Grayling's recent essay for TPM at once praises neurophilosophy and warns against any associated over-promise.  But is not this warning applicable to any such endeavor? 

The suggestion that neuroscience might eventually deduce, either in principle or (later) in practice, the mechanisms of mind seems to me unobjectionable - and if neuroscience ever did come to such a working model, it would not by any means exclude philosophy (both with and removed from the prefix) a place in the discussion.  It is in consilience that we gain security in claiming the closest-yet approximation of the truth, hence the covetous search in physics for a grand theory of unification.  Grayling:

Neuroscience, psychology and philosophy here meet in richly promising combination, giving rise in the usage of its proponents to a new name: neurophilosophy. The armchair speculations of traditional philosophical [...]

From The Rational Ape
http://www.rationalape.com/2010/09/grayling-gets-all-neurophilosophical.html
9/4/2010 6:22:00 AM

Grayling Gets All Neurophilosophical
generating short url

See the original puzzles

Puzzle #1: See image

If we color the shape in a checkerboard pattern, then each domino must cover exactly one blue square and one green square. The problem? There are 23 green squares and 25 blue squares. Therefore it's impossible.

Puzzle #2: See Image

Here, we imagine that the entire plane is tiled with a checkerboard pattern like shown in the above image. Each N tetromino covers an odd number of green squares. So an odd number of N tetrominoes covers an odd number of green [...]

From Skeptic's Play
http://skepticsplay.blogspot.com/2010/09/solution-to-parity-puzzles.html
9/4/2010 6:18:00 AM

God did not create the universe, the man who is arguably Britain’s most famous living scientist says in a forthcoming book. In the new work, The Grand Design, Professor Stephen Hawking argues that the Big Bang, rather than occurring following the intervention of a divine being, was inevitable due to the law of gravity. In [...]

From Skeptic Money
http://www.skepticmoney.com/god-not-necessary-stephen-hawking/
9/4/2010 6:14:45 AM

M27: Not a Comet Credit & Copyright: Matthew T. Russell Explanation: While hunting for comets in the skies above 18th century France, astronomer Charles Messier diligently kept a list of the things he encountered that were definitely not comets. This is number 27 on his now famous not-a-comet list. In fact, 21st century astronomers would [...]

From Monicks: Unleashed
http://monicks.net/2010/09/03/astronomy-picture-of-the-day-m27-not-a-comet/
9/4/2010 6:10:39 AM

What does a hurricane look like from orbit? This: [Click for Corioliciousness.] Pretty cool. Hurricane Earl was photographed by an astronaut aboard the space station on August 30. Earl is a massive hurricane barraging the east coast of the US. But from this oblique angle the storm bands blur together, giving the massive storm a smooth, almost [...]

From Bad Astronomy
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BadAstronomyBlog/~3/kyd1qJtV2ck/
9/4/2010 6:00:52 AM

How desperate do you have to be to think that a telephone pole covered in vines is really a sign from Jesus? Contrary to the man’s assertions, driving more slowly past the pole doesn’t make me any more gullible. And why the hell is MSNBC wasting time on this guy? (via Atheist Media Blog — [...]

From Friendly Atheist by @hemantsblog
http://friendlyatheist.com/2010/09/03/the-power-lines-of-christ/
9/4/2010 6:00:23 AM

Filed under: Atheism

From Monicks: Unleashed
http://monicks.net/2010/09/03/godwin/
9/4/2010 5:49:13 AM

California Academy of Sciences: Human Evolution — Tool use by early humans started much earlier. The Academy’s Zeray Alemseged reveals his latest discovery: human stone tool use dating back to 3.4 million years ago. Small-brained human ancestors used stone tools to whack into large mammals some 800,000 years earlier than previously thought. Filed under: Atheism, [...]

From Monicks: Unleashed
http://monicks.net/2010/09/03/human-evolution-oldest-evidence-of-stone-tool-use/
9/4/2010 5:38:43 AM

I’m at the Skeptic Track room – about to watch Prof. Barbara Drescher, Richard Saunders, Dr Rachael Dunlop, Donna Mugavero and Tom Merritt talk about skepticism, scams and consumerism! Apparently there are a lot of Australians following the Live Stream, which you can find at http://www.skeptrack.org/watch-live. This is about the fifth panel [...]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: "Live-Blogging – Skepticism, Scams And Consumerism", url: "http://podblack.com/2010/09/live-blogging-skepticism-scams-and-consumerism/" });

From PodBlack Cat
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PodblackCat/~3/XU6B1iiy8UE/
9/4/2010 5:30:54 AM

Came across this one a couple of days ago and thought I should share it:

Sad, but true.

