If Humans Aren't Unique.

There is a growing body of evidence to the affect that there are other species of mammal on this earth who may exhibit similar levels of intelligence to humans.  In fact, there are some biologists who investigate life which survives in extreme environments now advancing the thought that intelligence may not always exhibit the same characteristics as ours - that we may not recognize a similarly intelligent species when we see one simply because we won't be able to communicate with it.

Humans have this peculiar trait - we seem to only think someone is as smart as we are if we can talk to them.  Witness someone talking to a foreigner whose voice gets louder and louder as they try to make themselves understood - as if sheer volume helps.  And that's trying to talk to another human!

So, imagine how much harder it is for us to understand that another species is as smart as us if the methods of communication for us and the other species are not compatible - we use sound waves vs. another species using body movement or skin color.

They probably think we are as stupid as we think they are!

Fascinating subject - there is good evidence that dolphins, various species of hominids, elephants, some birds and even whales may also be as intelligent as humans.  We just all have quite different methods of communicating.

This, of course, blows the religious attitude that humans are special - that only humans have souls that are capable of surviving into an afterlife - right outta the water.  What is there to say, if those other species really are as smart as we are, that we are so special that only we can go to heaven?

That others are intelligent as well tells us that no, humans are not the top of the intelligence pyramid, no we are not special, and are, in fact, as the environmentalists have been telling us for decades, just a  small part of an ecology we are rapidly stripping of its ability to keep us alive.

To me, this is a double whammy perfectly illustrating the terrible harm that comes from vast numbers of people believing in superstition.

On one side, the religious belief that we are special and god made this world for us because we are made "in his image" harms us because people will do anything to go to this special place we call heaven.  They see the world through god-colored glasses to justify hurting others to prevent those others from jeopardizing their own chances of going to heaven.

The other side of that whammy is that they see the world as being ours to rape and pillage of everything of value, because not only did god give us "dominion" over the world, but that one day, he'll just come back and fix whatever we screwed up.

Both are short-sighted, both are harmful in numerous ways, and both are blown completely away by the knowledge that we are not the only intelligent species on this planet.

Because, if we are not so special, and there are others as smart as we are, that means that our traditional place at the top is wrong, unethical, and morally bankrupt.  It means that we must, at the very least, take the welfare of all those other intelligent species into account as we use the resources this planet gives us.

At most, it means that we must take the welfare of ALL life on this planet into account.

Which means that we are in for a major re-assessment of how we must live as a species, on this planet and among our fellow travelers on this beautiful blue-green ball we call home.  I've never thought of myself as an environmentalist.  But, I AM a rationalist, and one of my prime directives is that my world-view must change as new information comes to light.

Maybe being an environmentalist isn't such a bad thing to be after all.

What about miracles?

Today, on Facebook, the page Together - people of all faiths, humanists, agnostics and atheists, posted a piece on Miracles.  Suffice it to say, I do not agree.

His first paragraph starts out just fine.

Some consider miracles proof of the working of the divine, for others those events are a source of inspiration to investigate reality and gain insight in the laws of nature, again others simply accept them as a stroke of luck or some strange exception. 

No problem, simple statement of something fairly commonly understood.

But then,

But no matter what, we all agree such events as called miracles exist. 

Not quite.  First, you've got to define what a miracle might be.  This is where he goes off the rails.

A miracle is a benificial, or a least meaningful insightful event, coming out of the blue without a logical explanation for its meaningfulness, and can be one of these three kinds: 

- miracles, based on meaningful coincidence
- miracles, based on the event being a statistically very unlikely exception - like winning the lottery
- miracles, not ascribable to human power or the laws of nature, consequently attributed to supernatural or divine power, sometimes performed by a saint or a religious leader - like the parting of the waters of the sea.

Really, I see no difference between the first and second "kinds" he defines here.   A coincidence is just that - a coincidence, and is merely an artifact of statistical likelihood.  What is a "meaningful" coincidence or "meaningful insight" event, anyway?  What may be meaningful to one may mean nothing to another.  The only thing he got right there was the term "beneficial".  Most people do appear to see miracles as positive things.  If it isn't positive, it isn't a miracle, we call it "bad luck"!  (Sometimes, we call on Murphy's Law to explain it.)

But, really, the third one is the one that gets my goat.

History is full of purported miracles.  Purported, because nobody can verify that any of them actually happened.  The fact is, to claim a miracle is to claim the occurrence of an extraordinary event.  Something, like he says, that is not ascribable to the powers of humanity or the natural world.  Divine intervention, if you will.

Proof.  Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof.  Solid, verifiable, repeatable, and scientifically valid proof.  Anybody can statistically show the likelihood that one person out of a couple hundred could survive an airliner crash.  All of us at one time or another have had a close brush with something that could have injured or killed us, like a car or something heavy falling.  Again, one can trot out statistics to show the likelihood of that event turning out differently.  Mathematics has some very specific ways of calculating such things.  Easy.

