SKEPTIC:  Come on, you can’t tell me you believe everything in the bible.

BELIEVER:  Like the bumper sticker says:  “God said it.  I believe it.  And that’s that.

SKEPTIC:  Yikes!  All of it?  Hey, wait a minute, didn’t I see you eat a ham sandwich for lunch?

BELIEVER:  Yeah, what about it?

SKEPTIC:  Isn’t that disallowed in the Old Testament?

BELIEVER:  Oh that’s just old fashioned stuff.  Nobody believes that anymore.

SKEPTIC:  Except for the Jewish folks, of course.

BELIEVER:  Of course.

SKEPTIC:  But you believe in the ten commandments, right?

BELIEVER:  Well, yeah.  There’s a reason why they’re called commandments and not the “ten suggestions.”

SKEPTIC:  So how do you decide what parts to follow, and what not?

BELIEVER:  I dunno.  Whatever still works, I guess.

SKEPTIC:  I’m glad you don’t believe in everything in the bible, because I like football.

BELIEVER:  There you go again, speaking in secret code.  What does football have to do with the Old Testament?

SKEPTIC:  I just wouldn’t want all the NFL players to be stoned to death for working on the Sabbath.

BELIEVER:  That’s the last time I invite you over for the Superbowl.

SKEPTIC:   (sigh) It gets lonely in an evidence-based universe.

No, I don't really believe in "spirit" animals. In this humble blogger's opinion, there is no magical, psychic, connection between creatures that can't be explained as natural phenomena.  No, you cannot read your cat's mind and your cat can't read yours.  BUT, although I don't believe in spirit animals, I certainly believe in spirited animals, and a favorite, and henceforth, the mascot critter for "Do Ya Think" blog is the frog (toads are pretty nifty too!) I love frogs.  Frogs are cool, or, if you're under age thirty, they're kewl. I mean really kewl. Unfortunately for us, like most amphibians, frogs are in trouble. They have suffered a world-wide decline in population. The exact reasons of the decline are a bit mysterious, but fungal disease, habitat destruction, global climate change, UV light, pollution, pesticides...the list goes on, all might contribute to them being endangered.  Actually, not all frogs, notably the bullfrog, are in trouble, but, as a group things are pretty dire.  But, I leave the gloom-and-doom scenarios to future posts.  For, now let us celebrate the anurans with a couple of videos which illustrate how truly cool (or kewl, if you prefer) that they truly are.

This week's Rational Hero is Edward Osborne Wilson, possibly the most prominent American evolutionary biologist alive. E.O. Wilson is widely recognized as a leading (if not THE leading) authority on myrmecology, i.e. the study of ants. His 1990 book The Ants, co-authored by Bert Hölldobler, won a Pulitzer Prize--a rare achievement for such a scholarly book. His contributions are much too numerous to do justice in this blog, so I recommend his wikipedia entry as a launch point for further study. In 1998 Wilson published Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge which examines synergies between disparate fields of knowledge such as art and biology; something of great interest to the "Do Ya Think?" blog. Wilson's in-depth understanding of ants figures in prominently with his interest in altruism. Charles Darwin considered altruism an important challenge to the theory of natural selection. After all, how can self-sacrifice without regard to selective advantage be explained in evolutionary terms? There have been numerous books and treatises on this subject and I recommend this link for an overview. Part of the controversy stems from the question of what is the "basic unit" of natural selection. Past theories have included selection at the "gene" level as championed by Richard Dawkins in his in his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, to individual selection (which includes such concepts as kin selection and reciprocal altruism), and, group selection. Previously, Wilson was a proponent of kin selection, but his observations of animal behavior did not fit into that neat hypothetical box, and, like every good scientist, since the facts did not fit the theory, he changed his theories to account for the new-found reality. This led to the development of his concept of a form of group selection, described as "eusociality," which Wilson explores in his book The Social Conquest of Earth. Wilson's book, in my view, is a deeply profound and revelatory description of how the expansion of some of the most successful planetary species, including the social insects (bees, wasps and ants), naked mole rats, a species of beetle, and possibly humans, can be explained by the theory of eusociality. This blog cannot possibly do justice to this fascinating field, but I strongly recommend The Social Conquest of Earth to interested readers.  Congratulations is extended to E.O Wilson as this week's  Do Ya Think? Blog champion for rational thought.        

