Backwards Reasoning on Science Friday

I often listen to NPR's Science Friday podcast; the show covers a wide variety of science topics, without a lot of nonsense. Every once in awhile though, something like last Friday's episode is released..

In a segment about whether science and religion can "get along," a caller stated as fact the Anthropic Priniciple, basically that the universe was "tuned" to support life, and the Science Friday host let this assertion go unchallenged. This is backwards reasoning, much like noting a hole in the ground being "tuned" to hold the water which fills it.

We know from observation that most of the universe does not support life, that there are only small regions which might contain a planet which itself might have some kind of life. Organisms evolved over millions of years to fit their environment. Similarly, water fills a hole in the ground to make a puddle, it's no coincidence that the hole "fits" the puddle.

As to the idea of science and religion getting along, they can't. Religion rests on faith, or accepting as truth assertions not based on (or in the face of) evidence. Science is based on evidence and reason, claims you can observe and test. These two ideas do not overlap; there is no common ground. If a claim is supported by evidence, you don't need faith to "believe" it. If a claim is not supported, there is no reason to accept it.

Update: The geologic column shows ample evidence of life adapting to the environment, rather than the other way around. As the environment changed (grew warmer, colder, etc), life forms either adapted or perished. Humans change their environment; heated homes in the winter, AC in the summer, etc; to make more of the world habitable. Ask a homeless person in the midwest in winter, when temperatures can reach -30F, how well his environment is "tuned to support human life."

"You will be shot"

Two posts, from unconnected blogs..

Over at Atheist Revolution, the Idiot of the Week is republican/Fox News "journalist" Joe the Plumber, with this incredible quote:

"Let me give you another extremist view, 'In God We Trust.' Say that too loud in some parts of America and you will be shot. It's terrible."

What parts of the country are these? In this country, non-Christians (especially atheists) are vilified and wrongly blamed for all manner of tragedies. A Christian student takes a gun to school and shoots dozens of kids? Must be because of atheists! Muslim terrorists fly planes into buildings? It was brought on by the ACLU!

In the real world, however, Alonzo Fyfe on Atheist Ethicist pointed out a real ad from a Christian group calling for violence against atheists. It's chilling. Mr. Fyfe correctly notes that:

"It grants a moral permission to kids with guns to go ahead and kill atheists.

If it is morally permissible to kill atheists, then other activities less likely to bring the police and courts into the matter, must also be permissible. Assault, vandalism, bullying, intimidation, theft, an "accident" in the school yard, some name-calling, withholding honors and inviting ridicule . . . if the use of a gun is permissible, these must be acceptable as well."

Here is the ad:

Tea Bagging Protest

I had the misfortune of walking passed the "Tea Party" protest, filled with people angry as hell about a black Muslim foreign socialist spending government money (but who were all strangely silent when it was a white Christian republican running up a huge deficit).

Even to my untrained eye the group in Chicago didn't appear all that organized, and as far as protests go their numbers were a tiny tiny fraction of the number of people who marched in protest of US Immigration policy. The best comment I've seen:

I’ll bet they’re wishing they had a COMMUNITY ORGANIZER now.

Banned Books

Celebrate your first amendment rights by reading a banned book before religious groups have them pulled from your libraries and bookstores.

Heliocentric Heathens!

The Scourge of Keplarism

It is time to quit discriminating against geocentrists in the public schools just because of their beliefs, and to teach not only the children but the school administrators themselves to respect the diverse views of the teaching community.

Hilarious stuff, Atheist Ethicist author Alonzo Fyfe nails the bigotry directed at atheists and scientists.

Protests

Sometimes the best response to bigotry is to mock it. Last year, at FAnime, a group of fundamentalists showed up to inform the rest of us cartoon fans we were all going to hell. Various individuals tried to confront them with logic and reason, but that only bolstered the fundamentalists' faith. Once they got rickrolled though...they hung their heads in defeat and left. It was glorious.

