by emitting aromas/odors.

You can say what you like about octopuses being conscious (though my skepticism is 99.9999%) but I would argue, with 100% confidence, that emitting a scent must cross a sufficiently enormous gulf of absent qualities to be considered self-aware, self-reflecting, i…[Read more]

This has not been my experience as a design…

You should directly ask African-American coleagues, women colleagues and any other marginalized people in the office (including those in mid-level and low-level ranks). Ask them directly, clearly, openly, sincerely what their experiences have been like. If they mention experiences, its more than…[Read more]

It would be a great gesture, but the practicalities make it almost impossible and in the end the money everyone gets is chump-change.

A far better solution is offering services, programs and assistance such as programs that attack poverty head on and ensure affordable housing, education, daycare and necesities for all. Programs that help knock d…[Read more]

It is not surprising that the how of consciousness is not understood. The complexity of the brain is mind boggling.

Indeed! One thing I’ve found pretty astonishing, is how many people who discuss free-will or consciousness don’t offer any theory of consciousness at all. Even more shocking is their illiteracy on what little we do know, and what we…[Read more]

Some people never contribute as much as they gain

A lot of people get hung up on social parasites. Let’s take those with serious addictions and social problems and the general crowd of fuck-ups who will almost certainly end up on the street given assistance or not (that includes a family member of mine who’d be on the streets without these p…[Read more]

@ Davis: I’ve read a lot of your responses on this board and I know you have a lot more empathy than that.

LOL. I’ve made the big mistake again of not dripping my comments with enough saturated sarcasm to be immediately apparent that it is sarcastic. I think that the text is clearly sarcastic and yet it can be taken as serious! Next time I’ll g…[Read more]