Category: Scepticism

  • Does an objective universe exist?

    If a tree falls in a forest and no one is around, does it still make a sound? In my paper on multiple dimensions (Ideas on Consciousness) I point out that one attribute of a dimension is that it is necessary for a physical object to exist. For instance, an object needs to exist in…

  • Why DIY funerals are a bad idea

    Imagine a time, say, in an English village around the thirteenth century. Life revolved around the church and services were held on sundays and holy-days. For better or worse the priest was the guide and mentor. Death was common and unlike today the format of the funeral service followed a strict pattern. Certain prayers were…

  • The laws of the universe

    Some years ago I was listening to an interview with the atheist researcher Susan Blackmore who put volunteers who could initiate out of body experiences into an MRI machine whilst monitoring their brain activity. She asked one of the volunteers to move her leg on her astral body and she saw that the part of…

  • The myth of science

    I’ve written many times before about science and what is called the philosophy of science. That is, the rules of science, the scientific method and the assumptions that scientists make when they do experiments. Nowadays an understanding of real science is becoming more and more important as ‘science’ (or what is referred to as science)…

  • Numbers and words

    There’s an old Jewish joke of the man who sends his son to school – presumably at some expense – so that he could become successful. When the son returns home the father asks him what he has learnt: “We learnt that if I have two apples and Greta has three apples we have five…

  • Why Darwinism can’t explain evolution

    The classic Darwinism theory of evolution is very simply explained as follows: Every organism in the process of reproducing produces random mutations. These mutations may result in no apparent affect to the offspring up to an affect that is so catastrophic that it is unable to survive. Sometimes, however, the change may be such that…

  • Do you understand your partner?

    What would it take to understand your partner? Suppose we’re talking about your wife, and she explains that she came from a large family where she had to care for her younger siblings and her mother was always busy and the father was never there. It may give you some insight into some aspects of…

  • Science and beliefs

    “The good thing about science is that it’s true whether or not you believe in it.” Neil deGrasse Tyson Of course an astrologer would say this is true of astrology as well. It misses the point as to what we accept as truth, and this in turn depends on our assumptions. I’ve written previously about some…

  • When I rejected the beliefs of my parents

    It’s probably not completely true to say that this account marks the day I rejected the beliefs of my parents, rather it was a major event in an on-going process that led me to reassess all my assumptions. It was Christmas 1977, I think. I was living in the UK, in St. Albans in Hertfordshire…

  • Guilt. And why we should do good things

    Some years ago I saw an interview with a Jewish (or lapsed Jew to be more specific) professor where he talked about why he became an Atheist. He came from a very strict Jewish household, I think his father was a cantor at the local synagogue, but questioned his faith when he was 13 — around the…