I’ve been thinking about this subject for the past few days. Originally I was going to write about “The Top 10 Books” one should read if they were interested in “saving the world.” But I many times found that my list was far too large. Perhaps it would be easier to mention a “Top Ten” list of authors? But some of the authors I would be recommending were ones where I only had experience with just a single one of their works – so I couldn’t in good conscience recommend … Continue reading
Category Archives: Deep Thought
While watching the “Beyond Belief” conference, mention was made several times by the various presenters of whom they held to be their personal heroes. Many of them mentioned the obvious pillars of modern science; Einstein, Darwin, and Newton. And I’d agree that those men were and are great heroes of science. However they weren’t my heroes because I wasn’t a scientist and I could barely understand the theories they offered in my school science classes. My heroes were heroes because when I read their books, I fully understood what they … Continue reading
I’ve finished watching all of the recorded discussions from the 2006 “Beyond Belief” conference. All in all I think it was time (near 20 hours) well spent. I must say that I was rather surprised at what some of the panelists believed and just plain didn’t understand what is at stake in this dialogue. The two biggest “thick heads,” were Scott Atran and Melvin Konner. Both were perfect apologists for organized religion, and particularly deferential to Islam. Another, almost comic interjection by Jim Woodward was his misunderstanding as to why there … Continue reading
I’ve been watching the recorded symposium, “Beyond Belief; Science, Religion, Reason and Survival,” recorded by The Science Network concerning the divide between science and religion and it’s quite impressive. And at times incredulous. Impressive in that some of the speakers are incredibly eloquent and inspiring about the future of reason. Persons like Steven Weinberg, Sam Harris (who is just amazing!), and Neil deGrasse (who is also a great orator), and, of course, Richard Dawkins. I’d only had experience with Richard Dawkins through his book and BBC program “The God Delusion,” and … Continue reading