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David Lange – Nuclear Weapons are Morally Indefensible

A little slice of New Zealand history:

Most New Zealanders watched David Lange contest and win the 1985 Oxford Union debate, arguing the proposition that “nuclear weapons are morally indefensible” with a mixture of pride and astonishment. After decades of knowing our place, and several years of government by homunculus, suddenly we had a Prime Minister who could stride the international stage with insouciance. And briefly, we seemed to matter.

See inside the cut for the rest of the abstract and a link to the audio.

Carl Sagan on Nuclear Self-Destruction

This should be something we can all get behind. Please distribute this video. At the time of this posting, there are only 995 views on YouTube. That’s too low.

Also consider listening to this speech by David Lange.

Abiogenesis – Not Magic, Just Chemistry

I can present this video by the courtesy of the great and highly undervalued cdk007.

Evidence for Evolution

I’m geting dumbfounded by the number of Intelligent Deisign Proponents (or cdesign proponentsists as they are otherwise known) that tell me – in all seriousness and honesty – that there is no evidence for evolution.

You can see all six videos as a YouTube playlist here.

No evidence, huh?

An Atheist’s Creed

My thanks to Michael Faltesek for reposting An Atheist’s Creed – which itself was originally written by PZ Myers over at Pharyngula. I doubt that this piece of writing can ever be reposted enough.

I believe in time,
matter, and energy,
which make up the whole of the world.

I believe in reason, evidence and the human mind,
the only tools we have;
they are the product of natural forces
in a majestic but impersonal universe,
grander and richer than we can imagine,
a source of endless opportunities for discovery.

I believe in the power of doubt;
I do not seek out reassurances,
but embrace the question,
and strive to challenge my own beliefs.

I accept human mortality.

We have but one life,
brief and full of struggle,
leavened with love and community,
learning and exploration,
beauty and the creation of
new life, new art, and new ideas.

I rejoice in this life that I have,
and in the grandeur of a world that preceded me,
and an earth that will abide without me.

New Word: Deisign

I’ve got a new word I’d like to see circulated into general usage: Deisign.

Two syllables – Dei (pronounced ‘day’) and sign (pronounced ’sign’). Dei-sign. Deisign.

It’s a bit awkward at first, but you get used to it.

The idea is that there’s much ado about how the Intelligent Design camp really-truly-honestly claim that Intelligent Design is a valid scientific theory when we all know that it’s really just a re-branding of creationism.

So to keep that idea in mind, instead of calling it Design, we can instead give it the name of Deisign. For those of you who are unaware, Dei is the Latin word for God. So the idea behind the word Deisign is that it means ’sign of God’ – which is what the Intelligent Design proponents really mean when they use the term ‘irreducible complexity’. They think it’s a a sign of an Intelligent Designer, which is a transparent intellectual abstraction that tries to remove the religious trappings from the concept of God.

So let’s all step in with a bit of intellectual honesty and name the movement in a way that is true to its intentions – Intelligent Deisign.

I should hope that this particular oxymoron is obvious as such to everyone.

Once more into the fray

This one is mostly for the people who have replied to this blog.

Again.