But miracles?  At no time, can anyone prove that an event has occurred that violates the laws of the natural world around us.  Time and again, events that look at first that they may be a miracle turn out upon examination to have been the result of hidden forces or unseen elements - sometimes even optical illusions - that prevent us from seeing the truth.

Many folks don't care to look that closely.  They prefer the miracle.  But those of us who look at the world skeptically prefer to actually KNOW what happened.  Proof.

Eventually, he does concede that miracles, as divine intervention, are not there.

Therefore, the third category is actually empty, as believers and non-believers alike have no means to decide whether a certain event belongs to this category.

 Then, off the rails he goes again.

There is - at least - one scripture agreeing with this conclusion, which is The Qu'ran. It uses miracles in the sense of signs; signs to recognize the workings of Allah. In that sense, only events in the first category of miracles - meaningful coincidences - qualify as such a sign. Supernatural phenomena or humans performing something absolutely out of the ordinary, are either a known-in-advance interference of Allah as creator and manager of the universe - and therefore not a miracle - or they are not, in which case they don't fall in the last category as we miss the requirement of divine intervention.

<Sigh>  And here I thought rationality was back.  Again, proof!  Nobody has ever proved that Allah exists, so how could a miracle be attributed to him?  And also again, just what is a meaningful coincidence?  What makes it meaningful?  And to whom?

 So a miracle is a meaningful coincidence, with no explanation for the synchronicity. Two - or more - things just happen out of the blue at the same time to our benefit, getting us out of trouble or giving us a very important insight.

This assumes the existence of something or someone with a purpose.   A superior knowledge combined with the purpose of providing that knowledge to us as a lesson through the vehicle of a miracle.  Assuming, of course, we are smart enough to get the point.

The point is, the mere fact that miracles exist, the fact that we all from our own experience have experienced a few of them, form just one more scientifical, secular proof of the principle of interconnectedness, a very intricate interdependence.

Interconnectedness?  Who is connected?  How and by what mechanism?  Where is the scientific research that shows this mechanism?  It doesn't exist, not in any new agey, spiritual kind of way, that's for sure!  Just because you use the word science doesn't make it scientific.

Sure, we are all, as animals, interconnected with each other within the ecology of our world, such that human actions can affect other humans and animals in negative or positive ways through our own interactions with the ecology we live in and are part of.

But, somehow, I don't think that is what the author of this piece means.

Yet to see the interconnectedness is to see the miracles; to see the miracles is to be filled with wonder; to be filled with wonder is a huge source of inspiration, joy, zeal, hope and life.

Oh, yeah!  Connectedness!  Wonder!  Inspiration!  All that sounds great, and includes words that uplift and inspire.  (including the word "inspire" itself!  Win!)

 But they don't really mean anything.  Not in the sense in which miracles may or may not exist.

Now, if you want to start talking about nature - the whole, truly inspiring, wide wonderful span of nature, from the very smallest quantum particles to the vast expanse of ultra-galactic superstructures forming the universe itself, then, yes, you can talk about a form of interconnectedness, as all of nature is connected in myriads of ways science is only beginning to understand.

But, please, stop nattering on about miracles, unless you want to get lost in a conversation with mathematicians.  Plenty of them will bend your ear for hours about the almost miraculous manners in which math fits together and describes this universe so perfectly!

While I can appreciate the wonder of it, math will put me to sleep.

One more thing the US is behind on.

I have been a science fiction fan since I was twelve and I picked up a copy of Robert Heinlein's book, "Have Space Suit, Will Travel".  These days, I waffle between sci-fi and fantasy, but sci-fi was my first love.

A recurring theme in sci-fi is the issue of non-human intelligence.  Robert Heinlein had at least one book, which I can't remember the name of, that dealt with this issue head on, using the literary tool of a trial to show how the legal system might handle the idea of a chimpanzee having enhanced intelligence equal to a human.

Enter the humble dolphin.  People have been fascinated with these beautiful creatures for centuries, and we interact with them constantly along America's coastlines.  Stories abound where they have saved lives, made friends and interact with humans in very intelligent yet somewhat alien way.

It is that alienness that keeps them from being recognized as fully sentient.  Science has shown a very high level of intelligence in them, and some even say they are one of only a couple of species other than humans who recognize themselves in a mirror - a critical test of intelligence.

Yet, we still hesitate to declare them fully sentient - is it because of the profits gained by the big aquariums which draw huge crowds and millions of dollars in profits by using captive dolphins to attract the crowds?  They ARE popular!

Well, chalk up one more way the US is behind the international community in a rather new field:  sentient rights.

Yes, you heard it right, sentient rights.  NOT human rights, but sentient rights!  Defined as the rights of sentient beings of whatever species based on their individual rights as sentient, thinking and aware beings.

We humans have an atrocious record of violating the individual rights of other species, based on our perceived place at the top of the food chain.  Actually, it is based on, in the West for sure, our religious beliefs that we were given, by god, dominion over the other animals.  Dominion is an interesting word, and given the modern umbrella group that called itself Dominionists, it has traditionally meant, in English, that one who has dominion, has control over and can rule over, those over whom he has been given dominion.  It confers god-given rights, powers of life and death, in particular.

