Cosmology

A collection of 77 posts

Cosmology

NASA opens Planetary Defense Office to protect earth from asteroids

I was wondering whether such an office or team existed only the other day. And then came across this at Space.com: NASA has announced the creation of a Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO). Lindley Johnson, NASA's current near-Earth object (NEO) program executive will lead the newly established

Aaron Adair

The Star of Bethlehem: Lecture by Aaron Adair at Merrimack College

I was lucky enough to edit Aaron Adair's superb book The Star of Bethlehem: A Skeptical View which looks at the claims within the Gospel of Matthew concerning the Star of Bethlehem. Over the many hundreds of years, various people have advanced theories to explain the apparent phenomenon, to triple c

Cosmology

Comet lander wakes up

Great news for those following the exploits of the first lander to find purchase on a comet (Philae). As the BBC reports: The European Space Agency (Esa) says its comet lander, Philae, has woken up and contacted Earth. Philae, the first spacecraft to land on a comet, was dropped on

Cosmology

DeGrasse Tyson - best sermon ever?

This is a great way to spend 10 minutes:

Big Bang

Before the Big Bang 3: String inspired cosmology

Skydive Phil has produced, with his partner, some tremendous videos. In fact, I have interviewed them here at SIN. They take special care in dismantling claims made by William Lane Craig, particularly on pain (think the problem of evil) and cosmology. In their latest instalment, they go to town with

Cosmology

Counter Apologist's riposte to William Lane Craig on the Kalam

Counter Apologist has produced an awesome series detailing issues with William Lane Craig's Kalam Cosmological Argument, which is a pet obsession of mine. This must have succeeded enough, since it warranted a response from Craig himself. Here is Counter's response to Craig.

Consciousness

Deepak Chopra vs Prof Brian Cox. FIGHT!!!!

Good ole Brian Cox. I miss his wistful stares from mountaintops as he regales the audience with soundbites of majestic physics. The TV presenter/scientist/ex-keyboardist of D-REAM has recently come to Twitter blows with blowhard Chopra and his rather dubious use of real science to espouse his spi

art

The most astounding fact in the universe

Astounding.   http://youtu.be/xy5zTA7rKXQ   H/T Russ Rogers

Big Bang

Creationists beware: Cosmic inflation: 'Spectacular' discovery hailed

The BBC report this fascinating discovery which seems to confirm the start of inflation (I would take issue with the slight implication that the BB is definitely the start of everything coming into being) or the Big Bang: Scientists say they have extraordinary new evidence to support a Big Bang T

Cosmology

Sean Carroll vs William Lane Craig debate available

The long-awaited debate (well, by me, anyway) is here, on You Tube:   http://youtu.be/EcBQTKka1rs   Having only listened to the opening statements, I think that Carroll gives a great opening statement. I am also interested to see how Craig's Kalam formulation has changed. He smuggles in transcendental

Cosmology

Carroll vs Craig, tomorrow.

So, God and cosmology will be debated tomorrow as cosmologist Sean Carroll takes on theologian William Lane Craig. I, for one, am excited. Should be a cracker. I know Carroll has been inundated with advice. Let's hope he takes some heed. Hear Dr. Craig’s thoughts on the

Cosmology

William Lane Craig is either lying, or getting things very wrong.

William Lane Craig is ubiquitous in conversations about theistic and Christian apologetics. Being the foremost modern philosopher/theologian still operating, he is often called upon or used as a source for theistic and Christian arguments, winning many debates in the process (on technique and rhetor

Cosmology

Before the Big Bang - Conformal Cyclic Cosmology explained

Another fascinating video from skydivephil, the pair whom I interviewed here (well worth checking out). This time, the 'before the Big Bang' idea is investigated in interviewing Sir Roger Penrose with regard to the cyclical universe.

Aaron Adair

Carrier plugs The Star of Bethlehem: A Skeptical View

Richard Carrier plugs a book I have just edited and published, a book by Aaron Adair, contributor here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-bvqLUZjUQ&feature=share&t=2m18s   The video should start at the relevant time. Nice! I am now going to try and watch the video

Aaron Adair

Two Splendid Christmas Gift Ideas!

So, the celebrations are upon us to commemorate good ole Jesus and his rather miraculous (and dare I say imaginary) birth. Well, he may have been born, but not like that. But enough of that. Or maybe not. I have two rather decent suggestions with which to fill your stockings (Christmas, not underwea

Cosmology

Heaven and the Fine-Tuning Argument

I came across this quote in response to someone posting my notes on fine-tuning on the Why Doesn't God Heal Amputees forum. I like it a lot: The biggest problem I find with the fine-tuned argument is that it is incompatible with dualism, and therefore Christianity.

Big Bang

Earth Has No Special Place in Expanding Universe

In a new study, Dartmouth researchers rule out a controversial theory that the accelerating expansion of the universe is an illusion.

Aaron Adair

Star-struck. Putting the theories to bed.

As you will know from a couple of previous posts, I have edited a book by Aaron Adair about the Star of Bethlehem, called The Star of Bethlehem: A Skeptical View. Check it out. And check this interesting video out that Aaron has compiled documenting clips of all of the

Big Bang

Before the Big Bang - Loop Quantum Cosmology Explained

I love Skydivephil. He/She/They have had some properly good ding-dongs with our favourite apologist, William Lane Craig, most recently on the topic of animal suffering which I featured here. I have not had a chance to watch this,. being on hols, but look forward to it on my

Cosmology

Problems with the Fine-Tuning Argument

Here are some notes I made some time ago, based on various sources, some of which are linked below. Richard Carrier's book "Sense and Goodness Without God: A Defense of Metaphysical Naturalism" provided an excellent backbone to the first set of points. The methodological and other problems:

Cosmology

Craig and the Kalam (and relativity): Vincent Torley vs Counter Apologist... CA wins.

So in my post, the Part 2 of why Vincent Torley is a Christian, Vincent called into question some of Counter Apologist's work undermining William Lane Craig's use of science and metaphysics to try to show that the A-Theory of time is true or that the B-Theory is false. Craig's case is this:

Big Bang

Guest Post by Neil Webber - The Causality Paradox

Here is another guest post. The last one by The Thinker has had a thread which has exploded. This one is interesting, and one very similar to my lines of argumentation. Neil is a friend of mine with whom I lost contact. We played ultimate frisbee together at uni, and

Cosmology

The cyclical universe debate re-ignited

The BBC have produced the following fascinating article. What do you good people think? Scientists say they may be able to determine the eventual fate of the cosmos as they probe the properties of the Higgs boson. A concept known as vacuum instability could result, billions of years from no

Big Bang

Big Bang: Is there room for God?

On 15 October, a group of theologians, philosophers and physicists came together for two days in Geneva to talk about the Big Bang. So what happened when people of such different - very different - views of the Universe came together to discuss how it all began? "I realised there was a need to

Cosmology

On Seeing Lawrence Krauss Last Night - A Universe From Nothing?

So I went to see theoretical physicist and cosmologist Lawrence Krauss last night in Portsmouth. This was great for two reasons. Firstly, Krauss is a great public speaker and a seemingly top bloke. Secondly, it shows that, occasionally, Portsmouth (UK) is not the cultural wasteland many think it is