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Thinking Fast and Slow – Daniel Kahneman in conversation with Richard Layard

Posted by Debates 24 Nov 2011

Source: The London School of Economics and Political Science. Two systems drive the way we think and make choices: System One is fast, intuitive, and emotional; System Two is slower, more deliberative, and more logical. Over many years, Daniel Kahneman has conducted groundbreaking research into this – in his own words – “machinery of the mind”. Fast thinking has extraordinary capabilities, [...]

The Un-American War on Science

Posted by Debates 28 Oct 2011

Source: The Huffington Post. Ninety-four percent of Texas schools teach only “abstinence only” sex education. The Texas teen birth rate is 50% above the national average. Yet when Texas Governor Rick Perry is asked about this, he says, “I’m just going to tell you from my own personal life, abstinence works.” He also says that evolution is “a theory that’s out there — and it’s got some gaps in it,” [...]

David Attenborough’s speech to the RSA: People and Planet

Posted by Climate change, Debates 19 Apr 2011

Source: RSA Events. Broadcaster and naturalist Sir David Attenborough presents the 2011 RSA President’s Lecture. The dangers facing the earth’s ecosystems are well known and the subject of great concern at all levels. Climate change is high on the list. But there is an underlying and associated cause – population growth. Indeed, in Sir David Attenborough’s view, there is no major problem facing our planet that would not be [...]

Lord Nicholas Stern: Shaping the Future

Posted by Climate change, Debates 6 Mar 2011

Source: Climate Spectator. I want to talk today about the economics of climate change, and set that in three clear perspectives that really do influence the way in which we see the opportunities and the challenges and the way forward on managing climate change. The first of them is of fundamental importance and that is that the two defining challenges of this century are overcoming world poverty and managing climate change [...]

Lord Martin Rees: Surviving the Century

Posted by Climate change, Debates 2 Mar 2011

Source: BBC. In the second of this year’s Reith Lectures, Lord Martin Rees continues to explore the challenges facing science in the 21st century. Our planet is coming under increasing strain from climate change, population explosion and food shortages. How can we use science to help us solve the crisis that we are moving rapidly towards, as we use up our natural resources ever more quickly?

New Insights Into the Population Growth Factor in Development

Posted by Debates, Population Stress 7 Jan 2011

Source: The New Security Beat. “We have not found any country that has developed or gotten out of poverty while maintaining high birth rates,” said Martha Campbell, president of Venture Strategies for Health and Development. “Family planning is not a cost to a Ministry of Finance – it’s an investment,” said Malcolm Potts of the University of California Berkeley. Campbell and Potts were joined by panelists Eliya Msiyaphazi Zulu, [...]

Hitchens v. Blair: Is religion a force for good or ill?

Posted by Belief, Debates 26 Nov 2010

Source: BBC. Mr Blair, a Catholic convert, will argue that faith is a force for good. Mr Hitchens, terminally ill with cancer, is expected to argue it is the world’s “main source of hatred”, as he did in his 2007 book God is not Great. A 23-country poll paid for by the debate’s Canadian organisers suggests the world is evenly split on the issue. Some 48% of the 18,192 people questioned by Ipsos took the view that [...]

The great debate: Can science tell us right from wrong?

Posted by Belief, Debates 19 Nov 2010

Source: The Science Network. On 6 November a panel of renowned scientists, philosophers, and public intellectuals gathered to discuss what impact evolutionary theory and advances in neuroscience might have on traditional concepts of morality. If human morality is an evolutionary adaptation and if neuroscientists can identify specific brain circuitry governing moral judgment, [...]

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