It seems that India has passed a law banning "any person / persons, organizations, government agencies, private or public enterprises that involves import, capture of cetacean species to establish for commercial entertainment, private or public exhibition and interaction purposes whatsoever.”

Costa Rica, Hungary, and Chile are the other three countries that also ban that captivity, and it is interesting to note that while only one of those is in Europe, all of them but India are or used to be heavily Catholic countries.  India, of course, isn't, and has a heavily buddhist influence, which at least makes some sense.

So much for Dominionism, at least over animals.  Now all we have to do is prevent them from establishing their "dominion" over Americans.

But, hooray for India, and a BIG high five!

Musings...

Sometimes I get to thinking.   Yes, that's dangerous, and my bank account finds the nearest offsite ATM to hide behind.  But not tonight.

Tonight, I am remembering a site or a post somewhere I saw recently that talked about the Universe and how it was, we now think, started from basically nothing.

That alone is an astonishing thought - that this whole big universe, stem to stern, 13 something billion light years across, untold numbers of billions of tons of matter, suns, nebulae, gasses, and planets began from a single speck of...nothing.  In a flash, all of a sudden there it was, expanding at nearly the speed of light and over the next thirteen something billion years, it developed all of those things we read about and see up in the sky at night.  Stars, untold numbers of them spinning around in galaxies of equally untold numbers, being born, aging and dying in often spectacular explosions, the light reaching out over the cosmos, feebly lighting up our night for a few brief weeks before they fade into the star's equivalent of senility and old age or collapse into a black hole.

How the elements of life come together after millions of years drifting through the void after being flung out into the darkness in the smashing explosion of the death of a star, only to develop into...us.

I am amazed by the manner in which these heavier elements - carbon, iron and so forth, dead matter from the interiors of stars, developed over millions of years into the stuff of life.  Life which has drifted, swum, crawled, wiggled and dragged itself out of the sea and through millions of years of evolutionary pressure through the process of natural selection, became human.

Became, among other things, me.

Ok, no, that's not me, but dang, it's pretty isn't it?  Kind of scary too.

Astronomy is beautiful, isn't it?  The beauty of how it all came together, not randomly, but in a very odd way, almost casually, but with increasing deliberateness.  The development of the earth's ecology, eventually, just seemed to demand that some creature would develop intelligence to deal with the pressures that its surroundings placed on its ability to survive.

In fact, it would seem that there are really more than one species that have developed intelligence - dolphins, elephants, any number of predators seem to have some measure of it as well, and finally, the hominids.  Don't discount dogs and cats, who have responded to thousands of years of domestication by matching fairly well with human behavior patterns.

I am constantly struck by the beauty of this earth and the many and varied life forms who inhabit it.  How life has expanded its habitats to include even the most hostile places on earth, whether that is the extremes of the Arctic or the blasting heat of underwater volcanic vents.

Many say that life just seems so perfect as it is, and call it a miracle, giving credit for that miracle to a god who supposedly did it all in just short of a week.

I say that science has given us the much better, much more fascinating truth - the truth of the long, amazing evolution of matter from the heat and chaos of the beginning to the elysian fields of the green, green hills of earth.

Something cool, but hot!

This popped up on Youtube and made the ABC World News broadcast tonight:

I don't know about you, but if I were an ignorant barbarian without a science education, this would simply terrify me.  As it is, there is something primal and savage about it, and this kind of exemplifies the phrase "force of nature"!  It isn't big, but it is nasty looking!

Apparently, these occur in Australia occasionally, in their Outback, and usually last only a few minutes.  This one lasted for over forty minutes!

It is fascinating, isn't it?

Busy outside today - a slideshow!

Today, I spent some time outside, and doing this:

This wasp (and a bit later, a couple of her friends) spent over a half hour crawling around this mint.  Crazy!

A Universe from Nothing by Lawrence Krause

Yesterday, our monthly discussion group met at my home, and we had a great turnout!  We had something like seventeen or eighteen folks show up, with some returns from past meetings and at least three newbies!  Orion, of course, was delighted to meet new folks and greet some old friends.

Our subject this month was  talk Lawrence Krause gave at the AAI conference in 2009, entitled Universe from Nothing.  It is hosted on YouTube.

Very highly recommended.  The group seemed to fully enjoy it!

Orion was happy to police the floor of stray food.

Pictures!! Flowers! Trees!

I love spring and all the wonderful flowers, so colorful.  You walk through the garden and never know what you'll see next.

 The Plum Tree

 Iris

 Blue Iris

 Pretty yellow flowers

 Sugar Snap Peas!

 Just a white flower

 Jeb Stuart Mint - wonderful stuff!

 Caladium flower

 Three potential caladium flowers!

 Red Peony

 Iris, again

 Same flower, different angle

 The white Iris

Pineapple Dogwood flower