Eric MacDonald on Mehdi Hassan and Richard Dawkins, and the need for rationality

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Jan 292013
 

Another thoughtful and insightful article from Eric MacDonald, this time on the reaction of Medhi Hasan after he had interviewed Richard Dawkins:

The problem is with Hasan himself, of course. He has bought into a superstition; the delusion this brings stops him from responding rationally. Further, it is clear from MacDonald’s article that Hasan is already well on the path of barbarity and injustice.

I will belittle Hasan and his irrationality for the same reason that I would belittle adults who claim that Santa Claus is real or who insist that there are fairies living at the bottom of the garden. But I would do so to a greater extent to Hasan due to the evil that will result from what he says.

Here’s a good talk on why it matters to challenge delusion and irrationality:

Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2013

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How Evolution Challenges Christian Dogma

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May 082012
 

Mike Aus briefly describes his journey from being a Christian (Protestant) minister to someone who has rejected religions, influenced by evolution through Natural Selection and the works of Richard Dawkins:

His closing words:

I have traded Mount Calvary for Mount Improbable, and life is now a far more interesting journey. And I also now understand why so many evangelical Christians are hostile to evolution. They too, know that evolution impacts everything, and as more and more people come to see the beauty and power of Darwin’s insights, they know that humanity will inevitably leave religion behind. – Mike Aus

Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2012

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Not the truth.

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Apr 132012
 

Charles Darwin’s beliefs are not relevant to the fact of evolution which uses the scientific method to gather evidence. So I am not entirely sure what the religious are so keen to claim Darwin. Eric MacDonald explains clearly how Cardinal Pell is misrepresenting what Darwin wrote:

It would seem to me that Pell is deliberate in his attempts to misrepresent Darwin. Pell is not representing reality. But then what do you expect from a person that represents an organisation based on superstition, fairy tales and the cause of much evil and barbarity.

Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2012

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Persecution

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Apr 082012
 

Eric MacDonald on Charles Moore’s article in The Telegraph:

Of course, Moore has deceived himself, that he thinks that his “beliefs” are representative of reality irrespective of evidence and reason which indicate otherwise. The evils of religions are plain to see and described at length by Hitchens, Dawkins, MacDonald, et al. A base morality is inherent in us all, something that evolved with us, giving our species an ability to interact with each other, and adapted through the ages. Even Moore’s beloved Christianity has changed its message on what is moral and acceptable. It changes, it has no absolute truth; people loved their children before Christianity.

So it is sad when someone dedicates their life to irrationality and delusions. How would you deal with someone who believes that an invisible fire-breathing dragon lives their garage and which leaved no footprints or other evidence. How about someone who believes that they have fairies living at the end of their garden which leave no evidence, or that evidence is shown to be fake? And after you have highlighted to these persons that their worldview is untenable but they persist in their views, how would engage further with them? Discuss the size of fairy wings? I think not.

Those who persist in delusion, to promote such delusion, deserve no special privileges and should not be protected from criticism; irrationality should not be allowed to reign our societies again.

Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2012

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Something from nothing – Krauss and Dawkins discussion

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Feb 132012
 

An interesting discussion between Lawrence Krauss and Richard Dawkins on biological and cosmological origins. The video is also wonderfully shot and presented. Watch in HD!

Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2012

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The Magic of Reality – a quick review of the iPad version of Richard Dawkin’s book

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Nov 012011
 

I had originally posted my quick review of the iPad ebook/app version of Richard Dawkins book “The Magic of reality”  in the iTunes  store a few days ago (late October) but, for whatever reason, the review has not shown up there. I have therefore taken the opportunity to post that review here albeit with this preface. The review is not so much a critique of the message of the book (which I found brilliant) but more to do with the mechanics of the implementation of this ebook version.

The ebook/app was released on 23 September 2011, and is at version 1.

Tue 01-11-11 20-13-40

This is a fantastic book/app. I thoroughly recommend this for its primary audience, children, but also for the young adult in their mid-teen to late teen years. It is clearly written and has interactive media that engages a young person’s mind.

However, there are a few elements with regards to the implementation of this version (the first edition to hit the iPad) that could be improved upon, and I have listed these issues below in the hopes that the publisher takes action to improve the book/app in future editions.

  1. There is no dictionary or thesaurus look-up. Implementation of this feature would allow a young person to more easily explore new words.
  2. There is no bookmarking feature and I can’t seem to go directly to specific chapters. I sometimes like to bookmark certain pages or go direct to certain chapters so that I can read them again later. It is extremely tedious to scroll through the book’s contents to find something specific that you want to read again.
  3. There are no page numbers. On the iPad, page numbers should be easy to implement. I do like to make reference to chapters and page numbers.
  4. I found at least on section of text referring to a diagram “below” when the diagram was elsewhere. I assume that this is just an error (it probably is correct in the printed version).
  5. The interactive diagram illustrating the sun size and how it fits into the galaxy appears five pages before the text that refers to it. The two should be closer.
  6. The diagram with the two prisms, a slit, and red light at the second prism seems incorrect. I think the slit needs to be turned through 90 degrees.
  7. There was a section on the spectrograph which mentions a website; what website?
  8. The text uses a mixture of metric an imperial measurements for distances e.g. miles, kilometres, etc. It needs to stick to metric (although I can see that metric measurements might be an issue with readers from the USA).
  9. The interactive diagram for continental drift is great but, probably due to the projection used, the size of continents changes significantly when moving between equatorial and polar regions. For example, look at the sizes of Greenland and India; they change considerably! This can cause puzzlement to the young reader. I would suggest using a globe projection (such as used by Google Earth) to minimise these size distortions.
  10. The diagram of the cross-section of Earth says “tre-acle”. This needs to be corrected.

Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2011

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“Why Evolution Is True” by Jerry Coyne at the AAI 2009

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Sep 072011
 

I do have Jerry Coyne’s book “Why Evolution Is True” and it’s a fantastic book. I’ve also read “The Greatest Show on Earth” by Richard Dawkins and this is a natural partner to Coyne’s book with a fair amount of overlap but both complementary to each other. Here’s a talk by Coyne with an introduction from Dawkins:

Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2011

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Dawkins, the Protestant atheist

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Feb 092011
 

This is just hilarious! Thomas Jackson’s article is one of the most idiotic things I’ve seen in a mainstream newspaper. He does seem to have a Dawkins obsession too and is, perhaps, a bit too deep in his delusions and conceit. Anyway, the article was a good laugh!

Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2011

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Richard Dawkins’ Speech at Protest the Pope March

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Sep 192010
 

Here’s the full speech that Dawkins had originally planned to deliver:

Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2010

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There, there, dear Popesy, have a cookie!

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Aug 112010
 

Is that Pharyngula being nasty to you again? There, there. Have a cookie.

Here’s a man basing his morality, his way of live, on that hilariously hideous book called the Bible. The more I look at that book, the more I find it incredible that anyone can take it seriously (the Koran is just as bad). It’s just plain bonkers in many places with a monster ruining people’s lives.

The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.

Richard Dawkins, “The God Delusion”

The Pope and his friends do not have any moral high-ground and no rights to be immune from criticism. So I and others will call it as we see it. And if that means being “nasty” then so be it. Religion deserves no special privileges.

I’ve added some links here that some may find amusing:

Article by Kulvinder Singh Matharu – 2010

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