Category Archives: evolution

Tap Dance & the Snow Job

Posted on June 29, 2022 by midiguru

In search of a little light reading, I grabbed Rupert Sheldrake’s book Science Set Free from my shelf. Evidently I bought it ten years ago, and also evidently I never read it, as it’s not marked up. I think I … Continue reading →

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The Mind Parasites

Posted on June 29, 2022 by midiguru

Religion is a mind parasite. Yes, your religion too. Like other parasites, this one is subject to the normal processes of evolution. We tend to think of evolution strictly in terms of DNA, but DNA is not required. All that’s … Continue reading →

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The God Problem

Posted on June 20, 2022 by midiguru

Why does religion even exist? Lots of people are happy to offer answers to this question, but as Scott Atran points out in his book In Gods We Trust, those answers are really no better than just-so stories. They have … Continue reading →

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Dreams of Destiny

Posted on October 3, 2021 by midiguru

The trouble with religion is that it’s backwards. If you’re religiously inclined, you start with a pre-ordained set of answers and then try earnestly to distort whatever you’re seeing so that it will lead you to the answers you’ve already … Continue reading →

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Delusions Great & Small

Posted on October 2, 2021 by midiguru

Richard Dawkins is a magnet to whom polarized opinions are irresistibly drawn. For those who are spiritually inclined (whatever that means), Dawkins’s unstinting attacks on religion can be deeply disturbing. Such people seem, in many cases, to feel a need … Continue reading →

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Bad Memes

Posted on April 1, 2017 by midiguru

There is an infectious agent (I forget whether it’s a virus or a bacterium) that causes ants to crawl out to the tips of grass leaves. This change in the ant’s behavior is of no value to the ant — … Continue reading →

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Why Is There Sex?

Posted on December 20, 2015 by midiguru

Pardon me for boasting, but on the way home from the gym this morning I seem to have solved a long-standing problem in evolutionary theory. I don’t think I’ve read this idea anywhere — it just sort of popped up. … Continue reading →

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The Big Picture

Posted on April 27, 2014 by midiguru

Physicists have pretty well established that the way the universe works depends on the values of a small bunch of numerical constants. The strength of gravity, for instance. If gravity were slightly stronger, stars would all collapse into neutron stars, … Continue reading →

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Life Is a Brewery

Posted on April 15, 2014 by midiguru

I’m re-reading a couple of science books I read a few years ago — The Violinist’s Thumb by Sam Kean and Microcosm by Carl Zimmer. Both are about cell biology, and while they’re addressed to the intelligent layman, they’re not … Continue reading →

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Fuzzy

Posted on May 18, 2012 by midiguru

Surprisingly often, scientific researchers make what (eventually, perhaps after decades) turn out to be bad assumptions. They simplify a vexing problem in order to investigate it with the available tools, and then assume that what they’ve learned describes what happens … Continue reading →

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