Interesting Stuff Thread

Quantum John

I think you will find that Dr Goswami is very highly thought of within his field. He is not the only one who is postulating a theory with consciousness as the ground of all being. The zero point field, the grand unified field theory, superstring theory and others all similar.

Perhaps it is time that mainstream science started to give serious thought to including subjective experience and things like psi phenomena because Newtonion physics has served its purpose very well but it is time to move on.

If Galileo had'nt moved the knowledge of his day to a new paradigm would we know what we know today?

Agonist

Quantum John wrote: »

I think you will find that Dr Goswami is very highly thought of within his field. He is not the only one who is postulating a theory with consciousness as the ground of all being. The zero point field, the grand unified field theory, superstring theory and others all similar.

Perhaps it is time that mainstream science started to give serious thought to including subjective experience and things like psi phenomena because Newtonion physics has served its purpose very well but it is time to move on.

If Galileo had'nt moved the knowledge of his day to a new paradigm would we know what we know today?

Have you considered starting an Interesting Stuff thread in the Paranormal forum?

Turtwig

Quantum John wrote: »

I think you will find that Dr Goswami is very highly thought of within his field. He is not the only one who is postulating a theory with consciousness as the ground of all being. The zero point field, the grand unified field theory, superstring theory and others all similar.

Well string theory proves Homoeopathy so I got my money on that.

Quantum John

Malty_T wrote: »

Well string theory proves Homoeopathy so I got my money on that.

I don't know what you mean there, could you explain it to me please?

Flamed Diving

Irish Atheists and Blasphemy law briefly mentioned by Dr. Darrel Ray

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pi_z0EJYSyo

Skip to around 2.50, its only a fleeting remark.

Turtwig

Construction of the ISS to date.

sink

Liberalism, atheism, male sexual exclusivity linked to IQ

vibe666

sink wrote: »

Liberalism, atheism, male sexual exclusivity linked to IQ

so we're actually (in general) smarter than religious types eh? who knew?

Turtwig

sink wrote: »

Liberalism, atheism, male sexual exclusivity linked to IQ

Just thought I'd point out PZ Myer's response to this.

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/02/stop_patting_yourselves_on_the.php

And then look at the source: Satoshi Kanazawa, the Fenimore Cooper of Sociobiology, the professional fantasist of Psychology Today. He's like the poster boy for the stupidity and groundlessnessof freakishly fact-free evolutionary psychology. Just ignore anything with Kanazawa's name on it.

vibe666

so our claim to being smarter than the opposition else gets busted because the person making the claim is a tad stupid for someone supposedly so smart? damn, that sucks.

it does seem like he's done quite a bit of shoddy work just to make the headlines.

cavedave

The Monty Hall Problem. Pick one of three doors. There is a prize behind one. When you pick one of the wrong doors is opened. You get offered to change your pick. Do you change?




If you said no a pigeon may be more rational than you are.

birds adjusted their probability of switching and staying to approximate the optimal strategy. Replication of the procedure with human participants showed that humans failed to adopt optimal strategies, even with extensive training.

from here

Flamed Diving

It's because of, ironically, our "higher" evolved brains. Humans think in the abstract, whereas birds do not. So after a few shots the bird mindlessly adapts to the correct pattern and never fails, but while humans can be shown and may even adapt to the correct patterns, they still have the facility in their mind to reject the pattern, even if logic demands the opposite. I suppose a bird can never really choose a sub-optimal strategy as obvious as this. So while this may appear as humans being dumb, it beautifully displays or ability to choose whatever outcome we wish, no matter how illogical. Perhaps this, more than anything else, sets us apart from other animals.

cavedave

Flamed Diving

It's because of, ironically, our "higher" evolved brains

That is my interpretation as well. I think it is ironic that we could be less rational because we are smarter though.

Flamed Diving

cavedave wrote: »

That is my interpretation as well. I think it is ironic that we could be less rational because we are smarter though.

There are always trade-offs with evolution.

vibe666

Flamed Diving wrote: »

There are always trade-offs with evolution.

only for those of us that believe in it.

sink

Where do atheists come from?

Dades

sink wrote: »

Where do atheists come from?

Interesting indeed. Someone gave a good quote in the comments of a related NS article...

Re indoctrination:

Just because children are sponges doesn't give anyone the right to drown them.

robindch

Via /., come this story about a scientist who's trying to figure out whether microbes can live in places which are toxic to the kind of biology that occurs everywhere else on the planet. If such life does exist, it suggests the existence of two chains of evolution from very ancient times -- and perhaps two instances of abiogenesis -- rather than the one that's currently proposed.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/science/eureka/article7040864.ece

robindch

Bonobos engage in "pure altruism":

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8548478.stm

BBC wrote:

One of our closest primate relatives, the bonobo, has been shown to voluntarily share food, scientists report.

This sort of generous behaviour was previously thought by some to be an exclusively human trait. But a team has carried out an experiment that revealed that bonobos were more likely to choose to share their food than opt to dine alone. The research is published in the journal Current Biology. Dr Brian Hare from Duke University, US, and Suzy Kwetuenda from Lola y Bonobo, a centre for orphaned bonobos in the Democratic Republic of Congo, gave a hungry bonobo access to a room with some food in it.

This room was adjacent to another two rooms, which the creature could easily see into. One of these rooms was empty while the other contained another bonobo. The hungry primate could then choose to eat the food alone or unlock the door by removing a wooden peg and share his fare with the other bonobo.

Dr Hare wrote in Current Biology: "We found that the test subjects preferred to voluntarily open the recipient's door to allow them to share the highly desirable food that they could have easily eaten alone."

They now hope to uncover why the bonobos seem to prefer to share their food. Dr Hare said it could be purely altruistic, or more selfish motives could drive this behaviour because sharing could be exchanged for future favours. The researchers hope this work could also shed light on what drives humans to voluntarily share.

Flamed Diving

robindch wrote: »

Bonobos engage in "pure altruism":

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8548478.stm

No, but, the Fall happened and... see... died on the cross... swords sticking out of the mouth (whoops, people are not meant to know that bit!)

Galvasean

Ever wondered what it might be like if sperm were the size of people?

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/sizing-up-sperm-4921/Overview?source=email_channel#tab-Videos/07830_00

Genghiz Cohen

Galvasean wrote: »

Ever wondered what it might be like if sperm were the size of people?

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/sizing-up-sperm-4921/Overview?source=email_channel#tab-Videos/07830_00

No.

sink

Galvasean wrote: »

Ever wondered what it might be like if sperm were the size of people?

http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/episode/sizing-up-sperm-4921/Overview?source=email_channel#tab-Videos/07830_00

I must admit that had not crossed my mind!

strobe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nN0_aJsPcHY

vibe666

Galvasean wrote: »

Ever wondered what it might be like if sperm were the size of people?

no, but i'm guessing if it was true, we'd all need much bigger knobs. or at least much bigger holes in the end of them.

well maybe not me, but the rest of you would. :pac::pac::pac:

Stercus Accidit

New TF00t video, I enjoyed it more than the last one.

Flamed Diving

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tcOi9a3-B0

Very interesting, based on Issac Asimov essay @:

http://chem.tufts.edu/AnswersInScience/RelativityofWrong.htm

bogwalrus

horizon documentary on why we believe in god etc....


http://www.megavideo.com/?v=BP0IXVVQ

iUseVi

bogwalrus wrote: »

horizon documentary on why we believe in god etc....


http://www.megavideo.com/?v=BP0IXVVQ

How did I miss that horizon? Must be an old one. Thanks!

Goduznt Xzst

I love nature:

http://www.wimp.com/antscrabs/