From Stupid Evil Bastard
http://stupidevilbastard.com/2010/09/bush-shows-his-appreciation/
9/4/2010 5:20:29 AM

this picture made my heart jump. it looks so exciting and refreshing and scary that it made me instantly anxious.


then i noticed the dark thing in the photo appearing to have jumped just after the long-haired man in sri lanka, and wondered if he had a pet mouse that simply couldnt live without him? unfortunately, i couldnt [...]

From astropixie
http://amandabauer.blogspot.com/2010/09/dangerous-dive.html
9/4/2010 5:11:00 AM

(Volume improves shortly after the start)...

From The Rational Ape
http://www.rationalape.com/2010/09/lawrence-krauss-and-brian-greene-chat.html
9/4/2010 5:03:00 AM

via NatGeo.

From The Rational Ape
http://www.rationalape.com/2010/09/and-just-who-do-you-think-you-are.html
9/4/2010 4:46:00 AM

The Pope on trial - Pope Benedict XVI prosecution

From Religion is Man-Made
http://religionismanmade.blogspot.com/2010/09/pope-on-trial-pope-benedict-xvi.html
9/4/2010 4:31:00 AM

This morning I spent 45 minutes, via Skype, with Professor John Willis’s Genetics and Evolution course (Bio 102L) at Duke University.  It’s an introductory course for all biology majors, and they’re reading, among other things, Why Evolution is True.  John, a University of Chicago Ph.D. who took my graduate classes, asked me to speak to [...]

From Why Evolution Is True
http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2010/09/03/chillin-with-the-kids/
9/4/2010 4:14:56 AM

Y’know, when we were young we all had our rebellious streak. But when planets do it… [Click the image to see the whole thing.] BTW, "Saturn som ong" translates to "Saturn in its youth". I think. Or possibly "Mynd you, møøse bites Kan be pretty nasti…" Tip o’ the emo haircut to Torben Thinggaard.

From Bad Astronomy
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BadAstronomyBlog/~3/1po67j71cgw/
9/4/2010 4:07:41 AM

Out of nowhere just now, I received a message on Gmail:

12:40 PM some guy [screen name withheld]: So you're an atheist?

Naturally I thought, "So who the heck is this guy and why is he pestering me?" Searching through my email , I found a long exchange with a Muslim, which I eventually got sick of. I even posted about it here, here and

From The Atheist Experience
http://atheistexperience.blogspot.com/2010/09/unsolicited-chat-about-pascals-wager.html
9/4/2010 4:01:00 AM

Octopus chierchiae

(via Daisy Hill Ceph Farm)

From Pharyngula
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/scienceblogs/pharyngula/~3/7TCbyHl2IgM/friday_cephalopod_future_mollu.php
9/4/2010 3:53:03 AM

0:00:00     
Introduction
Richard Saunders
and Brian Dunning

0:03:30    
TAM 8 Interviews
Eran Segev interviews
Yaron and Loria
Skeptic Podcasting in Israel

0:20:55    
Joanne Benhamu reports on
 the Ultimate Health Expo

0:27:35    
Skeptics in the Pub OC style

0:34:10    
Dragon*Con 2010
Day 1 report

From The Skeptic Zone
http://skepticzone.libsyn.com/the_skeptic_zone_97_3_sep_2010
9/4/2010 3:52:00 AM

It is true.  I have been remiss in my blogging duties this summer.

I had been working on a post about the debate going on within the skeptical community over "tone" and demeanor which was sparked by Dr. Phil Plait's now famous/infamous "don't be a dick" speech at TAM 8.  I have blogged about it briefly before, and was planning a long post on it, but it became so convoluted and tedious as to be unreadable -much like Moby Dick.  


Anyway, the long and the short of my post was that while I am all for the free exchange of idea within the body skeptic in the end skeptics come in all sorts of sizes, shapes, colors, nationalities, faiths(or not), genders, and personalities.  We are human, and we are never going to agree on everything.  While I do not see the current debate fracturing skepticism, [...]

From The Skeptical Review
http://www.skepreview.com/2010/09/radom-houghts-to-play-catch-up.html
9/4/2010 3:48:00 AM