Myths about Democrats and Spending

I watched one CNN's "analysts" explain how independents might be afraid of Democrats spending too much, and I knew this wasn't grounded in reality. Going back to the Kennedy administration, and not even counting the massive Wall Street bailout, here's actual data. Take a few minutes and read the whole thing, but here's the part I wanted to bring to your attention:

The twenty years of budgets prepared by Republican presidents increased the national debt by $3.8 trillion. The average yearly deficit under Republican budgets was $190 billion.

The twenty years of budgets prepared by Democratic presidents increased the national debt by $719.5 billion. The average yearly deficit under Democratic budgets was $36 billion.

Birthdays and Board Games

This last weekend we celebrated Sonya's birthday. I know better than to post her age (suffice to say "old enough to know better, young enough to still have fun"). We had some of her friends over for Wii games and (amazingly!) board games! The board game fest started off with Fearsome Floors, then we worked into Uptown and had a truly cut-throat game of Blokus.

Jason and I saw Wall-E yesterday, and we both enjoyed it. As I expected, it didn't take long for right wing whackjobs to criticize the movie for not glamorizing consumerism.

We also picked up Rock Band and Aerosmith Guitar Hero for the Wii yesterday. The timing of the guitar controllers is slightly different between the two games, but not so much that I'm unable to do well with both. The drums are going to take some getting used to.

I'm hoping to get some good fireworks pictures next weekend.

Support Science

Make a donation to the National Center for Science Education. I learned about this organization from the Atheist Ethicist post on Expelled and "Truth Tickets", and strongly agree with his argument about supporting evidence based thinking.

Make the world a better place.

Toys Reflecting Reality

I found this through a link on BBSpot. Read some of the comments, they're hilarious.

Ten Percent of Toys Tested were Unsafe

Wow. Just..wow.

Read more about this here.

Granted, this was a small random sampling of toys, but this is ridiculous.

Poisoning Kids Keeps Costs Down!

I read this interview snippet yesterday, but had a hard time expressing my disgust with this right wing rhetoric in words. Watching the video clip, to make sure I got the full context, only makes it more frustrating. How does the host not challenge this idiotic statement??

I used to think that if a particular fast food chain knew it would raise their stock price by a nickel, they'd happily put rat poison in kids' meals. My pessimistic views weren't all that far off.

In other rants:

• A church cancels a service for a fallen soldier, because he was gay.
  
• People looking to our founding fathers to justify America is a christian nation need to do a little more homework.
  

No Kids on Planes?

Recent news of families being kicked off planes because their kids were coughing or talking aggravates me, but not as much as some of comments appended to these stories from people who believe kids shouldn't be allowed on planes at all! This elitist, snobbish attitude that buying an airline ticket is a luxury, and any kid violating the old "children should be seen and not heard" nonsense completely ruins everything.  And if some flight attendant tells me "can't you give him any Benadryl?" I'll do my best Cheney impersonation and tell him to "Go Fuck Yourself!"

Well, if kids shouldn't be on planes, maybe we can bar some other people who make flying miserable for me:

• People who try to claim their huge suitcase is a "carry-on" item, when it barely fits in the overhead bin.  If you're trying to bring something bigger than a backpack, check it in!
• Jerks who reach over passed their armrests and elbow me, usually while their snoring soundly asleep.  If it's too much to ask for you to keep to your own personal space, take the bus next time!
• Similarly, if you can't keep your feet out of my foot area, you don't belong on a plane.  Common courtesy people!
• Inconsiderate dweebs who insist on turning on the spotlight on a late night flight while the rest of the passengers are trying to rest and relax (while being mindful of the physical space of those seated around them).
• Slobs who are either gassy or have foul breath.  We could really screen both types at the boarding gate.  That's just what I want on a 4 hour flight: some ass passing gas the whole time.  Got digestive problems?  Too bad!

The sad reality is that an airplane cramps several people together into a tight space for a long time, and you just need to accept that some of those people are going to be different from you.  Some kids handle flying really well (I've been lucky that way), but some have problems on take offs and landings, and some don't like to fly at all.  It's not a picnic for the parents either.  If you want everyone kissing your ass when you fly, pay for a private jet.