My guest host this week is Duncan Riley (no relation). Duncan was one of the founders and VP Operations of blogging network b5 Media until his sudden departure recently. He hails from Bunbury in Western Australia.
Mitch Denny’s joins us briefly (my PC stopped recording… sorry Mitch) to give us his overview of the Ferrari thing. Read more on his blog.
So… the US had Saddam executed before he could spill the beans on them during the next phase of his trial. Duncan and I debate the whole thing a bit on the show and here’s a list of links for you to read more.
Top Ten Ways the US Enabled Saddam Hussein
The High Commissioner for United Nation Human Rights, Louise Arbour, warned that there should be no rush to execute former Iraqi leader Sadddam Hussein saying the trial wasn’t fair. The Human Rights Watch agrees. But John Howard doesn’t. Surprise Surprise.
Apparently someone might be stealing rocket launchers and other weapons from the Aussie Army.
The Europeans launch the COROT satellite to find planets outside of our solar system.
Whatever you do, go listen to these podcasts:
Richard Dawkins interview
Sam Harris interview
Then help me “Cure A Christian” on future episodes! If you’re a Christian, and you want to be cured, come on the show or suggest a friend!
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The G’Day World Theme Song is “Save Me†by The Napoleon Blown Aparts.
Dude!!!
Way to give out Mitch’s phone number!
-dg
Bring it on Cameron! (not that I’m Christian)
http://www.typepad.com/t/app/weblog/post?blog_id=5353&id=14956667&saved_added=1
Oops, wrong link, try this…
http://tonygoodson.typepad.com/tonygoodson/2007/01/god_v_science.html
I’d love to hear an interview/debate between yourself and Allison Orr on the show…according to this article (http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/why-the-online-revolution-is-just-another-line/2006/12/31/1167500013393.html), Allison is “a doctoral candidate at the School of Politics at the University of NSW. Her research focuses on the rhetoric of a democratic internet and the implications for democracy and democratic theory.”
Oh my god. Cam is starting a cult!
Molly
Tony, people who make reference to “the earth was flat” make two mistakes.
1. They do not understand science. The scientific process is to create a hypothesis and then use evidence to disprove it. Dawkins gives an example in his documentary about one of his lecturers at University inviting someone to speak to the class. During the presentation, the speaker completely demolished a theory that the lecturer had built a career around. After the talk, the lecturer walked down to the podium and congratulated the guest and the audience cheered. THAT’S what science is all about and I’m sure Dawkins knows that better than anyone.
2. The second mistake is to think that science thought the earth was flat.
I quote from Wikipedia:
Today essentially all professional medievalists agree with Russell that the “medieval flat Earth” is a nineteenth-century fabrication, and that the few verifiable “flat Earthers” were the exception.
Dunc, good call, I’ll try to get her on!
For someone who is an expert on the internet, Alison Orr is very hard to google. Try it. See if you can find a phone number or email address.
I think you’re taking the “flat earth” example too literally. What I’m talking about are scientists of the day sticking to the dogma of the day, I’d be amazed if Dawkins is the type of person who can step outside the scientific dogma to hypothesise beyond what is known.
That’s the mistake often made about the Scientific Method, that it’s pure logic and infallible.
Two things show the fallibility.
Firstly, to hypothesise, you have to go beyond what is known, or at lest gather what is known, into something new. That’s a rare talent which most people in science don’t have. They’re too “Sensing” and not “Intuitive” enough.
Secondly, what you set out to prove or disprove is a statistical correlation….which can be faked!! Yeh yeh peer review and all that, but how often are the bad samples pulled before a peer gets anywhere near it.
Science has achieved wonderful things, but let’s not get carried away, it’s as open to abuse by corruption and dogma, as “religion” is, as it’s largely stocked by the same narrow minded philistines pretending to be experts who can’t be challenged.
I’ll give you a few examples to look up.
Mark Purdey and his fight to prove the root cause of Mad Cow’s Disease, BSE, and CJD, and he may have found the cause of other degenerative diseases. But will the mainstream scientific establishment listen to him?
John Gofman, who is an eminent scientist, and his work on ionizing radiation, predominantly medical X-Rays shows a strong threat from these screening techniques. Is it in anyone’s interest to support him?
Eric Laithwaite who developed the linear motor, and in his latter life started to look at gravity (just like Einstein) and gyroscopes. He presented to the Royal Institution, who thought he was bonkers. Maybe he was, but he was hypothesising well beyond the known, with gravity defying machines!
No problem with Dawkins going after the Creationists, and supporting Atheism, there’s just something in my gut, call it Intuition, which doesn’t sit quite right about the guy. Now I’ve got to prove it!!
Tony, as long as science is conducted by humans it will continue to be subject to the flaws of humans which are many. That said, it is still the ONLY rational approach to understanding how the universe works and our role in it.
So if your following in the teachings of Dawkins, does that mean your a Dawk?
😉
Molly
hehe yeah but then again I don’t think that was ever in doubt. 🙂
marriage always used to be a secular ceremony. It was mostly a financial and/or political arrangement. So I’m not sure what the god botherers are whining about with same sex marriage.
That said, not being Christian didn’t stop me fighting tooth and nail (literally) for the bouquet at my friends wedding. I came out of the tussle with a lump on the head, a badly scratched up hand and a handful of flowers. My friend got the foliage and a ribbon.
My point is that marriage isn’t just about religion its also a public expression of love, makes me far more likely to inherit nice stuff from my conservative gran, would help somewhat if I wanted to live in europe and is an excuse for a party.