Evolution Why do they kill? 10 Dec 2007 Just to head off the obvious: Do people kill because their religion or ideology tells them that nonbelievers are subhuman? Yes. Do people go to war because their religion or ideology tells them it is their patriotic duty? Yes. Do people walk into a church or missionary school and kill… Continue Reading
Politics A personal revelation 8 Dec 2007 John, hear me. What? Who said that? It is I, God. Oh come on. PZ, is that you? I’m not buying it. It is I, God. Look, I’ll prove it. [Clouds in the sky form the letters “Yep, It’s Me” for a minute and then evaporate.] Ummm, OK, for the… Continue Reading
Politics Rendition, lies and video tape 7 Dec 2007 I’m angry. The business with the CIA and the torture tape leaves me angry. Why oh why have the Democrats not immediately impeached Bush, Cheney, the Attorneys General involved, the Secretaries of State and Foreign Affairs, the heads of the CIA and the military, and anyone else involved in torture?… Continue Reading
Evolution Nationalism and evolution 3 Dec 2007 Way back in the 1910s, when human evolution was poorly known, some trickster, probably Charles Dawson, its discoverer, set up a hoax: Piltdown man. This was enthusiastically accepted by many British experts because it made Britain, and in particular, England, a leading locale in human evolution. This was the era… Continue Reading
Logic and philosophy Such a short honeymoon 1 Dec 2007 [Australian politics: look away] Oh dear. It took only seven days for the shine to wear off the Labor victory. Julia Gillard has outlined the priorities for education: computers and trades training centres in schools. Yep, that’s right, the single most important aspect of education in Australia is trade education… Continue Reading
Politics Beatles’ ode to John Howard 27 Nov 2007 This is kicking a man when he’s down, but the iPod popped this up to me last night, and I thought how appropriate it is to the election outcome: Continue Reading
Politics Rudd, religion, and the body politic in Australia 25 Nov 200718 Sep 2017 As I watched the total collapse of the conservatives in the federal election, and the landslide of Labor wins, I mused… Continue Reading
Evolution Sociobiology 5: What is at issue 22 Nov 200718 Sep 2017 So now, I think it’s worth asking what we really can achieve by doing sociobiological investigations, and some of the traps in previous attempts. Continue Reading
Ecology and Biodiversity Hope for bonobos 21 Nov 2007 The African apes don’t get much good news these days. But the Congo has just announced they are setting up a preserve to protect the bonobo. The size of the Sankuru Nature Reserve is 11,803 square miles (in real money, 30 569.629 square kilometers), which makes it nearly half the… Continue Reading
Book Our inner ape 18 Nov 200718 Sep 2017 I have always enjoyed reading the work of Frans de Waal, a primatologist who focuses on the social structure and psychology of apes, particularly the two chimp species, and monkeys. His previous books, Good Natured: The Origins of Right and Wrong in Humans and Other Animals, The Ape and the… Continue Reading