Barack Attack

Attacks Ireland with a hurley.

Gods and Afterlife

A two million pound sterling, three year long Oxford University study has concluded that humans are 'predisposed' to believe in gods and an afterlife. 

The project involved 57 researchers who conducted over 40 separate studies in 20 countries representing a diverse range of cultures. The studies (both analytical and empirical) conclude that humans are predisposed to believe in gods and an afterlife, and that both theology and atheism are reasoned responses to what is a basic impulse of the human mind. The researchers point out that the project was not setting out to prove the existence of god or otherwise, but sought to find out whether concepts such as gods and an afterlife appear to be entirely taught or basic expressions of human nature.

‘The Cognition, Religion and Theology Project’ led by Dr Justin Barrett, from the Centre for Anthropology and Mind at Oxford University, drew on research from a range of disciplines, including anthropology, psychology, philosophy, and theology. They directed an international body of researchers conducting studies in 20 different countries that represented both traditionally religious and atheist societies.

The findings are due to be published in two separate books by psychologist Dr Barrett in Cognitive Science, Religion and Theology and Born Believers: The Science of Childhood Religion. Project Co-director Professor Roger Trigg, from the Ian Ramsey Centre in the Theology Faculty at Oxford University, has also written a forthcoming book, applying the wider implications of the research to issues about freedom of religion in Equality, Freedom and Religion (OUP).

Main findings of the Cognition, Religion and Theology Project:

• Children below the age of five find it easier to believe in some superhuman properties than to understand similar human limitations. Children aged three believed that their mother and God were all-knowing but by the age of four, children start to understand that their mothers are not all-seeing and all-knowing. However, children may continue to believe in all-seeing, all-knowing supernatural agents, such as a god or gods.
• Both children and adults imbue the natural world with ‘purpose’. The researchers conclude that immediate, instinctive responses to simple questions are over-ridden by a scientific, reasoned response if participants have time to reflect. 
• Experiments involving adults, conducted suggest that people across many different cultures instinctively believe that some part of their mind, soul or spirit lives on after-death. The studies demonstrate that people are natural 'dualists' finding it easy to conceive of the separation of the mind and the body.
 
 

Project Director Dr Justin Barrett, from the University of Oxford’s Centre for Anthropology and Mind, said: ‘This project does not set out to prove god or gods exist. Just because we find it easier to think in a particular way does not mean that it is true in fact. If we look at why religious beliefs and practices persist in societies across the world, we conclude that individuals bound by religious ties might be more likely to cooperate as societies. Interestingly, we found that religion is less likely to thrive in populations living in cities in developed nations where there is already a strong social support network.’

Project Co-Director Professor Roger Trigg, from the University of Oxford’s Ian Ramsey Centre, said: ‘This project suggests that religion is not just something for a peculiar few to do on Sundays instead of playing golf. We have gathered a body of evidence that suggests that religion is a common fact of human nature across different societies. This suggests that attempts to suppress religion are likely to be short-lived as human thought seems to be rooted to religious concepts, such as the existence of supernatural agents or gods, and the possibility of an afterlife or pre-life.’

To the Editor #2 - Kevin Myers

Another letter to the editor found on the old machine. The Irish Independent article is here, which was in response to the column by Kevin Myers here. Maybe Kevin and this guy should get together...

Y-Leonis

I just came across some data from when I was studying physics... This is a light curve of the eclipsing binary system Y-Leonis published and validated by the American Association of Variable Star Observers. The data was collected with a 0.41m (16") telescope with f/8 Ritchey-Chretien optics on an open fork equatorial mount. There is a Santa Barbara Instrument Group (SBIG) ST-1001E large format, megapixel CCD camera mounted to the telescope via a custom filter wheel. The camera head is thermoelectrically cooled and regulated to operate at a temperature of -40C. I have another lightcurve at the AAVSO. You can generate this curve by entering the Julian date range 2452723.559 - 2452723.875. My observer code is BBD.

NGC 4921

Click Here For Link To Hi-Res 

This very deep image taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows the spiral galaxy NGC 4921 along with a spectacular backdrop of more distant galaxies. It was created from a total of 80 separate pictures through yellow and near-infrared filters.

Credit:

NASA, ESA and K. Cook (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, USA)

Big Head Little Head

Krakow, 2007
© Brett A. Becker 

Whack Attack

I somewhat inadvertently came across my second googlewhack tonight. I was lost on wikipedia and came across a word that is a strange form of the word "symptom". I thought it might make a good crack at a whack. I thought of another rather rare word, put them together, and bang - there it was - hole in one.

My first googlewhack was about a year ago and contains the word "zabernism", even though a google of that word alone results in about 1,340,000 hits. That took about 2 hours of effort.

No Extraterrestrial Life...? Try Getting a Life!

Is this guy nuts? (click here)

According to him, since it has been determined that 500 exoplanets are too inhospitable to support life as we know it there must be no extraterrestrial life in the universe. WHAT?

Let's do come quick quick back-of-the-envelope calculations:

There are approximately 100 × 10²² stars in the observable universe. Let's be sceptical and say, i don't know,  that one in 500 (Professor Smith's magic number) stars have one planet. That leaves 20 × 10²⁰ planets. That is 2,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 planets.  We just searched 500 of them, and came to an amazing conclustion that there is no other life in the universe. If we are stupid enough to subtract 500 from that number that leaves 1,999,999,999,999,999,999,500 planets. Let's say that we discover a new exoplanet per second. (Yeah right). It will take 63,419,583,967,529 years to search them all. That is 4,530 times longer than the universe has been in existence just to check them all. I think that perhaps Professor Smith was just a bit too early off the mark with this one.

Just to make you feel more sane, here's a new solar system to play with. And if that got boring, here's five more planets.

To the Editor #1 - Jeremy Clarkson

On my old machine I found a bunch of screenshots of letters to the editor I have written. I will post them in time...

This particular piece was written after an activist threw a pie in Jeremy Clarkson's face while receiving an honorary degree in protest for his involvement in promoting the motor industry.*

* This post is not a necessarily a declaration of the authors views, but a statement of fact.


More details are at this link.

For posterity, the letter is also at:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/article570647.ece

The Sunday Times is the biggest selling English Sunday paper, with sales equaling the combined sales of The Sunday Telegraph, The Observer and The Independent on Sunday combined.

Quite content or extremely frustrated?

Vienna, July 7, 2007
 © Brett A. Becker - email me for watermark free