Daniel Dennett - How To Tell You’re An Atheist

Philosopher Daniel Dennett was one of the stars of the Global Atheist Convention in Melbourne and gave a brilliant and whimsical talk on defining the atheist. He is the uber-philospher of the mind and a great provocateur, though he was speaking to 4000 non believers at this convention. 
Comments

TED, Hans Rolling - Religion & Babies

Hans Rosling had a question: Do some religions have a higher birth rate than others — and how does this affect global population growth? Speaking at the TEDxSummit in Doha, Qatar, he graphs data over time and across religions. With his trademark humor and sharp insight, Hans reaches a surprising conclusion on world fertility rates.
Comments

TED, Melinda Gates - Let’s Put Birth Control Back On The Menu

Contraception. The topic has become controversial in recent years. But should it be? Melinda Gates believes that many of the world’s social change issues depend on ensuring that women are able to control their rate of having kids. In this significant talk, she makes the case for the world to re-examine an issue she intends to lend her voice to for the next decade.
Comments

Accusations That Climate Science Is Controlled By Money Are False

One of the unfortunate memes that has made repeated appearances in the climate debate is that money isn’t just influencing the public debate about science, but it’s also influencing the science itself. The government, the argument goes, is paying scientists specifically to demonstrate that carbon dioxide is the major culprit in recent climate change, and the money available to do so is exploding.

Although the argument displays a profound misunderstanding of how science and science funding work, it’s just not going away.

Comments

jtotheizzoe:

Measuring the Universe

Measuring things that we can touch, feel and see up close is easy. No matter the exact method, we mostly just use big rulers down here on Earth.

But how do we measure the universe? How do we tally distances on a scale of time and space so immense that our brain can quite literally not reconcile them? 

Here’s a fantastic animation by the Royal Observatory to answer that question.

(by Royal Observatory Greenwich, tip o’ the glass to thekidshouldseethis)

Comments

jtotheizzoe:

The Power of Networks: Fractals of Complexity

In this new video from RSA Animate, Microsoft’s Manuel Lima talks about our human desire for order, simplification and organization. How does this desire fit into our modern, hugely complex world? 

The tree will no longer do as a model. THe animation has some neat ideas on what could take its place.

After you watch that, check out the rest of this Big Think article, where they offer the idea that certain fractals could be a sort of “universal pattern” for organization. But maybe that’s just what our brains are wired to think.

The vast, inter-connectedness of everything.

Comments

Afterlife, Heikki Leis

It always surprises me what people will take pictures of, and taking pictures of rotting vegetables would not something have been high on my list of life achievements, but there’s no denying these are some beautiful rotten vegetables.

Heikki got his inspiration from seeing some rotting potatoes once and like the colours and textures and so decided to start experimenting with it. He would often leave them decomposing for two months and kept them covered so they wouldn’t dry out.

This means that someone who isn’t a Doctor spent more than two months thinking about rotting vegetables. That just isn’t right.

The results look more like alien concept art for Half-Life, which only makes them more amazing. It’s the weird people in the world that make life interesting.

Wired

Neil Gaiman’s Commencement Speech - Make Good Art

It’s that time of year again when famous people impart knowledge onto the deaf ears of graduates. So here’s Neil Gaiman imparting his wisdom to the gradutes of the University of Arts in Philadelphia. 

DOTD

Comments

TED Refuses To Post Video Of 'Controversial' Tax The Rich Talk

Chris Anderson explains that TED would not post a talk about taxing the rich because it was deemed too political. In march Nick Hanauer gave a talk that pointed out that the rich don’t create jobs, but in fact it is the middle classes that create jobs when they spend their hard earned cash.

Read the full talk here

See the slideshow here

Thankfully Internet rule 19 is now in full effect

Comments
Load More Posts
Theme made by Max Davis
powered by tumblr.com