Thank you NASA.  Click here for more info

SKEPTIC:  You know, I can understand the attraction of religion—very comforting—but I keep stumbling over the details.

BELIEVER:  What do you mean?

SKEPTIC:   Well, one of the basics of scientific thought is the idea of experimental reproducibility.

BELIEVER:  Yeah, so what?

SKEPTIC:  Take this example; if I put sugar in my coffee, it will dissolve.

BELIEVER:  Obviously.

SKEPTIC:  And if you put sugar in coffee it should do the same.  It should be reproducible, right?

BELIEVER:  Right.  But why do I feel there’s a gotcha coming?

SKEPTIC:  Because there is.  I just don’t believe in magic, that’s all.

BELIEVER:  Now you’ve completely lost me.

SKEPTIC:  What do you think would happen if you tried to walk on water like Jesus?  Do you have magical powers?

BELIEVER:  That wasn’t magic. That was a miracle!

SKEPTIC:  What’s the difference?  Oh, and tell me, what would you say if your daughter came home with a miraculous, magical, virginal, pregnancy?

BELIEVER:  You really are annoying.

SKEPTIC:  Oh, and was Jesus really haploid?

BELIEVER:  What is that?

SKEPTIC:  Look it up—I would suggest a science book. 

BELIEVER:  Arrogant bastard.

SKEPTIC:  I’m just saying--

BELIEVER:  —Well, stop saying.  And leave my daughter out of your stupid arguments.  Why don’t you just go away?

SKEPTIC:   (sigh) It gets lonely in an evidence-based universe.

A very cool article about 3D printing. I predicted a few years ago that robotics would take off--although I didn't really think about the 3D printing angle.  It is early still, but I think a revolution is brewing.   

I love the Astronomy Picture of the Day.  Thank you NASA.  This is one of my favorites.  "The Shadows Across Jupiter." Click here to get a larger image  

BELIEVER:  So, what’s your sign?

SKEPTIC:  No Parking.

BELIEVER:  Very funny.  What’s your astrological sign?

SKEPTIC:  Guess. After all, you have a one out of twelve chance.

BELIEVER:  Okay. Let me think. You look like a Libra.

SKEPTIC:  How can you tell?  Is it my big ears?

 BELIEVER:  No, you just sorta have that Libra-look

SKEPTIC:  Whatever that means. No, I’m not a Libra. Guess again.

BELIEVER:  Okay. Hmmmm, maybe, just maybe, you’re a Taurus.

SKEPTIC:  Nope, wrong again.  You know what I hate about this?

BELIEVER:  What?

SKEPTIC:  Someday someone is going to guess my sign on the first try, and they’ll walk away with a sense of smug self-assurance thinking that they know something.

BELIEVER:  I am not smug.  You’re smug—and I do know something.  In fact, I know lots of things. I know that the alignments of the stars when you’re born changes your life.  The stars are not only beautiful, but powerful

SKEPTIC:  Beautiful maybe, but powerful?  You do realize that the gravitational pull from the doc that delivered you is stronger than the pull of any star.

BELIEVER:  Nonsense.  Doctors come and go, but stars are forever. I’ve got it! You’re one of the fire signs.

SKEPTIC:  What’s that?

BELIEVER:  You’re an Aries, Leo or a Sagittarius.

SKEPTIC:  Now you’re cheating.  Eventually you have to get it—but you haven’t yet.

BELIEVER:  Rats! I was sure on that one. Fire signs are so confident and secretive. I give up.  What are you?

SKEPTIC:  If you must know, I’m a Pisces.

BELIVER:  Of course! A water sign! No wonder—you’re so slippery!

SKEPTIC:  Uh-huh. Here’s some more signs for you—yield! Stop! Do Not Enter and No Trespassing.

BELIEVER:  Another thing about Pisces is that they are stubborn and unsociable. I’m leaving now.

SKEPTIC:   (sigh) It gets lonely in an evidence-based universe.

 

Boy, I hope this works.  Efficient energy storage and rapid charging.  This would help a lot in helping to reduce our dependence on oil and even mitigate global climate change.